VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Trunk Hardware

I have a few sets of the hardware mechanisms with the flat rods that latch/unlatch the trunk lid. Some of the hardware and guides appear to be galvanized but most are lightly painted (almost just overspray) over a galvanized or dull grey base. Added a picture.

Should all this hardware be body colored or should it be galvanized?

Hi Tim,

I apologize for the delayed response. I finally had some time today and checked the trunk of my '37 Master coupe.

Based on what I can see the whole mechanism was installed and then painted when the interior of the trunk was painted black. That is also the exterior color of my car. There is no paint on the face of the flat bars between the bar and the sheet metal. The visible face is painted and there is some paint on the edges.

Some of the parts in mine appear to have some type of plating. The long bars do not appears to be plated.

I also removed the screws that hold the center handle assembly and one outer guide assembly. Most of those appear to be plated parts with paint over them.

I also observed 2 other interesting features. While the screws look like normal 1/4-20 stove bolts they are actually what I call a "body bolt". They have a significantly tapered point on the end to help align things during assembly.

The other thing I noticed is that there does appear to be some type of a paint (probably primer) underneath these parts where they attach to the body. It is not bare metal and it is not the black color of the rest of the interior of the trunk lid.

I also included a picture of the trunk lid support mechanism. They appear to be plated parts. I do not know if your car uses the same design. I know that in 1939 Chevy started using a telescoping rather than folding design.

The truck hardware on my '39 was painted body color as was the inner side of the lid. You could see that the hardware was in place when it was sprayed.

Thanks guys,

I just stripped my doors completely and they were virgin .It was easy to see that most everything had some kind of light protective coat and then was assembled into the door, trunk, ect and then was painted quickly when the body was finish coated. I\m thinking I will paint body color but will do separate from main body and carefully install during finish assembly.

Thanks for poking around to get me some pictures Rusty. I have the dual straight extending arms. I could use a picture of the trunk lid top side of the 37/38 coupe from anyone showing the area where the handle ferule meets the sheet metal. Mine is battered in this area and I want to verify the body shape within an inch of the ferule.

Tim,

Just sent you an email with some pictures.