Topic: Bumper Brackets

[ChrisV289]

Found something interesting this morning while stripping my brackets.  Were these installed on the car while the body was being primed and the black being applied to the engine compartment?  I found red oxide under the black and on the driver side where the side bumper bracket attaches to the front one at the frame rail, there appear to be no paint applied.  Just a nice outline of where the side bracket is....Thoughts? 

[CharlesTurner]

On non-GT 65-66, the rear bumper brackets would have been installed prior to the car being painted.  The rear valence was usually attached before paint too, so the brackets might get a little over-spray here and there.

[ChrisV289]

Sorry should have been specific, front bumper brackets...

[CharlesTurner]

Haven't ever found evidence of the front brackets being installed before paint.

[ChrisV289]

Here are two pics I took this morning.  First one is after I stripped some of the black paint off the front bumper bracket.  Second pic is side tubular bumper bracket.  Can see red oxide between the metal and the black.  First pic you can see the outline of the side one and there was not much paint there prior to stripping.

[CharlesTurner]

Not typical, possibly stripped and re-painted by a previous owner or repair shop/body shop.  These brackets were usually zinc plated and then dipped in black paint.

[Bob Gaines]

It is ironic that in the pursuit of assemblyline techniques that not only do we have to contend with figuring how Ford did it but we also have to figure out what has or hasn't been "restored"(messed with) in the sometimes multiple restoration attempts by others on a car we are working on. 

[ChrisV289]

My dad was the 3rd owner and I know he didn't do it.  And he bought the car in 1992.   Car hasn't really been restored per say, it had a repaint in the 70's or 80's but wasn't stripped down or dissembled as there are still remnants of the original paint and pinch weld black out.  Along with the frame rail numbers still there.  The primer looks almost like the primer sitting underneath the black paint on the bottom of the car near the engine bay. 

[J_Speegle]

Looks like evidence of a touch up of the paint  at the front end of the car. INHO not unusual for even original owners to forget about things like this. Looked at an "original paint" car last week where the owner had forgotten  about the hood being repainted