firewall chalk - how did this look originally

[abiddle]

How does this look original, any examples? Is this a crayon and is it pre-paint? Or was this post-paint and someone has just rubbed it clean? I don't know what to think about this. Actually it took me all these years to figure out it said "RED". Duh.

[william]

During body fab Fisher Body workers wrote certain codes/notes on the firewall with grease pencil prior to any paint being applied. It stained the metal and is visible if the car is media blasted. Firewall blackout was applied after the car was painted. Paint doesn't adhere well to grease pencil and over time the writing becomes visible. Would have been no reason to write "RED" or anything else across the firewall of a body that was already built and painted.   

It is not unusual to see a build sequence number written inside the lower grille panel. Possibly done to ease matching the body with the front sheet metal assembly. I have a vintage road test photo of a Nickey/Bill Thomas 427 '68 Camaro and there is definitely something on the firewall behind the engine; appears to be 48 E. Could have been SOP to write it there also and later wipe it off.

Also, '69 COPO Camaros often have '427' written inside the front fender extensions.

[abiddle]

I didn't think much about this until I saw this pic Chick's Z\28 survivor thread.

http://s192.photobucket.com/user/1-2-b-67L89/media/Survivor%20Camaros/100_9309_zpsabd7c1cb.jpg.html

[Stingr69]

Mine says "RGRN" for Rally Green.  Sorry I do not have pix.

[BillOhio]

I thought I did this earlier but doesn't seem to be here. My burgandy car had MAR and several other things under the paint. N10 dual exhaust was easy to see. This is after soda blasting.

[NoYenko]

My firewall had "BBLU" written on it. Guessing it stood for big block & Le Mans blue??

[william]

More likely bright blue.

[BULLITT65]

No Yenko, I had good laugh at that BBLU interpretation, since I would think you could see the holes for the heater hoses for a big block right below if it were, but...... "its still no Yenko"

I wonder if that can be seen on my firewall....

So a question for you guys that located it, are you guys going to go over it in crayon when restored?

[abiddle]

I would grease pencil again prior to paint.

[NoYenko]

William, bright blue does make more sense. Even though it's almost totally covered by the AC box and not visible I tried to reproduce it with a grease pencil.
It's interesting that the build number was marked on the firewall after painting as it was totally visible with the air box removed. George

[Mike S]

 That has to be one of the most "natural" looking factory restorations I have seen of a firewall, George.

Mike

[ZLP955]

Agree with Mike, that looks very well done George. Interesting to note the right hand stroke of the 'U' passes through the A/C harness firewall piercing, so presumably the 'BBLU' was written before the hole was made?

[Mark]

The build number was most likely Chevrolets build number, Fisher would have no need to put the build number on the body since the cowl tag was already there, and all kinds of paperwork was hainging off the body, and the body was more or less locked into their scheduled build order once it started down their line.  GM needed to make sure that drivetrain and front end components for job 348 got put on the 348 body tub.  Although unless you have evidence of the number being under the A/C evaporator, it was probably out on the tulip panel, as that area never got covered until the front end sheetmetal got added.  The number in its current location would be hidden as soon as the evaporator went on, which for all i know happened right before the front ened sheetmetal drop.

[BULLITT65]

Looks good George, I like the way it resembles what it looked like originally.

[NoYenko]

I learned a lot of tips from everyone here on what to look for on disassembly, that's a lot of the enjoyment in this hobby for me.
Thanks for the nice comments guys. It may have been written on the saddle bags also but I didn't see it there. I tried to put it back the way I found it even though nobody would ever see it again. Found original picture. George