Topic: Deciphering Grease Marks on Fender Well and Radiator Support

[GlennG]

Hi grease pencil experts, I thought I would post these pictures here and remove them from my posting in the seam sealer section.

After media blasting my coupe (San Jose assembly plant, build date January 65), I found these markings on the bare steel: "BM" on the left outer wheel well; "M26" on the right front radiator support.  I marked them with blue marcal grease pencil so that they would show up better.

Can anyone shed some light on how to translate these numbers?  I'm sure that Jeff and Charles have seen thousands of these.  I am assuming that these marks were originally written on the bare steel panels prior to painting.  Would it be concours incorrect to re-mark these panels after I paint them?  What color did they use originally to mark these panels?  Thanks for all your input.

[CharlesTurner]

Not sure about the 'BM', but the M and 26 on your rad support are the exterior paint code and interior trim code.  Would not be correct for these to be on top of the paint.  You can use a markal paint stick to put them back and then paint black over.

[J_Speegle]

The codes you found on the radiator support would have helped the workers on the line to know what color to paint the interior and exterior panels. They were not always applied like this at San Jose in the early yes but they are sometimes found - likely IMHO something one shift (one worker) was doing


The ones on the inner fender panel - in your case drivers side forward - are found about one out of a hundred cars. IMHO these were likely written on that panel (one of many on a pallet of like panels) prior to shipping or on receipt at the Pittsburg receiving location for San Jose/Milpitas.

Similar coding can be found on these panels through 69 at San Jose and similar ones have been seen on a few Dearborn cars also - applied prior to paint

[GlennG]

Great information from Charles and Jeff.  Thanks for making this forum so interesting!