Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

Did the 67 Chevy come with the tailgate Chevrolet logo painted, I think white was the color , or did they do that in the later years. The 67 I have doesn't have Chevrolet painted on the tailgate and sure looks like orginal paint to me. I know u can buy the vinyl letters as I have them for this truck but am curious how they came from factory.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

Pretty sure it was painted white at one time. I'd spray paint it rather than use vinyl. From looking at the way my 68 gate lettering was painted, they did not put a lot of effort into painting the letters. White trucks at least had satin-flat black-dark gray lettering.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

Thanks. Maybe they started painting them for the 68's but wondering if they did for 67.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

Great question! It sure looks like original paint to me. I guess I always assumed all tailgate lettering was painted through the years.

There was some discussion here about slight tailgate stamping differences through the years. Is that tailgate consistent with a 67? Any sign of overspray or repaint on the sides of the tailgate?

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

Here's another 67 base model with an unpainted tailgate. Looks to be original with very low mileage.

http://classiccardb.com/chevrolet/81...nal-miles.html

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

No sign of overspray and color is even all over the truck. Was an Oshawa Plant build and we have found plant to plant anomalies on same model truck.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

Been poking around Google images of 67 C10 survivors. Of course the majority show painted tailgates. The one I posted above was the only exception I found. We'll have to let the others chime in.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

On my 67 the tailgate is the only body panel that is oe paint. It must have spent a long time hidden in the rafters while the camper was in the bed. Don't know why It didn't get the repaint like the rest of the truck, heck maybe they forgot where it was. It has white letters on a solid vermilion truck complete with the original dealer emblem.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

I just picked up a 68 with a similar situation. I have not inspected it that closely yet, but I assume it’s an older repaint (at least the tailgate), as I suspect with yours. That’s where I put my money. I just think it’s more likely the tailgate was damaged and repainted long ago, rather than a factory miss.

Attachment 2179851

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

my first truck I had many years ago was a 67, and was originally the same green , I remember when I sanded the truck we completely sanded the tailgate bare, the only other color we found was a black primer under the green, and appeared to be all original and I never found evidence of any other color paint on the letters.. got my curiousity too now

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

Not sure about chevy but I havr a 67 gmc original paint tailgate and the insert on it is painted white.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

Which plant was your truck built at ?

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

I'm starting to think the 67's painted tailgate letters were a hit and miss depending where and how early in the season they were built.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

I am curious about this. I'm surprised I've never seen this question arise before. It seems to me I have seen a lot of '67s, over many years, with unpainted letters but can't say for certain. I was thinking maybe it was a base model compared to trimmed thing. Is your truck a Custom or a base with the trim option?

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

My all original paint '67 CST with Vermilion Poly (burgundy) has the tailgate letters painted the GM Ivory/white color

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

My buddy's 67 has white painted tailgate letters. Its an original low mile survivor and the dealer marque is on it, I am sure it is original.

I think the fact that there are painted and unpainted letters on original trucks might have something to do with the body color/white grills debate?

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=725106

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

I wonder if it's an early 67 production thing. I also looked at a number of 66 survivor pictures and it appears that they all had painted tailgate lettering.

I wonder how they went about painting the lettering on these trucks at the the factory. Like I mentioned, the factory paint does not cover the stampings very well on my truck. It looks like they might have sprayed through some kind of stencil or something. I guess they didn't go to the trouble of masking it all up.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

My 67 cst original red paint with the 67 tail gate has painted letters.

Thanks Russ

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

I think the factory used a stencil for accent painting, tailgate, side trim, hubcaps, etc

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

a lot of good points made here, thinking back about my 67, it was a factory shortbox fleetside, I remember the spid showing the 115 inch wheelbase, and it came with a 250 3 speed on the column, very plain jane and if I recall correctly the only other item on the list was heavy duty rear springs, and it was built in Baltimore, if I could find a record of the vin, for production numbers I would post it, but its been 30 years ago...I would sure love to have it back

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

I'm very sure my tailgate has original paint. Special K asked about which model truck was so here is spid pic and tailgate pics. I delivered the truck to a shipper this morning for its 1750 mile ride to Ontario and its new owner.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

So it is a base truck. It may be a plant by plant thing, but I still wonder if it's a base vs Custom/CST thing

