[moparts]

Ok.
Body color painted first.

Paint was then baked in the oven.

Car then went through the anti-rust booth.

Firewall was then sprayed using a sheild around the front.

The firewall paint was not baked on.
This happened just before the car went into trim.

They didn't change the way the car was painted, they just added painting the firewall a different color.

Dad thinks this was done to make sure that area had a complete covering of paint. The firewall area wasn't a major focus point when painting the rest of the car. He said something about the paint being a fast drying paint (and maby a rust inhibitor) because the time from the anti-rust booth and trim wasn't long enough for regular paint to dry without a oven. This even makes sense that they would do it in the anti-rust section.

Dad thinks that the change at St. Louis possibly coinsided with the opening of their new addition to the plant.

On firewall not being painted here was the reply.....if one got missed for some reason (like running out of paint) they would NOT have shut down the line to fix it. Any cars that went by in that time just may have not got painted. This would also apply to other non critial area's, such as anti-rust.

Dad said he spent most of his time in Detroit fixing their paint problems.

Now this part I asked him. If the firewall was painted after, then did they remark any of the paint codes? Answer : Any of the paint codes should be under the body color and firewall paint. After the car left anti-rust they had the build sheets to go by.

Hope this helps.