[Terry M. Hunt]

I recall previous discussions on this topic, including pictures posted by others including Keith Seymore to illustrate exactly how the pin stripe was placed on the car. I think it was Keith who posted a photo from the assmbly line showing the suction cup attached jig that was eventually designed to allow workers to apply the stripe quickly and accurately. I recently noticed a note from Jim Wangers published in the December 2013 issue of High Performance Pontiac on page 68 in which he says "The following is my comment about "Exploring All The Options" on page 32 of the October 2013 issue.
What a gorgeous '65 GTO convertible. I am referring to the car expertly photographed and detailed in this story. However, while not trying to be a smart aleck, I must continue to inform the hobby about some of these insignificant details. I am referring to the pinstriping on this magnificent car.
If this pin stripe is represented as having been factory installed, is is unfortunately incorrect. Pinstriping at that time was installed with the help of an automatic twin brush machine. The brushes remained stationary as the car moved slowly down the assembly line. Not only were they imperfect--sometimes even crooked--but they were factory! The machine did not have the ability to round the curve following the shape of the taillight cap. The stripe would start approximately 1/2 inch from the headlight rim, following the body contour, including the modest upward sweep onto the rear quarter panel, and abruptly stop about 1/2 inch from the horizontal end of the taillight cap. The machine did not have the ability to round that curve. It sure looks nice that way, but the factory equipment could not do it. I know-- I was there.

This seems to conflict with everything else I've seen on this forum regarding how this stripe was applied. I seem to recall all the photos posted of original pin stripes(including Keith's) showed the stripe curving down at the taillight cap, so Jim's statements are at the very least puzzling to me. Maybe this is another one of those things done differently at different assembly plants, but the way he describes it being done does not seem to make sense. If the brushes were stationary, while the car moved past, how were they able to curve up onto the quarter panel as he describes? I don't recall ever seeing a '65 with a pin stripe that remained horizontal throughout the length of the car, terminating where the taillight cap begins its downward curve toward the bumper. Am I misinterpreting what he is describing?

[Jeff Hamlin]

I don't know about JW's "remembrance" on this but,
I would take the B&W image showing actual factory procedure using the controlled/secured guide system Vs a machine moving around a car that is in motion. One would think there would be many chances of suspension movement that would induce lots of misaligned stripping beyond an except able level.

[YNOBIL]

I have the highest regards for JW, but his recollection doesn't sound practical for an assembly line. The photo below is the only efficient way to stripe a car.

[Chris65LeMans]

Yeah - holding the paint head steady and rolling the car by doesn't make any sense to me, either. A straight pinstripe wouldn't look right, anyways.

FWIW, I met a guy at a car show who claimed that JW's '65 had the seats upholstered incorrectly. (lines going the wrong way.)

[Option 382]

I think you misunderstood what Jim Wangers was trying to say. If you look at the car Mr. Wangers is referring to, the pinstipe is one continuous line from the head lights to the tail lights. Mr. Wangers is saying there should be a break in the pinstripe line before it curves down to the tail lights. I don't think Mr. Wangers is saying it should not bend down to the tail lights.

And the the pinstripe on that car is way too close to the edge of the car anyways. Does not have the correct spacing.

[Keith Seymore]

There is some variation between assembly plants (typically on how the edges at the door jambs are taped - or not) but the picture above is how cars were striped at Pontiac. The car is stationary, likely being done in the Plant 16 final prep/shipping building.

K

Original paint, as built on Sept 18, 1964, in Pontiac Michigan (49 years ago tomorrow):

[dld]

here are a few that i have posted before. a 65 bf car that was org. paint. this looks to be taped. if you notice the paint creep under the tape at stop points.

[Racer81x]

Those pinstripes look better than wangers hair piece

[John V.]

Terry, I've read & reread the letter from Wangers and cannot understand what he is saying. I looked at the picture of the car and would tend to agree with Option 382, the stripe on that car is right along the rear edge. Allowing for the possibility that there WERE plant to plant variations (see the Fremont example dld posted), it doesn't quite seem right for the stripe to be right at the edge on the HPP car. I'd be hesitant to say they must be wrong though, I haven't studied the '65 pinstripes except within this thread.

Wangers claims are confusing at best. Maybe at some point they painted stripes like he described with the car moving on the line.

But how to account for the historical picture? It sure looks to me that the car is being striped while stationary.

