For 1964
Bill/3Deuce64
I believe all of the plants (not certain about KC) received these torsion rods from the same vendor. The vendor was probably asked to differentiate the two rods to simplify assembly. Not sure if they had florescent orange back in '64, and felt that a gloss yellow would suffice. For reference, only the driver's side rear most (they cross) rod was marked, and it appears that the process involved the dipping of the rod into the yellow. I do not believe they scuffed the gloss yellow paint to promote the adhesion of the body colored paint that the '64 models received for the trunk. Surprisingly, every example that I can recall studying has had a fairly heavy dose of body paint on the rear side of these rods, as well as the rubber insulator. The body color paint appears to have wrapped itself around the entire circumference of the rods, the rubber insulator not so much, with the heaviest accumulations on the back (visible from the rear of car) side. The examples that I have seen typically has the body paint cracked and chipping off the portion of the rod that had been dipped in gloss yellow, so that a fingernail will easily loosen the body color paint, coming off in flakes. The first picture below in Nocturne Blue (for Bill) shows the condition at the age of 44 years (Pontiac Plant) of the wear on this rod, revealing the gloss yellow paint below the blue. The next two pictures in Grenadier Red (for 3D64) (Baltimore), shows the condition of the rods after 20 years of light use. Although not visible, the gloss yellow is beneath the red (lacquer), but activity involving the movement of the trunk lid has not been enough to reveal the yellow beneath. Hopefully, these two pictures show the chipping of red paint on the front torsion rod (closest to seat) due to trunk lid activity, revealing metal. The last picture in Starlight Black (Fremont) shows the provision of the gloss yellow prior to the application of the black body paint. I am undecided whether to apply the black body paint over the yellow, although I believe hiding the yellow would be the most accurate depiction of how this rod would have appeared when the car was new.
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