VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION New User Forum asbestos and lead on 50's chevrolets

Wonder if anyone tested the black/brown fiber sound insulation stuck to the roof of an early 50's chevy car for asbestos fibers before removal?
It's an awful mess to remove. Where it sags it tears easily but tends to crumble at the tear and leaves a coarse grit on your hands.
I read asbestos fibers were used in all types of products for heat and structural properties up to 1978, and is still used in many different products today. Figured i better protect my health before scraping and tearing any more.

Or if any one had what appeared to be a factory or dealer installed undercoating on a 50's chevy and tested it for asbestos fibers or even lead?
The undercoating on my 50 car is faded black, thin and peeling in places, yet thick and very difficult to remove in other places. Its very tough stuff, very difficult to remove where its applied thick. Yet its brittle and cracks easily where its thin.
It appears it may have been factory or dealer installed b/c the metal under places i forcibly scrape it from looks brand new.

Is it true there is lead in the original lacquer paint? My car looks terrible overall but the paint is still shiny as new and someone said that might be b/c lead was in 1950's black lacquer paint.

Do I assume correctly that the chunks of dull metal that fell off a damaged rocker-to-quarter weld seam contain lead due to their small size and heavy weight in hand?.

The 1949-early 1951 Deluxe models had a foam rubber roof pad. The late 1951-1953 had a fiber.
Lacquer paint did not contain lead
.
The asbestos and lead areas were the clutch disc and brake linings, head and manifold gaskets and exhaust pipe packinng.

Lead is the last danger I worry about when I drive my old cars. A crash into an object would be my biggest concern.


Who knows what brand of undercoating a dealer used. Most did not use the GM brand because there were lower cost brands available.

I always seem to manage to find asbestos in everything I work on. I have full recollection of helping my dad in the 1970s work on a fireplace and we added asbestos to a metal flue. I literally was the one pouring asbestos out the bag into a slurry/paste we were making. No clue, no safety gear.

It is a good idea to question many materials before messing with them. Brakes and clutches like Gene said as well as insulating, deadening and materials exposed to heat. It was a wonder material since it was strong, flexible and fire proof so was added to almost anything imaginable.

I've had materials tested for asbestos and the abatement company that tested gave me this advise and they were ok with DIY abatement,

"If in doubt, assume it indeed contains asbestos and follow proper removal methods to protect yourself"

I keep referring to my car as an early 50's chevy and then mistype it as a 50 instead of the 52 i actually have. Therefore, i have the brown fiber roof liner as one response noted is used on late 51' to 53' chevys. It was glued on there fine for 15 years. In the past five its been sagging from the front to back. Luckily i don't have a headliner or an interior because that stuff makes a brown gritty mess of everything below it.

Asbestos fibers were used in many products from early teens to 1978 and is still used today in various products.
I read that even today there was asbestos in the green foam type material that fake and real flowers are poked into. Never read why though, maybe for structural properties or it aids water retention when real flowers are held.

Every material with asbestos contains only a percentage of asbestos fiber. Sanding, grinding, crushing, pulverizing and burning any material with as little as even 10 percent asbestos fibers is what causes fibers to become airborne and should be avoided without proper abatement methods. Scraping, prying, or peeling off an asbestos containing material is less aggressive and would release considerably less of the fibers into the air but one should still use proper removal and disposal methods.

I read the same, as one response said, if in doubt assume the material does contain asbestos fibers and use proper abatement methods or simply leave it alone. Much of the undercoating on my car is applied thick and required aggressive grinding to remove it which is when i decided to stop.
Maybe, later i'll pay to have it tested for asbestos and lead out of curiosity. For now ill leave it alone.