68 Camaro SS396 Blackout Tailpan

[curtis0916]

Would someone be able to post pictures of a 68 Camaro SS396 blackout tailpan?  My body guy is asking several questions concerning it, and I thought pictures would help.  We want to make sure the correct areas are painted black.  The car does have a spoiler, and we also wonder if the back of it is black?  Any help is greatly appreciated!!

[KurtS]

Google 'camaro tail panel black' images and lots of pics show up.

[curtis0916]

Thanks, Kurt.  I did that and several versions showed up, I was hoping to find out how it would have come from the factory.

[RAS68]

There are lots of pictures out there but not all are correct. The gloss is supposed to be about 80% gloss black according to Jerry M. Also there is a special way the black is painted on the upper part of the tail panel that is under the trunk lid. The trunk picture of the car at this web site is pretty much correct. https://www.saratogaautoauction.org/vehicles/533/1968-chevrolet-camaro-rs-ss396. There are other examples as well. There is an original 1968 396 L78 car under the forum "Original Cars" section. You may want to send him a PM and ask for some pictures of the trunk area showing the black out tail panel and how it is painted. Also, there are other posts on the FORUM - just search for "black tail panel". When I was doing my 1968 SS 396 I gathered lots of pictures and examples from the web.  I always looked for the correct paint pattern on that upper tail panel that is under the trunk lid when closed. I know there are other folks on this FORUM that are very informed on this subject so I hope they will be reading your post and chiming in for you. I hope this helps.
Allen

[RAS68]

There is one more resource that comes to mind and that is Lucas Restorations. These guys know Camaros and they were very helpful to me when I had a few detail questions during my restoration. Google " Lucas Restorations", go to the web site and look at the photos of his 1968 396 L78 Camaro. It was awarded concours certification at NCRS. Send them an email asking for a few pictures of the trunk and tail panel of his ss 396 showing how to paint it. I bet he will help you.
Allen

[curtis0916]

Thank you, Allen.  I will contact them and hopefully get some detailed information.

[68 Ragtop]

A google image search of the whole WWW is not going to be very helpful.
Over the years, there have been plenty of examples of original paint documented cars posted here, on TC, and on Yenkonet.
I would search those sites for BB original paint cars.
Here is one of those examples. This is an original documented car. Picture by a renowned collector and frequent contributor to these sites.

[x66 714]

My 69 is sort of like that. Both sides are different. The diag is up on the trunk lid bumper rest. Another note. I've looked at several these cars over the years & there are a lot of differences. One car I just looked at, the line is real choppy around the tail light area. 11,998 original mile. Never messed with.
Maybe some here have info on how this process was done...Joe

[bcmiller]

These were hand masked, so not every car is going to be the same. 

There are different opinions on the percent of gloss.  I used what I would call a satin black on my car.

[Charley]

Same car as mentioned above. Low mile very orig. car.

[Charley]

Here are more pics I took a few months ago of a friends survivor cars. Different years but shown to give you a idea of the gloss level.

[Charley]

rocker

[Charley]

.......

[KurtS]

A really nice collection of BB tailpanel shots.
Some variance probably due to how they've been treated over the years. Notice how crisp the reflection is in the spoiler/decklid paint.

[bcmiller]

Not a great pic, but this is probably the first SS 396 Camaro.  Tailpan looks pretty satin to me, I do not see much shine.  It is a late 1966 pic, so it has not been waxed and polished over the years.