[Keith Seymore]

Beautiful, beautiful job...



I'm joining the discussion a little late, but I would like to go back to the questions about "masking" within GM assembly plants...

No masking was done as a general rule. Keep in mind: the bodies had just been assembled from raw individual panels and pieces and so there was NOTHING inside. No other parts had been assembled yet so there was nothing that needed masking.

The body would go from the "body shop" (or "cab shop") immediately to paint to be primed (or today to be electrostatically dipped in the primer) and then for the color coat application. There would be no worries (or minimal worries) about dust because the body would have been in a clean area the whole time and for a short period of time (other than a strike or changeover or some other extenuating shutdown).

The only masking that would be done would be for a two tone or for a paint repair after the vehicle was completed. For two tones, I think you might find that the secondary color was sprayed first, then taped off in the desired shape, then the primary color sprayed over that. This was how we did it in the truck plant for the various two toned options (ZY6, ZY7, etc) for pickups, Blazers and Suburbans.

FWIW and, again, sorry to join the discussion so late; excellent work! -

K