Topic: Original wheel house/underbody color? 66 Dearborn

[GermanDude]

Hello to all,

for the mistakes in my english phrases I have to apologize beforehand but I promise to try my best.
My name is Michael and I'm only a few years younger than my Mustang. As you have probably noticed I'm a german guy and I live in the middle of germany.
2 years ago I realized my biggest dream and after approx. 7 years of searching i bought myself a 66 Mustang Fastback. One of the best ideas in my life
I'm a member of the "First Mustang Club of Germany" and also active in the corresponding forum.
Some days ago I decided to try out the communication with those people who probably know best everything about the Mustangs and its history and I registered myself in another Muatang Forum in the USA. One user of this Forum recommended to raise again my question here. So here I am 

First I'm wondering which color was originally used for the underbody and the wheel houses.
And second I'm searching for as much informations as possible about the initial production state of my car. Unfortunately the doorplate is gone and I have no idea about colors, the production date and everything else. The Vin is 6F09A350414.
I really would appreciate your help.

Cheers

Michael

[bryancobb]

Be Patient Michael.
The guys who have all the facts take a while to get cranked up sometimes.  In the meantime, use the search feature and try "undercarriage color" or similar search terms.

The approximate scheduled build date, and plant will determine the color. 

[priceless]

From the looks of your consecutive unit number, it looks like a late production '66. If it was a '67 or later you could obtain a Marti report and it would tell you everything you need to know.

But, for now, try to find a copy of your broadcast sheet. It can be found under the carpet, under the dash around wiring, in the trunk under the mat. Sometimes, the broadcast sheets were destroyed over the years.....Good luck, and hope this helps.

[Pete Bush]

Michael,

It's possible to approximate your scheduled build date by comparing your VIN to those published in the Mustang Production Guide. Such a comparison would conclude that your car was built at the Dearborn assembly plant around May 13th (13E). It could be a day or two either side of that date, but that should get you close.

Those more knowledgeable about undercarriage finishes might use that date for the basis of their replies.

Pete

[J_Speegle]

First I'm wondering which color was originally used for the underbody and the wheel houses.
And second I'm searching for as much informations as possible about the initial production state of my car. Unfortunately the doorplate is gone and I have no idea about colors, the production date and everything else. The Vin is 6F09A350414.

First welcome to the forum

For your plant and time period

Rear wheelwells - Body color over sound deadener. Overspray from both should be found on the frame rail and gas tank drop immediately nearby - where it males sense with the pattern of application. On the outer lip of the rear wheelwell the sound deadener and body color overspray is reduced due to the quarter panel lip (produced a shadow) so you can find bare metal along the inner lip there

Floor pan - From the firewall rearward likely IMHO batch colors. Unlike later batch colors 66 Dearborn seems to be less dark gray finished colors and more medium dark greens and blues

Firewall forward (inner fender panels and front frame rails - red oxide

Front wheelwells

Allot depends on the effort the painter put into it but over the base of red oxide from the cowl-firewall section in the wheelwell to the radiator support we find black paint at the front third (about the start of the shock tower inset and body color from the cowl forward to the rear of the shock tower. We often see body color further forward (into the shock tower and sometimes to the radiator  - only to be covered with black back to a point when the engine compartment and radiator support were painted

Over all of this sound deadener was applied once the front fenders and everything was installed (lacking the front wheels and tires)  This application was often heavy and covered allot of these surfaces - again depending on the effort of the worker applying it

Hope this helps

[GermanDude]

Thanks for your great support and sorry for the very late answer.
I have no glue why I haven't replied and I actually hate it when people are acting like this in other Forums 
Maybe I lost the overview because I had a lot of activities this time.

Meanwhile the underbody and wheel houses are colored based on your hints.
I also tried for a very long time and very intensively to find the last owners of the car because there was no broadcast sheet available.
Also the hints to find the original colour were unfortunately not leading to a positive result.
The car was disassembled very often during its lifetime and all areas to find the right colour are touched meanwhile.

I succeeded to contact all owners back to 1986.
I had a lot of hope that the owner of 1986 could say something about the original state but exactly this owner was not willing to say anything (for whatever reason).
All other owners were very helpful and friendly and the last owner which owned it the last 15 years in the USA sent a package to Germany just like that with nice things related to the car. Just great!
Even I tried it very carefully and friendly it seems I will never hear again from the 1986 owner, which is really really sad because it was the last hope to get the original state.

I hope you accept my apologies for the late reply and I can still count on your great support in the future.

Michael

[WT8095]

My '68 fastback was repainted a few times before it came to me. There are a number of places where I was able to find the original color, some still with a nice "orange peel" finish. One place I would suggest looking is the metal flanges that the windshield and rear window gaskets go on. The photo shows the rear window opening on mine.

Look in places where weatherstripping was glued on. Look inside the trunk and inside the front fenders, the back side of the headlight buckets and front and rear valances. These are all places that would have overspray at the factory. A typical repaint would not get at all those areas, but a thorough restoration probably would. And if you think the original color is underneath new layers, you can carefully sand through the top layers by hand to get to the original color.

[67gtasanjose]

My '68 fastback was repainted a few times before it came to me. There are a number of places where I was able to find the original color, some still with a nice "orange peel" finish. One place I would suggest looking is the metal flanges that the windshield and rear window gaskets go on. The photo shows the rear window opening on mine.

Look in places where weatherstripping was glued on. Look inside the trunk and inside the front fenders, the back side of the headlight buckets and front and rear valances. These are all places that would have overspray at the factory. A typical repaint would not get at all those areas, but a thorough restoration probably would. And if you think the original color is underneath new layers, you can carefully sand through the top layers by hand to get to the original color.

+1, good points!

also, under the bottom sides of the drip rails, beneath the weatherstrips The channel is easy to use as a mask-off point that sill looks very crisp when finished. Many repaints stop there because the two-sided tape sticks really well, not wishing to damage the channel molding upon removal.

[GermanDude]

Thanks to both of you for keeping the hope alive.
Sounds like there are some options left.
I will try to have closer look when the Winter is gone and the risk to freeze to death in the garage is lower 

Michael

[WT8095]

I will try to have closer look when the Winter is gone and the risk to freeze to death in the garage is lower 

It's -15F here in Minnesota this morning, with wind chill at -35F. Does that make it feel warmer where you're at? 

[GermanDude]

It's -15F here in Minnesota this morning, with wind chill at -35F. Does that make it feel warmer where you're at? 

I will stop complaining 

Michael

[jwc66k]

It's 61F at Levi's Stadium. Is that cold?
Jim

[WT8095]

Anything above 0F isn't cold