Here are pictures of my coil springs before and after evaporusting, off my 1970. I assumed I would find a lot of black paint under the rust, but did not. Just found dark grey, phosphate like color. (note that I did have some black residue after evaporusting, but it seemed like black liquid from the de-rusting process, not paint like I have seen on other parts). Another post mentioned that all the black paint would have flexed off over the years, and so even if you didn’t find black paint, they should be black.
Interesting how the paint markings held up better than anything else. I flecked off the paint markings to check for black underneath and found none. Would the dark grey springs be proper/possible for a 1970 Dearborn?? I also assumed the paint markings go on after the black paint?? If the paint markings went on first that might explain the absence of black under the markings.
If the dark grey is correct, was that a phosphate finish or something else? (not against painting them black, just trying to be accurate).
Thanks, Barry