Someone sent me an email as I was restoring our Bugeye and asked me if I
had found any markings on the Bonnet. He refered to it as a watermark.
Apparently acid etched ever so slightly into the metal surface by the
factory. It was way after the car was painted and we hadn't seen
anything or known to look. I cant find the email in my files, so that's
all I can shed on the subject.
Dave
Rich C wrote:
> Carlos,
> I can't comment on any of your questions other than to say this would
> have been done by someone at Jensens where the bodies were assembled
> and painted.
> Rich Chrysler
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carlos Cruz"
> <healey3000bn7@yahoo.com>
> To: "Healey List" <healeys@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 5:55 PM
> Subject: Assembly Line Markings or Not
>
>
>> Good day fellow Listers,
>>
>> This one is for all the Healey Historians in the bunch - particularly
>> those familiar with the Healey assembly lines. The shop doing the
>> work on my car is also begun a ground up restoration on a widow's
>> husbands MKII BT7. The shop has completely disassembled the car and
>> had the frame / tub bead blasted. The result is OK - not as good as
>> they had expected. So they have decided to have the frame dipped.
>>
>> When they got the car back from the blaster, they found two initials
>> "GP" in 4 to 5 inch block letters stenciled on the inside right rear
>> fender wall - not the fender / panel but the inner fender wall
>> attached to the tub. The letters appear to the left of the wheel
>> well on the flat surface roughly centered from top to bottom. I can
>> provide photos if interested. The letters themselves were not painted
>> on (otherwise they would have come off during the blasting). It
>> appears as though it's metal on metal application (but smooth to the
>> touch).
>>
>> There have been threads in the past regarding markings put on the
>> cars from assembly line workers. The car is believed to have been
>> "untouched" and in original - although well aged - state prior to the
>> disassembly. The shop has asked me to reach out to this knowledgeable
>> group to see if anyone can shed some light on this. Some of the
>> questions they have are:
>>
>> What do the initials GP represent? Any context would be helpful.
>>
>> Do they have anything to do with people working the line assembling
>> these cars?
>>
>> How were the initials applied to the frame?
>>
>> If the initials are meaningful, any suggestions on how to protect the
>> initials from the dipping process?
>>
>> Has anyone else come across markings of this type during your
>> restoration processes?
>>
>> Thanks in advance for your help.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Carlos Cruz
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