Yes; rear axle was painted after assembly, including brake drums.

William, did you mean to say backing plates instead of drums? Drums would be natural cast not?

Nope; drums and backing plates were painted. This is from a March '68 issue of HP Cars magazine. I have two other vintage pics of the same thing.

My drums were black as well.

https://i.ibb.co/dD0z3Hy/IMG-6947.jpg.

Ah man... just when I think I know something, BOOM! Try again:youguysrock:

Now this prompts me to have other questions....if the axle wasn't painted until completely assembled with drums, would the axle studs then be painted black as well? How about the parts of the drum brakes that poke through the backing plate? Wheel cylinder, backing plate mounting bolts, & spring pins all would be black?

Guessing here, I believe the threaded portion was masked. I see paint on the ends of the studs in both photos. On very low mile survivors there is some black paint at the ends of the pb cables.

Not the best pic but still vintage '68.

No - no masking was done.

"Paint" was sort of drizzled in the general direction of the chassis as it went by.

Photo from the Lansing Oldsmobile plant attached.

You may already be familiar with this but this is the best write up of the assembly process (for any product) that I have seen:

http://www.camaros.org/assemblyprocess.shtml

K

Camaro axles were completely painted at the axle plant after assembly. The pinion yoke was masked with a cardboard tube.

Firebird axles were built by Pontiac and were not painted. They got a light dusting of black paint on the bottom after vehicle final assembly.

Different brands, different processes.

Thank you, William. I was not aware of the cardboard tube.

My expertise is more related to Pontiac Michigan builds and GM light trucks of the era.

K

Most of what we know about 1st Gen Camaro assembly comes from John Z.