Topic: Rear Wheel well black out

[thefordshow]

Not sure what to do with the rear wheel wells of my May 68 .5 Dearborn car. Assembly line photos show a dominant body color in the front and rear areas of the wheel wells of this '68 and '70 mustang. Was the black out done after this stage of assembly?

[thefordshow]

I also came across this from an original '68 mustang wheel well from a 1/4 section out of an AZ parts car with original paint. Was the black out a "some got it and some didn't" thing?

[CharlesTurner]

The rear wheel wells would only be blacked out by a dealer if undercoat/sealing was done.  From the assembly plant, the rear wheel wells would be body color over sound deadener.

Front wheel wells were usually covered with sound deadener from the assembly plant, but the application could vary from plant to plant.  It's typical for dealers to apply even more as part of undercoat/sealing.

[J_Speegle]

The process seems to depend on the assembly plant and year. From my experiences.


For others looking at San Jose cars

I've found them both ways on San Jose cars (cars with exterior color over sound deadener and those with some black spray or body color - over the sound deadener).

It is my belief that some workers stationed at the pinch weld blackout station would black out the rear wheel wells as the cars passed by. In a non scientific study it looks to be 50/50 with no connection to the exterior car color.


Bottom line for me  is that a restored rear wheelwells we don't want to see sound deadener over body color or black with out body color under it. Its all about reproducing the original steps and processes. We've come along way in or understanding of how the unibodies were processed and prepared.