69 GT500 wheelwell

[kasearch@ix.netcom.com]

From Shelby American, how would the front wheel well (iapron to the firewall) be correctly painted?  I have seen some of them with body color in this area. is it red oxide, body color or

[Bob Gaines]

From Shelby American, how would the front wheel well (iapron to the firewall) be correctly painted?  I have seen some of them with body color in this area. is it red oxide, body color or

Shelby American did not paint the area you are describing . The painting was done at the Ford Dearborn assembly plant. You could find a varied range of body color and red oxide. You would typically see predominantly body color. You may also see varying degrees of red oxide or none in that area. It probably most depended on the different people at that job during the time the body was painted .Even then the same worker may do it slightly different sometimes IMO.  Just what i have seen.

[J_Speegle]

From Shelby American, how would the front wheel well (iapron to the firewall) be correctly painted?  I have seen some of them with body color in this area. is it red oxide, body color or

Have you been looking at "restored" cars?  If so then yes you've likely seen allot of different things. 

The following article might help show and explain some of the original finishes as well as other processes. The vast majority of them were a mix of three different finishes depending on how far each of the three painters went that day with the product they applied though most fell into their typical pattern since people often just got into a pattern, most of the time, with such routine tasks.


https://www.saacforum.com/index.php?topic=929.msg6979#msg6979

[kasearch@ix.netcom.com]

Thanks Jeff.  That info is great to know. How much different was the process between the other plants? My car came out of Metuchen, so I am curious on this issue.

[Coralsnake]

1969 Shelbys are from Dearborn assy

[J_Speegle]

Thanks Jeff.  That info is great to know. How much different was the process between the other plants?

Very different in the final look and the reason its important, if your restoring a car, to focus on same plant same production period for allot of the details

My car came out of Metuchen, so I am curious on this issue.

You might have a problem if you have a NJ built 69 GT500. As Pete wrote above the 69 GT500 was built starting with Dearborn built Mustang bodies that were completed/converted at AO Smith

[tesgt350]

The Front ends were Painted off the Cars..........

[tesgt350]

BUT....this one....... look at the inner Wheel Well area.  It looks like they have not installed the Liner yet......

[shelbymann1970]

Thanks Jeff.  That info is great to know. How much different was the process between the other plants?

Very different in the final look and the reason its important, if your restoring a car, to focus on same plant same production period for allot of the details

My car came out of Metuchen, so I am curious on this issue.

You might have a problem if you have a NJ built 69 GT500. As Pete wrote above the 69 GT500 was built starting with Dearborn built Mustang bodies that were completed/converted at AO Smith

Talking with a Dearborn engineer and a member here on assy line processes the other day. Being in the automotive field and knowing those also here we both agree that workers are industrious. Over time they find the best and quickest way to do their jobs. I was also told by this guy that there were photo ops that he has seen that were done for publicity but that was not necessarily the way the workers would do it on a daily basis.  So take the plant photos of AO Smith in 1969. When were they shot? Do we have pics of the processes all the way through the production year? Do we know that 100 percent that workers didn't vary from the written processes or they were changed for efficiency? We don't.
Last month I pulled my headlight buckets that were off 0F02R483052  from my attic and looked at them.  some slight grabber blue overspray on the underneath of the buckets. When sanding down the dark colors in areas around the headlight metal buckets that hold the bulbs I have YET to find Grabber blue paint and the buckets were pulled off the car in 1984 and never put back on(damaged). I can say for certainty knowing the car's history a full restoration was not done on the car prior to the previous owner's purchase in 1974(I knew of the car since 1978). Also take note that on the metal part of the fenders where the hood lock brackets bolt we have seen varying tape lines where the grill/headlight bucket color was taped off when sprayed. On 3052 the whole metal portion was grabber blue with no grill color on it. I remember that because my vert had grill color with a tape line and both cars had their original paint still  in the "engine bay".

[Bob Gaines]

Thanks Jeff.  That info is great to know. How much different was the process between the other plants?

Very different in the final look and the reason its important, if your restoring a car, to focus on same plant same production period for allot of the details

My car came out of Metuchen, so I am curious on this issue.

You might have a problem if you have a NJ built 69 GT500. As Pete wrote above the 69 GT500 was built starting with Dearborn built Mustang bodies that were completed/converted at AO Smith

Talking with a Dearborn engineer and a member here on assy line processes the other day. Being in the automotive field and knowing those also here we both agree that workers are industrious. Over time they find the best and quickest way to do their jobs. I was also told by this guy that there were photo ops that he has seen that were done for publicity but that was not necessarily the way the workers would do it on a daily basis.  So take the plant photos of AO Smith in 1969. When were they shot? Do we have pics of the processes all the way through the production year? Do we know that 100 percent that workers didn't vary from the written processes or they were changed for efficiency? We don't.
Last month I pulled my headlight buckets that were off 0F02R483052  from my attic and looked at them.  some slight grabber blue overspray on the underneath of the buckets. When sanding down the dark colors in areas around the headlight metal buckets that hold the bulbs I have YET to find Grabber blue paint and the buckets were pulled off the car in 1984 and never put back on(damaged). I can say for certainty knowing the car's history a full restoration was not done on the car prior to the previous owner's purchase in 1974(I knew of the car since 1978). Also take note that on the metal part of the fenders where the hood lock brackets bolt we have seen varying tape lines where the grill/headlight bucket color was taped off when sprayed. On 3052 the whole metal portion was grabber blue with no grill color on it. I remember that because my vert had grill color with a tape line and both cars had their original paint still  in the "engine bay".

