VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1961-1964 Hood Latch and Hinge Color -1964 Impala

I have seen some various opinions on the proper color for the hood latch and hinges for a 64 Imapala, even some strange looking interpretations at car shows. Most folks say it is supposed to be a Gray Phosphate, but disagree about the shade of gray. My own experience with my 64 that I have had since 82, tells me that they are either dark gray or black, but they could have been painted before I got the car. I can say I have seen no evidence under what paint there is, for anything like a light gray or silver and I can never recall seeing anything like that in junkyards back in the 80’s.

Any paint experts want to weigh in here?

I saw this car at a car show. Personally, I see lots of other things I think are errors, but the latch being a gray/silver color seems way off. On the other hand, the dark gray hinges would make sense, they would age to a black color with the natrualy accumulation of dirt/grease.

A litle from my memory and a lot from road test pictures of 1963 and 1964 cars the hinges were a medium gray and the hood latch plate was the same. The release handle hanging down was darker so as to be less visable through the grille screen.

If my memory is correct a light gray matte coating was on latch and hinges. Many have called it "cadmium" but it was not shiny enough to be. Zinc or Zinc Phosphate produces a matte type finish. It is also much more weather resistant than cad plating.

Found this picture in an old Motor Trend review of the 64 Impala. Too bad the guy is standing in the way of the hood hinge. But you can see a bit of the hood latch, and it does look lighter. Things look pretty dusty under the hood, look a the radiator support, it is rather blotchy. On a side note, it looks like the battery filler caps are dark, unlike the yellow caps that a certian battery topper company says were used.

Well, here is what I did. Using Eastwood's Zinc Phosphate rattle can paint. I have heard some say it is too dark, but that suits me. It is dark enough to weather black as all the old originals look.

David,
That looks good to me.

I think your color looks OEM to me. I had mine powder coated and I asked for zinc phosphate but got a strange matte light gray finish that I Sony like and neither did the vcc a judges this year. I'm am going to redo them to the color you used. Nice job.

Since I started this thread, I have been looking at ebay auctions for NOS latches and came up with a couple of photos of interest. Both claimed to be NOS for a 64. Bolt holes look like they have never had a bolt on them, no maring from the lock washer is evident. To my eye, they look dark gray to black. It is hard to tell, since they seem to have a layer of dust on them and perhaps surface rust coming through the paint.

They were not black. Would be best described as dark gray. Probably some kind of zinc or tin coating to prevent rust. Probably to cheaper to use than the cad. plating of the earlier models.

I have used "Dull Aluminum" paint for many years to make parts look like the zinc plating. Also have a setup to zinc plate parts but painting seems to last longer and does not change appearance like the plating does.

I agree with Chipper on "dull aluminum." I also use it (aerosol cans) on factory-type rally wheels. Works good. And looks good too.

What is the proper finish for the bolts that mount it? And how do you guys spruce up the finish of original bolts so they can be reused. I know that they can always be painted but as soon as a wrench goes on they are messed up.

The bolts are the same bolts used all over the body of the car. Bolting the radiator support to the fenders, bolting the radiator to the radiator support, fender wells to the fender, etc. These bolts are flat black, some sort of oxide finish. I can't imagine they would have made the bolts for the latch any different in color/finish from the others.

Based on the vintage photo and the ebay NOS items, I still remain unconvinced that anything lighter than a dark gray was used for the latch color. I sure don’t recall anybody doing their latches in this silver color back in the 80’s when I was in the old “Late Great Chevys” club.

I removed my hood today, in preparation of pulling the engine out. I also removed the hinges and cleaned off a protected area to see what the original finish, if any, looked like. Unfortunately, my car had been in a accident somewhere between '79 and '82 (before my ownership). I have noticed the front glass code is from '79 at least one fender is a replacement. It also turns out the hinges were replaced with what appear to be junk yard hinges from a '63. They have hand written in paint labels which say “63 Impala” on both of them. So while I am fairly sure they used the same finish in '63 as '64, this picture is not as conclusive as I would like.

The area on the hinge around the stamped triangle is the best area to compare to the Eastwood Zinc Phosphate spray paint on the latch. The color on the hinge is definitely lighter but not the silver you see on some cars.

I got my hinges back from Wilson Antique Car Parts. They drill out the worn holes to a larger size and install larger rivits to match, powder coated and new springs installed. They look brand new. Now I just need to sort out the exact color to spray on them and are the springs supposed to be black?

Well, here is what I did, Eastwood Spray Gray on the hinges and semi-gloss black on the springs.

I think you NAILED it!!! Those look AWESOME!!! Nice job. I can't wait to see them. I waent with Eastwood Spray Gray on mine too.

See you soon.

I was cleaning up the hood pin and noticed there was still some original finsih preserved in a protected area. So I wiped it off and put a bit of Eastwood Spray Gray on part of it to compare. Photos can vary in due to the camera and with the display you are viewing it on, so this gives a better comparison for internet viewing. The section in the upper right has the fresh paint and you can see the tape line between it and the original finsih in the upper left. It looks to be a pretty good match, it even has that slightly sparkley look like the original finsih has.


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