FT3 body color Plymouth D-plant, Belvedere Illinois
So is monobake only something a FT3 painted Plymouth built at the D-plant got ?
I would say NO.
The FT3 paint was available the whole model year 1970 for all C-bodies. Chrysler co built over 550000 C-bodies so there must be more than just 4 Plymouths painted that color.
Plymouths were made at several plants not just the D-plant.
The D-plant also made Dodges. It seems that at least 8 Polara convertibles left the plant painted FT3.
If Chrysler’s main goal is to make profit for the owners’ why spend money and time on special painting on the lowest car make at just one plant. If there was problem with the paint they could have withdrawn it during the model year.
On the other hand if the FT3 Chryslers and Imperials also got the monobake treatment it must have been discussed years ago.
So your homework is to find more monobake tags or FT3 painted cars and prove that I’m right.
Joined: Thu Oct 13 2005, 02:28AM
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So the riddle is to find the meaning of the word "Monobake" on the second fender tag, right?
Two of the fender tags pictured are from very early cars, two from cars built rather late in the model year. I also noticed the tags are actually riveted in rather than held by screws. Was that normal for the Belvidere plant?
Joined: Mon Oct 10 2005, 06:00PM
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I cant find a rhyme or reason for rivets or screws when it came to the Belvidere plant. They used both, cars built on the same day vary from rivet to screw.... who knows?
Joined: Thu Jun 20 2013, 12:20PM
Location: Rapid City, SD
Posts: 42
This is a very intriguing mystery. I have not heard of this before in any of the literature I have read. Just throwing a guess out there to ponder. Breaking down the word itself, mono normally meaning one, and bake being a term for heating paint - maybe they were testing a new painting process where they only heated the final painted body once?? I am not sure how the factory process of painting the body actually went - did they normally heat the paint more than once as it went down the line?? Is there anybody on the Dry Dock that has some factory experience from the early 70's on how the paint process normally proceeded? Things that make you go hmmmm... Scott.
Joined: Thu Jun 20 2013, 12:20PM
Location: Rapid City, SD
Posts: 42
After doing a little googling, the normal automotive paint process does require several steps of coating then baking - 1) body in white prep/clean then bake - 2) primer then bake - 3) final paint then bake. You can see from the standpoint of cost savings, if you could combine a few steps in the painting process, you could save a bunch of money. So I am going to stick with my original guess - Chrysler was experimenting with a new paint process - so they could cut costs and increase profits. That's the name of the game. Scott.
Joined: Thu Jun 20 2013, 12:20PM
Location: Rapid City, SD
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Sorry for using the four letter word - but here is a product that uses the "monobake" terminology from the IHS Industry Standards and Regulations webpage:
FORD ESB-M4G197-A: SEALER, MONOBAKE - NON- FLOW GRADE
Descripition of the product: The material defined by this specification is a vinyl resin base, solvent free, low temperature (121°C) curing sealer. It is a monobake sealer which can be applied prior to painting and cured with the paint during the normal bake schedule.
Short excerpt - "SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION - It has now been found that a final curing operation will not only fully cure the undercoating but will also, at the same time, cure the topcoating while providing a composite coating having enhanced characteristics. This final cure operation for both the undercoating and the topcoating is referred to herein for convenience as "monobaking." By incorporating isocyanate adduct into the applied topcoating, this monobaking can be effected without variation from the procedure with coatings not containing such adduct." Scott.