Paint plates

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Brett Johnson
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Paint plates

#1 Post by Brett Johnson »

I need to re-examine paint plates. The first use I believe is some time in 1955 MY, because the was no Kunstharzlack before the introduction of the Speedster. I had originally thought is was a 356A thing, but the photo in the new book of the Nitrolack one is a 55 cabriolet invoiced July 22, 1955. Who can give me earlier examples?
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C J Murray
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Re: Paint plates

#2 Post by C J Murray »

A few years back Jerry Peters has an unrestored 55 Cab. You could ask him.
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Spencer Harris
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Re: Paint plates

#3 Post by Spencer Harris »

No paint plate on my coupe with Kardex date of May 10, 1955. Hinge cover and chassis plate are original; at least since 1972.
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Brett Johnson
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Re: Paint plates

#4 Post by Brett Johnson »

Thanks! There are holes in my September 1955 hinge cover and but the plate did not survive. Peter Simmons has the car one number before mine and it has a Nitrolack plate. So I suspect the July car is probably correct and that puts it between May 10, 1955 and July 22, 1955. That is pretty close, so I'll try to do some research tomorrow and report back. If anyone can further define the range, please feel free to do so.
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Phil Planck
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Re: Paint plates

#5 Post by Phil Planck »

P8131326.JPG
No paint hinge plate on 53248
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Brett Johnson
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Re: Paint plates

#6 Post by Brett Johnson »

Update:

53248-- 3/18/55 has no plate

54022 -- 8/4/55 has a plate
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Brett Johnson
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Re: Paint plates

#7 Post by Brett Johnson »

I have it narrowed to between July 16, 1955 and July 20, 1955. There are possibly some that will not fall in that range, but the ones that I found that did not were all restored cars with reproduction Reutter plates. If anyone has an original car that falls outside this range, I'm happy to include it. This is my restored September 1955 54205 which has original holes...
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James Davies
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Re: Paint plates

#8 Post by James Davies »

Nice work Brett. Not sure if this supplements anything you've already found, but:

Old tag style, no paint type tag
53250
53297
53337
53403
53409
53460
53547

60679
60760
60763
60771
60793
60794
60817


New Reutter tag style
53425
53427
54067

60870
60877
60879


New Reutter tag and paint type tag
54110
54154
54189
54194

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Re: Paint plates

#9 Post by steven mclean »

54137

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Re: Paint plates

#10 Post by steven mclean »

54137
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54137

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Jack Stenner
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Re: Paint plates

#11 Post by Jack Stenner »

Here are the '55 Coupes for which I have photos of the paint tag area, in numerical order. Red = paint tag.
55.Paint_Tags.jpg
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Spencer Harris
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Re: Paint plates

#12 Post by Spencer Harris »

Jack Stenner wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 8:47 am Here are the '55 Coupes for which I have photos of the paint tag area, in numerical order. Red = paint tag.
Nice collection of photos Jack.
Blue car, 2nd row shows a paint tag with file name 55.53308... which is much earlier than Brett and James' data. The photo is not high enough resolution for me to zoom in and read the chassis no. on the tag. Is this really #53308?
53308.JPG
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Brett Johnson
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Re: Paint plates

#13 Post by Brett Johnson »

That is also not the plate that would be on an early car, which had only the words Nitrolack or Kunstarzlack. The later plate with the paint number arrived around the introduction of the T 2 356A. Using restored cars for data collection is frequently misleading. I am happy with the July dates I provided. They are the consistent for all three body styles.
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Jack Stenner
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Re: Paint plates

#14 Post by Jack Stenner »

Spencer Harris wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 12:36 pm Nice collection of photos Jack.
Blue car, 2nd row shows a paint tag with file name 55.53308... which is much earlier than Brett and James' data. The photo is not high enough resolution for me to zoom in and read the chassis no. on the tag. Is this really #53308?

53308.JPG
Thanks. Yes, that's an outlier. The car is a bit of a hot rod and the full vin is not on the vin tag. As Brett mentioned, there are a few with the later tag (with paint number), so they're almost surely replacements.
The earliest car I have with the paint tag that looks to me to be OG is 53956.
53 Coupe #51576

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Re: Paint plates

#15 Post by Brett Johnson »

53941 is the lowest coupe number with a plate (7/22/55) that I have seen.
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