In the past when it has been mentioned that the headlight buckets were installed during the fender painting process . It is meant to infer the "fiberglass headlight bucket" and not the metal cup assembly that holds the bulb which is also referred to many times as a headlight bucket. That assembly was installed after paint. So don't hold your breath to ever think you will find body color paint done from AO Smith on the metal cup assembly. 

[shelbymann1970]

Bob, my reference is that I highly doubt someone would strip the paint off of a headlight bucket behind the metal cup. My point is that my headlight buckets have never been stripped of paint and repainted and have no Grabber Blue paint behind the grill paint. That's all. Those metal pieces have always been black on cars I have owned. So my take is every original bucket that is sanded down should have body color behind the dark argent paint on bucket but they don't-at least in my case with 3052.Seems that the workers would have a lot less taping and such if the buckets were painted (along with stone guard and grill assy)  before being mounted to the fenders and then that area taped off before the body color it would be less work and the process going along faster. No other way to explain no grabber blue on my buckets.

[tesgt350]

Bob, my reference is that I highly doubt someone would strip the paint off of a headlight bucket behind the metal cup. My point is that my headlight buckets have never been stripped of paint and repainted and have no Grabber Blue paint behind the grill paint. That's all. Those metal pieces have always been black on cars I have owned. So my take is every original bucket that is sanded down should have body color behind the dark argent paint on bucket but they don't-at least in my case with 3052.Seems that the workers would have a lot less taping and such if the buckets were painted (along with stone guard and grill assy)  before being mounted to the fenders and then that area taped off before the body color it would be less work and the process going along faster. No other way to explain no grabber blue on my buckets.

Your Shelby could have been damaged at some point before you bought it, maybe in transit to the Dealership when new and those parts replaced, they assembled the Car totally and then taped up the Car so paint didn't get on the inside of the Buckets...........

[shelbymann1970]

Bob, my reference is that I highly doubt someone would strip the paint off of a headlight bucket behind the metal cup. My point is that my headlight buckets have never been stripped of paint and repainted and have no Grabber Blue paint behind the grill paint. That's all. Those metal pieces have always been black on cars I have owned. So my take is every original bucket that is sanded down should have body color behind the dark argent paint on bucket but they don't-at least in my case with 3052.Seems that the workers would have a lot less taping and such if the buckets were painted (along with stone guard and grill assy)  before being mounted to the fenders and then that area taped off before the body color it would be less work and the process going along faster. No other way to explain no grabber blue on my buckets.

Your Shelby could have been damaged at some point before you bought it, maybe in transit to the Dealership when new and those parts replaced, they assembled the Car totally and then taped up the Car so paint didn't get on the inside of the Buckets...........

your comment and scenario doesn't make sense. There is more to this than I put into my posts and it has been brought up before in SAAC 1.0.

[Bob Gaines]

Bob, my reference is that I highly doubt someone would strip the paint off of a headlight bucket behind the metal cup. My point is that my headlight buckets have never been stripped of paint and repainted and have no Grabber Blue paint behind the grill paint. That's all. Those metal pieces have always been black on cars I have owned. So my take is every original bucket that is sanded down should have body color behind the dark argent paint on bucket but they don't-at least in my case with 3052.Seems that the workers would have a lot less taping and such if the buckets were painted (along with stone guard and grill assy)  before being mounted to the fenders and then that area taped off before the body color it would be less work and the process going along faster. No other way to explain no grabber blue on my buckets.

Your Shelby could have been damaged at some point before you bought it, maybe in transit to the Dealership when new and those parts replaced, they assembled the Car totally and then taped up the Car so paint didn't get on the inside of the Buckets...........

There was no need to tape up the buckets because it didn't matter if they got painted body color or not. I have not come across a A O Smith picture that showed masking paper installed to limit body color paint in the bucket area. I do think that the staged AO Smith pictures reflect a ideal finished look because upon inspection of many survivor cars during restoration it is typical to finding a less then total body color coverage on the buckets under the gray like seen in the premonition  photos. Sometimes the buckets got painted a lot and other times very little paint got on the buckets . It was overspray paint if it got on to the buckets given that there was no direction or reason to paint them. Tapping was done during the painting of the gray for the grill area process to keep it from getting on the body color.