Topic: 1970 Metuchen underbody color

[Hipo giddyup]

My son has started to remove dirt, crud, old undercoating, etc. from the underneath of his 70' Mach I. I was expecting to see a red oxide primer underneath but so far most of the rear of the car looks to be sprayed with a batch color resembling  an off green color?? Is this even possible? I will add a few pics later today to our findings.

Since he is not on a 100% concourse track, he wants to represent the car "close" to original. Would we just spray the red oxide since it is what is "usually" found?

[Coralsnake]

I would not (and have not) done what everyone else is doing.

Document your car and restore it the way it was originally built.

[carlite65]

+1 to that sentiment. do it once correctly.

[J_Speegle]

My son has started to remove dirt, crud, old undercoating, etc. from the underneath of his 70' Mach I. I was expecting to see a red oxide primer underneath but so far most of the rear of the car looks to be sprayed with a batch color resembling  an off green color?? Is this even possible? I will add a few pics later today to our findings.

Clean everything to confirm this is not from a repaint or some other cause and even (well I would in the area of the rear clean down through the layer of top coat and see if there is another application below. Documenting as you go and as you find clues along the way. This will help you determine what may have been going on with this specific car. Would also check the Mach I sound deadener applied to the floor if it was applied in the same area of the unusual colored application as well as the rear dolly mark areas

Of course, if you would, report back to us so we see also. Knowing when the car was built would help as we compare other cars that might turn up.

As mentioned in another thread I documented something similar though different colors of paint/primer sealers were used on a different year and plant. Though stripping the top coat near the transition I was able to determine which was applied first and the best I can tell the floor (firewall rearward) was being sprayed and some how the spray jets were turned off and at a following paint station a worker was directed to fix the problem by spraying over the bare steel floor pan, reward of where the earlier coat stopped producing a two color floor pan.

Would not suggest anyone else copy what was found to another car but would be fine with the owner reproducing the mistake back on the car if restored

Thanks again for sharing
 

[Hipo giddyup]

Sorry, I?ve been busy the last few days. I am seeing a white-ish paint with maybe light green tint to it? Seems like not much of any paint from the front tunnel back towards the rear seat area. I see blacks runs at the front tunnel area that were left after the front firewall was painted? My son had been sanding/cleaning and the one picture is the result left behind. The back end has this color and what appears to be drips with black in the center where maybe the drip popped and black or undercoating filled it in?

[Hipo giddyup]

Here are some pics.. BTW, Metuchen built 70? Mach I, built end of Sept., early Oct. 1969.

[J_Speegle]

Here are some pics.. BTW, Metuchen built 70? Mach I, built end of Sept., early Oct. 1969.

Really odd finish for a NJ car. Is there a reason for the question mark?      "Metuchen built 70?"

What color was the exterior originally?

Guess that Oct would put the car in the 0T115xxx-0T125xxx range. For that time period I've got allot of light salmon red oxide colors and allot of body color overspray. Some of that might explain what your pictures show on what is left of the original panels

[Hipo giddyup]

Sorry guys, the ? is a typo. It's a Metuchen built Mach, original exterior color is Grabber blue, 351W H code with black knit interior. My son is now sanding off the remnants of the original coat. Vin is 0T112xxx range. Car has appr. 151,000 original miles on it when it was parked. Surprisingly the rear quarters, drop offs, and wheel houses are still intact (not as common now a days with a well-used East coast car), although these areas have a few issues here and there. I cant make out the true color of this paint. I'll try some wax and grease remover and hopefully get a better shot this weekend..

[Hipo giddyup]

Here is a pic of my son's progress. Might be hard to tell but there is that light green filler used over the lead, in this case, it's on the top quarters to the roof panel..

[Hipo giddyup]

Whilst browsing prior posts, I ran across this post (see below) that is very much related to my findings of underbody Metuchen color during late Sept. 69'-early Oct'. The color I am finding is a light green, like a seafood green, and since replacing the quarter and outer wheel house, I have found the same color within the wheel house area. Thoughts on what Metuchen was doing a this time? Is this left-over paint that was used instead of red primer?? 

http://www.concoursmustang.com/forum/index.php?topic=14575.msg90883#msg90883


My wheel house pic coming soon..

BTW our car is around 112xxx range.

[Hipo giddyup]

Here is my pic. I added the common bright green 3M tape roll for a baseline understanding of the (sea foam) like green.. Thoughts?

[J_Speegle]

Here is my pic. I added the common bright green 3M tape roll for a baseline understanding of the (sea foam) like green.. Thoughts?

What a difference a single day may have had on details especially early or very late in production.

Given the provided "0T112xxx range" and "early Oct. 1969"

The 0T109xxx is interesting as similar but not likely from the same production period. If the date posted in the other thread is the real build date then its a month off and may help support that the odd paint color is an oddity used for some very short early production periods when there was a issue with the typically applied color or supply

Here is a short list of of what I found from the period

0T102xxx -Light pink/salmon red oxide
0T103xxx -Light pink/salmon red oxide
0T108xxx -Light pink/salmon red oxide
0T108xxx -Light gray batch
0T109xxx -Light blue green = from other thread
0T110xxx -True red oxide color
0T112xxx -Your son's car
0T112xxx -Nothing visible in pictures other than a lot of body color overspray
0T115xxx -True red oxide color

Note: We much hope and assume until proven otherwise that the providers of the above cars and their pictures identified their cars correctly


Unfortunately allot of NJ cars are typically fairly rusty making good examples of such details more difficult than cars from other plants. One exception is often 68 Shelbys and 70 Boss 302's sine they were shipped out of the north east at a higher rate than other models

[Hipo giddyup]

Thanks for your response Jeff. At least this topic has been discussed and could possibly help others out down the road. My son wants to keep many aspects of the car original but is not concerned with matching a "batch paint" to reflect an "oddity" where the one time Metuchen wasn't using red oxide for one reason or another. I will be sure that this is documented with the car and is noted with these pics, etc. Perhaps later in life he will want to reproduce these oddities to reflect what really happened the day his car was assembled.
As always, thanks so much!!