Topic: Grill,Rocker Mouldings,Rear Honeycomb Panel Colour

[J_Speegle]

After alot of searching, and as far as I can find out the headlight surrounds were black,..............

Not sure where you "searched" but don't believe your conclusion is correct

[jatkinson]

We have been a Ford dealer since 1967. My father is friends with the man that was our parts and service rep from 67-75. He suggested I call him. So I did. I printed what he told me. As I said "as far as I can find out"

[J_Speegle]

We have been a Ford dealer since 1967. My father is friends with the man that was our parts and service rep from 67-75. He suggested I call him. So I did. I printed what he told me. As I said "as far as I can find out"

It's often difficult for any of us to remember little details from 40 yrs ago. As some help here are a few pictures of what were all reported to be original cars from all three plants. Where its possible in the picture take notice of the black engine compartment black and the color of the headlight surrounds, grill ...

[app01]

As far as service parts, I have some NOS headlight surround pieces and  a wide lower grille molding still in the sealed Ford bags and they are all the argent color as in Jeffs pictures.  I can tell that the shades are slightly different between the pieces, but all the argent color and definitely not black.

[rayms69]

my NOS set of the headlight surrounds are argent. So the grill is painted to match all the argent, guess i just didnt want to paint it. Spray it with a gun or rattle can? is the NPD argent good enough?I have an NOS set of the black plastic fake front brake air ducts vent, they are definitely black and not painted...forever.

[jatkinson]

Jeff, Thanks for posting the pictures. Wish you  posted  them a couple of months ago when I first posted  it would have saved me a ton of time and phone calls..LOL  What was confusing to me was the guy that had my car told me he painted everything black because he liked the car better that way. When I pulled everything apart you can see that everything was gray before but the headlight surrounds they have the Ford stamping/part number on them and have not been painted? Anyways I called the retired Ford rep a month or so ago, he checked into it and thats what he said when he got back to me. Either way I got my answer... Thanks

[jatkinson]

Rayms69, Same thing with the paint, as far as I could find out. Ask 10 people get 5 different answers. A couple of people used the NPD paint and liked it so thats what I went with. When I started to pull off the rockers the back of them is still the gray colour and the painted grill and sorrounds look very close to me...

[rayms69]

Thanks, did u paint over a painted grill. That's what I read anyways, I will get some of that plastic adhesion promoter then the argent.

[jatkinson]

Yes my grill and sport light surrounds were already painted, I just scuffed them off ,cleaned them and painted. I used promoter on the headlight surrounds when I painted them.

[rayms69]

cool, i wonder if the NPD paint is the correct ditzler paint code

[69bossnine]

jatkinson - There was a brief period of time (a couple of years, 10-15 years ago, can't remember precisely) where the headlamp moldings were still available through Ford, but they came UNPAINTED... Apparantly Ford's supplier either forgot, or neglected, to follow the process sheets and spray the argent. Or the masking fixtures got lost, who knows. But that could explain the lack of any paint under the black.

rayms69 - Our dark argent is not based upon any original mix code or formula, which can be problematic these days due to all the environmental/chemical changes in paint that sometimes causes mixing by "formula" to result in colors that are way-off. Basically, I removed several grille trim pieces from my un-restored and 100% original 4,900-mile 1970 Mach 1, and gave them to our paint supplier to match, which they did an extremely fine job of... And then I re-attached the parts to my car. I've had to go through the motions a couple of times since, because when new EPA standards roll out, the colors can get "off", and we have to re-benchmark. You should be happy with it, our item # AP-GPA.

Rick
NPD

[J_Speegle]

rayms69 - Our dark argent is not based upon any original mix code or formula, which can be problematic these days due to all the environmental/chemical changes in paint that sometimes causes mixing by "formula" to result in colors that are way-off. ............

+1 an ongoing challenge for us

You could spray out some of the rattle can and have that matched so that you can spray paint from a gun. The formula would then be good until they changed the paint base and tints/toners again


Just an option

[rayms69]

Thanks NPD Rick, I was gonna test it out in comparison to my NOS headlight surrounds prior to use on the grill. Its gonna be a go no go. Rick I could use a discount on an expensive purchase on friday from u guys, buying my headliner, dashpad and other odds and ends, I do advertise y'all often.

[jatkinson]

jatkinson - There was a brief period of time (a couple of years, 10-15 years ago, can't remember precisely) where the headlamp moldings were still available through Ford, but they came UNPAINTED... Apparantly Ford's supplier either forgot, or neglected, to follow the process sheets and spray the argent. Or the masking fixtures got lost, who knows. But that could explain the lack of any paint under the black.

Thanks Rick, I'm sure that is the answer. I have dealt with NPD on everything I have done with this car. Great products. Great service.