Now having 6 fullsize 69's plus having acquired 3 or 4 used and one NOS nose piece I've noticed three distinct versions of these nose pieces. The first one (green) is still wearing original paint from a Oct 68 California built very low mileage garage kept since new. It is distinguished by a very thin lip on the inside edge that has no taper. This one is failing and I had two other cars (also early production built in Southgate) and they were literally turned to crumbling dry mudcake. All of these ones seem to fail and only the exceptional care of this car has this nose in half decent condition (still cracking and you can see that the lip is falling off.
The second style (red) has a tapered but still pretty thin lip. This one is on a November 68 Oshawa built car. It's been repainted so not sure if it is original to the car but there is no sign of repair to the rubber material and it is still a bit pliable and not dried out. The paint is cracking (probably no flex agent) but the nose material itself is not cracking.
The third style (the brown one) is the style I've most often found in relatively good condition. The lip on this version is much thicker and there is also much more "rubber" material inside, you can spot the third version by the holes for the emblem not protruding right through the inside since there is much more thickness. In both cases I found used ones they were on late production cars and my NOS one is also this style. They must use a different compound as the one in this picture was found on 69 Catalina that sat in a field for 20 plus years with mostly faded away original paint. I painted it brown but it had no cracks or brittleness.
also note that the second and 3rd versions have a hollow where the lip tucks in under the nose but the first version has a square shoulder where the lip attachs
The replacement I found (eBay) for my Laurentian was the third style. You are correct in that it was much more robust than the original that was on my car.
That's interesting Randy. I wonder if it was a service piece of some sort with a part number that likely would have only shown up in a service bulletin.
I've had 3 of the nose pieces in my hands. All were of the thick style, and I think they all had Made in Canada embossed on them. I don't think the CP's got the thin shell style ones.
I sold one for $400. It was still totally soft. Should have hung onto it.
__________________
65 Laurentian post, 67 Grande Parisienne 4 door HT.
Interesting read. The nose on my Parisienne is peeling, or losing the top layer. It's in storage and I have no close ups. Hopefully I'll remember and add some pics to the thread. In addition my car is a March built.