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

Good question. I'm gonna go on local Facebook Groups and see if anyone has an original unmolested 67 Oshawa built CST or Custom.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

My $.02 is that it’s more likely an early gate repaint, or less likely (yet plausible) plant miss. All trim levels came with painted letters in 67.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

I think a repaint would be detectable on the inside of the tailgate with all the worn through paint, unless it was completely stripped to bare metal. Back then you just didn't see any paint job as durable as factory. When I use stripper on body parts, all paint jobs come right off down to the unaffected original. Then it's a bare even after multiple applications to strip that factory paint. Also, primer should show between paint jobs on this tailgate. I've seen white letter paint all but faded off on many trucks. But that's usually a truck that sat a lot and the edges on one side of the letters hangs is still there.

I believe it's original paint and the letters were never painted, for whatever reason

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

It very well could be. Good points. If someone bent the gate badly and bought a new one in say 1970, would they have installed a GM reproduction gate? What would have been on there coating wise, flat black primer? 55 years of wear and tear on the body would look indistinguishable from 52 years of wear and tear on the gate. It’s an interesting question.

The tan 68 I pictured above (same tailgate situation) is clearly a repaint based on the grille and roof not being ivory. But the tailgate looks similar on the inside as the 67 in question. Now that I look closer at the light green 67, I don’t see the usual fading on the upper shoulders of the bed and fenders and roof. I am leaning more towards an old complete repaint.

I certainly am not claiming I know any more about it, just tossing out my perspective.

Attachment 2180291

Attachment 2180292

Attachment 2180293

Attachment 2180303

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

Not sure if this could be part of the "possible repaint" equation but I noticed that both tailgate links are unpainted. All the NOS ones I've seen have been unfinished but I rarely see survivor trucks with their gates down so I've always wondered if they were originally body colored or unfinished. Anyone know for sure? My truck has had one exterior repaint in it's life and the links are body colored and there is overspray on the rubber tailgate bumpers.

Here are the pics from above.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

Original paint claimed on this 68.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

My 2 cents - the 67 data book states that all trucks had off-white tailgate lettering, except for white, off-white, and silver trucks, which had black lettering. So trim level should have no bearing on tailgate lettering paint presence.

As for the question of whether or not the tailgates "should" have painted letters, I'd say that should be a yes.
As for the question of whether all tailgates actually had their tailgate letters painted by the factory, who knows - lots of examples to the contrary above.

While I think we all have a good eye to be able to tell if paint looks original, sometimes it's easy to forget that these trucks are now 50-55 years old, and a 40-45 year old repaint can look pretty darn original, faded, and rusty now. Great data points above to scratch one's chin on though.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

Here is my original, never painted 67. If the letters were painted then there is no white residue left like on the once white top.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

I got this from original owners son 36000 mile no repaint True barn find has painted letters

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

ATOG and The67Beast if the spids are in your trucks what plants were they built at. If built at same plant and one has painted letters and one not, I give up.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

Already Gone, mine came out of the Atlanta plant.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

Mine was from flint

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

My father had a base 67, and I had a loaded CST, and both had original paint (this was in mid 70;s), and both had the white painted letters. No idea what plant either came from though, and they were traded long ago.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

I'm still trying to find a definitive answer to this one. I have a 1970 custom with unpainted tailgate letters, and I've been noticing others lately (like sitting in a tree row slowly dying) and no painted tailgate letters on them either. Is there a definitive answer as to whether or not the letters should be painted?

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

My '69 that I bought new has white letters.

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

I used the stick-on vinyl letters when my truck got a cheap paint job back around 1990. They actually lasted around 8-10 years. But when the truck was painted again in 2018, the shop painted the letters and topped them with clear coat with the rest of the tailgate. I don't know how they did it so well, but it looks factory or better.

On another note, this sales brochure shows that painted letters came on at least some trim levels.

https://www.chevytrucklegends.com/us...ucks/1967.html

https://www.chevytrucklegends.com/co...-rear-1967.png

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

That illustration shows no tailgate trim to go with the tail light trim. It also shows '66 hubcaps and the tailgate handle is either chrome or trimmed in stainless

Re: Question on Tailgate Lettering.
 

The illustration also shows the white roof color extending to the upper part of the door. That's odd.