Twin brushes? For what purpose? Didn't a later GTO ('67?) get a double stripe? Maybe the twin brush idea was for a later model GTO. Don't know where the historical picture was taken, but would guess most likely at the Pontiac Plant. And no way of knowing if they used that apparatus the entire model year or came up with a different idea at a later date. Certainly the pics from dld would suggest Fremont handled the stripe differently, so anybody claiming to know how it was done should at least qualify the claim by saying where it was that he knows how it was done.

Twice he says the machine couldn't round that curve. But he also says the stripe abruptly stopped 1/2" from the "horizontal end" of the taillight cap. If the machine didn't "round the curve", he doesn't make it clear how the stripe did continue to the "horizontal end" of the cap? Keith's stripe rounded the curve and terminated at the horizontal end of the cap. And it is pretty easy to understand from the old pic that the striping tool simply followed the rail of the jig right to the end.

Option 382, I don't find anything in the HPP description that says there should be a break in the pinstripe line before it curves down.

And I don't see any such break in Keith's pinstripe. Nor on the Fremont stripe.

It also looks to me that the stripe toward the rear on the Fremont car is closer to the edge than the stripe on Keith's (admittedly no point of reference, just trying to eyeball the pics). So I'd think you'd have to allow for variability.

Terry, I'd agree that the pinstriping description in HPP is at least puzzling. That's just my opinion, I certainly wasn't there.

[MikeNoun]

My old 65 GTO (Blue Charcoal) was an original paint car, and had a white pinstripe that looked EXACTLY like Keith's example.

And I too thought exactly what John V. just stated, that perhaps Wangers is confused, and he's referring to the double-pinstripe applications. That makes sense when he said they used a double-brush setup.

Curious....Wangers wasn't in the factory watching these cars being made. He was a salesman, a pitchman, spending most of his time in the office, at Royal Pontiac, or in the styling studios. Making a claim about how a pinstripe was applied on an assembly line 48 years ago is a pretty bold statement.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by MikeNoun

Curious....Wangers wasn't in the factory watching these cars being made. He was a salesman, a pitchman, spending most of his time in the office, at Royal Pontiac, or in the styling studios. Making a claim about how a pinstripe was applied on an assembly line 48 years ago is a pretty bold statement.

Agree.

K

[Option 382]

My interpretation of Mr. Wangers comment: "The machine did not have the ability to round the curve following the shape of the taillight cap." Since the curve could be performed by the pinstripe machine the line stopped prior to the taillight cap. The pinstipe on the cap began again either by hand or however else they achieved this. That comment is where i took it as a break in the pinstripe. The dual brush comment, I have no idea what he is referring to there.

My car still has the original paint and pinstripe. There is a gap in the area just described, so i took Mr. Wangers comment meaning that. The pictures that dld provided show that gap as well. Keith Seymore's car does NOT show that gap. Between the body and the tail cap there is a recession. I would not think that paint would go into that lowered area and the plant would just skip that area (like my car and dld's pics). I guess plants do vary. My car's pinstipe is very straight and uniform where Keith's looks a little wild there.

[Keith Seymore]

Option 382 - I am trying to recall: was your car built in Pontiac Michigan?

Originally Posted by Option 382

My car's pinstipe is very straight and uniform where Keith's looks a little wild there.

LOL!

K

[John V.]

Option382, where was your car built?

It looks to me that on dld's Fremont example, the factory taped the body seams (at the door gaps and at the cap). That would be the reason for these gaps. And the paint creep that did mentioned.

Nothing to do with a machine. Pretty sure the twin brush machine was a later apparatus most likely having to do with the '67 Model Year, that is when they went to the double pinstripe according to my reference.

The stripe on the HPP car may or may not be correct. But Wangers claim for why it must be wrong is, well, not correct.

[Keith Seymore]

Here's a sample from Baltimore:




K

[Option 382]

The picture that Keith Seymore posted in post # 15 is my car. It is a Baltimore car and the paint is original.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Option 382

The picture that Keith Seymore posted in post # 15 is my car. It is a Baltimore car and the paint is original.

That is a very good looking stripe in terms of uniformity of width and the blunt ends.

K

[John V.]

dld, similar gaps in the stripe at the door front and rear edges?

[chinquapalian]

Originally Posted by Racer81x

Those pinstripes look better than wangers hair piece

now Shane, calm down