Jeff: Thanks very much for your thoughts.
I agree that it would be a good idea to list the items that could be corrected in the engine compartment...some of those you noted in earlier posts and questions I had.
For everyone's benefit, the nuts and bolts on the shock tower, the shock absorber and the shock tower support frame that attaches to the firewall - are currently all gloss black (painted that way when we had our car's body and paint work completed). The gloss black certainly looks good...probably the reason we have kept the gloss black paint. Those nuts and bolts, if I am not mistaken, should be phosphate and oil (similar to the long battery hold down nuts and bolts in the picture).
Some believe the shock tower cap should also be phosphate and oil. Previous input from the Forum indicated there were multiple suppliers for this part servicing the Metuchen Plant in 1968. We have documentation that some suppliers used gloss black, some suppliers used phosphate and oil. So...in our cases, the gloss black is correct.
I hope the above is helpful. Jeff...thanks again.