Topic: 65 Fastback rear vent louver finish

[lancelot66]

and forgot to mention/confirm also that the areas behind the vents when I pulled them were originally blacked out, as was mentioned. I was the first to pull them out since new. Our car has only 1 re-paint (~1985) and it wasn't a particularly good one. There have been several touch up's over the years. There was a bunch of white splatters behind the vents on all the areas that were semi black, as well as the chrome bezels.

[jtfx6552]

I think the screen material is zinc plated, now that I think back to when I touched up mine. I used a brass bristle brush and it cleaned them up really nice. They had a shine to them when finished but not like you'd have with chrome/fine steel wool. Naturally, I didn't take pictures at the time ....

This is what I believe as well. Some sort of plain looking corrosion resistant finish, my vote is some sort of zinc.

[stangerdude]

Hi All! My experience form the last 30+ years of restoring these cars is that the screens are a anodized aluminum. The anodizing (over the years exposed to the sun) turns a whitish color resembling a painted look. I clean them up carefully with a soft to medium brass bristle brush to get the shine back in them which has worked quite well. With that being said... almost all cars I have done this to have been San Jose cars so other factories may have done them different. Also the recesses in the unibody that the louver assemblies fit into have varied in the blackout treatment from just sloppily brush painted black areas to the whole recess being painted black.  Just my experience! Your screens and opinions may vary. And yes....painting the black back into the chrome frame inserts is VERY time consuming but oh so worth it!!