Topic: 70 Dearborn MACH1 Paint Questions

[Blown351stang]

I have a question for anyone with an idea on how 70 Dearborn mach1 cars are painted.
My car is a K code (Bright Gold Met) colour and I know it has had a respray at least twice in its life. I decided to strip the body deadener off the toque box to redo it but only to find what looks to be a yellow paint (Not Metallic) which I have seen on the transmission tunnel and lower bottom of the firewall under the black paint. Could it just be a base coat that Ford used because its not really seen? The trunk has a different shade as well but someone painted black over most of it  and it looks to have the original paint under it as the black comes off. I have paint chip charts from 1970 and I have all the 1970 dealer exterior colour samples and the trunk is a much lighter colour then the ford sample is this just normal to look like that? I mean the car is 46 years old.

[J_Speegle]

A few questions to clarify some things.

I'm guessing that your reporting that this "yellow" was under the floor color/batch color?

We can see the batch color in picture #2 (barely in picture #1)in the transmission tunnel and the yellow on the passenger side torque box.  Not sure where you found the yellow on the lower section of the firewall as mentioned

Picture #4 seems to suggest that the yellow was applied under the batch color.

The torque boxes are visible from the side though the pinch weld black out normally covered all or allot of the outer/bottom surface from that application. It the yellow was under the batch color, exterior overspray and the pinch weld overspray it can often be removed when you took off the Mach I sound deadener


Picture #5 appears to show the typical exterior color found on Dearborn built cars in the front wheel well and now under the idler arm mounting bolts as shown

Trunk pictures show the dribbling of the defroster black out often found though not always applied as heavy and producing runs on the trunk side of the application Since the areas you show of the trunk didn't get a strong coat of paint I think it may be the Bright Gold Met just applied thinly over the base bare metal, red oxide and or gray filler primer overspray  in that area. Truer color sample would be best taken from the bottom of the trunk lid or trunk hinges I would think for comparison purposes


As far as the front frame/torque box paint I have seen some other Dearborn examples (thinking of a 69 at the moment) where it appeared there was a small area almost marked with a completely different color that was later in the paint process painted almost completely over by the engine compartment black, floor color and exterior paint application.  Don't think it was related to the unibody marking practice Dearborn did to identify certain cars for different handling that we find under the black engine compartment black but it could be the same thing going on from the underside (just thinking out load trying to come up with some reasoning) to indicate to the painters or builders in the pit something different about the car

[Blown351stang]

A few questions to clarify some things.

I'm guessing that your reporting that this "yellow" was under the floor color/batch color?

Not sure where you found the yellow on the lower section of the firewall as mentioned

I have not seen any batch color under the car just the yellow looking paint. I had wiped it over with paint thinner and that's what showed up. Maybe after all those years and having the sound deadener over it that it has taken the gold look out of it. There was no batch or yellow paint on the wheel well side of the firewall.

It had the smallest lot of fine over spray.




The paint on the lower firewall is the same yellow.
From the line down and there is different spots under the car from front to the back.



Under the brake cable.

[J_Speegle]

I have not seen any batch color under the car just the yellow looking paint. I had wiped it over with paint thinner and that's what showed up. Maybe after all those years and having the sound deadener over it that it has taken the gold look out of it. There was no batch or yellow paint on the wheel well side of the firewall

Looked again at your first pictures the the blue gray I was seeing in one picture appears to be your transmission    and under the black on your first torque box appeared to be a gray gray in contrast by this may be an older black application than had aged and over coated with black  First post pic #4


After looking at your new pictures it pretty apparent that the yellow like color (not related to the trunk finish) was the batch color. As I've mentioned before with the addition of all the grabber and brighter colors introduced in 70 we saw a much wider range of batch colors due to the addition of all these colors. Have seen bright green, orange/burnt reds as well as the dark grays we saw in earlier years.  When they happen to be close in color or tint to the exterior colors some assume that the cars were painted exterior color both top and bottom while on other cars the two clash like orange or yellow cars with light green undercarriages/floors

6th picture in your second set though does make me wonder what is going on or what you may have done during clean up since its either dried paint (floor color) that remained after your cleaning or something not factory is going on since it appears that the yellow is on things like fuel lines and e brake cables. Items not added until after painting.   Can you explain in that picture?

[Blown351stang]

6th picture in your second set though does make me wonder what is going on or what you may have done during clean up since its either dried paint (floor color) that remained after your cleaning or something not factory is going on since it appears that the yellow is on things like fuel lines and e brake cables. Items not added until after painting.   Can you explain in that picture?

I guess it would of been cheaper for the factory to use a solid color then a metallic color and get it close as most people when the car was new would not even look under there car.

Although all the sheet metal had been painted over with black paint I do believe it was painted over the original paint colors. When I had strip all the sheet metal there was no sanding or sand blasting marks on the metal only raw metal look.

In the 6th picture and other pic's the darker yellow/orange stuff is just a amber rustproof that I spray in the sheet metal joints all over the car to try and make it last for many years to come as the plan is not to do a full restoration and drive it.

[J_Speegle]

I guess it would of been cheaper for the factory to use a solid color then a metallic color and get it close as most people when the car was new would not even look under there car.

It was all (metallic and non) just paint that other wise thrown away. Save Ford money and help produced a coating that would at least deter rusting over the next few years