[Lynn]

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Yes, the trunk latch was also pre-installed and painted body color. You will often see the latch left natural or even phosphate plated on restored cars, which is incorrect. As for your original paint, look at the edge of your decklid around the various punched out holes along the back edge, and its likely you will see a smudge or 2 in the paint, usually on the right side, from the painter pulling down the decklid with a finger to paint the top... This was pointed out to me by Brian Henderson a long time ago and since then, i've witnessed this on nearly every original paint 69 camaro I've looked at.

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No kidding? Surely the painter had an assistant to hold the deck lid down. I can't imagine holding it with one hand and painting with the other!! I did know a guy back in the 70's, who owned "Chuck's Body Shop" located in Bethany, OK a suburb just west of OKC. He had worked in a GM plant as a painter and said two guys painted the cars at the same time, one from either side, and that the whole process took less than 5 minutes a car. But he never mentioned anything about an assistant to hold down trunk lids. The reason I thought the lid was shut at some point, is because it would be very difficult if not impossible to lay down some decent paint on an open deck lid, and because my latch had black paint on it indicating it was installed before paint. Why was it installed before paint if the deck lid was not shut somewhere in the process?

Makes you wonder exactly how this was done.

Lynn