Topic: Underside floor black - Jan 65 Dearborn

[1965 t5]

on my  Jan 65 Dearborn car, I know the underside was black.  Is the proper black an epoxy black primer (dull and uneasy to clean) or what is recommended?  Also, was there red primer ever showing under the cars that were black?  maybe in outermost area of rear wheelwells?

[J_Speegle]

Have never  seen  one painted black. Once examined they have always (at least in my eye) turned out to be be off just a little and most likely of mixing colors producing a very dark grey. I would start with the black epoxy primer made by Ditzler (PD something and tint it slightly for a smooth closed finish


"was there red primer ever showing under the cars that were black"

Yes the front frame rails (firewall forward but I've never seen any from the firewall rearward on a batch floor car. You can get some light gray primer filler sometimes between the rear quarter lip shadow and the start of the body color application on the rear wheelwells at the very top. At best 1 - 1 1/2" at the widest point if visible, but they covered the opening areas and behind as well as down and onto the rear frame rails with a thick nice coat of paint typically

[Skyway65]

My January '65 Dearborn convertible had white, body color, covering nearly the entire underside of the floor and trunk area with only a hint of black (slop gray) up under the transmission tunnel area.  Not a hint of red primer anywhere.  Whoever was painting that day sprayed the body color very liberally.  If you have a black car, and the same painter did your car, you would expect to see body color covering a lot of the underside of your car with plenty of drips included.

[J_Speegle]

My January '65 Dearborn convertible had white, body color, covering nearly the entire underside of the floor and trunk area with only a hint of black (slop gray) up under the transmission tunnel area. .............

Fully agree especially on a high contrast exterior color like white or yellow. Plus more likely a younger, shorter or at least more energetic painter

[jwc66k]

Plus more likely a younger, shorter or at least more energetic painter

A new worker that hasn't succumbed to the doldrums of assembly line work?
Jim

[Skyway65]

A few photos of "before." 

[J_Speegle]

Someone wasted allot of extra paint and time there    Especially getting all the way up into the rear shock pockets.  Not even close to what is typically seen IMHO.   Thanks for sharing

[Skyway65]

yep--lot's of white paint...

the "after."

[DM_1964]

Given that Gary's car is pre-production, would it be fair to say that it would've received different treatment at the time considering the production line wasn't in full flow, hence more body color underneath?

Beautifully detailed undershot there as well Gary, thanks for sharing your pics!

[Skyway65]

Not pre-production, built in January of '65--not '64.  It was ordered as a special order DSO 84 with "show car treatment."  So perhaps they did use a little extra paint on it and it is not a true representation of actual assembly practices at the time.

[67gtasanjose]

Not pre-production, built in January of '65--not '64.  It was ordered as a special DSO 84 with "show car treatment."  So perhaps they did use a little extra paint on it and it is not a true representation of actual assembly practices at the time.

Another note might be that, as I understand, the Skyway cars were sent back (to Detroit???) and refurbished as needed, so hard to say how much may have or could have been done in each case-by-case refurbishing.

The thoughts I have are from my experience of 1984 after the LA Olympics. I worked at a Buick dealership (Buick was a major sponsor to the '84 Olympics) and many of the dealerships around the area handled the thousands of Buick Century's used for that event. They were given full factory warranty (then 12 month-12,000 mile) beginning on whatever the odometer showed at time of sale. EVERYTHING and anything was covered from cigarette burns to full interior replacements to full repaint if needed. It was a major undertaking on a few of them.

I imagine Ford did a lot similarly with all the Skyway convertibles they had refurbished, but I am sure Gary knows more about his particular Skyway car than the majority of the others that are long gone now, never seeing a restoration. This is one of those extremely unique details in Mustang History that a lot of information seems to have been lost or is undiscovered. uncirculated at this time. Gary's 65 is a REAL part of the "story" of Mustang.

Richard

[J_Speegle]

Not pre-production, built in January of '65--not '64.  It was ordered as a special order DSO 84 with "show car treatment."  So perhaps they did use a little extra paint on it and it is not a true representation of actual assembly practices at the time.

Thanks that should explain allot as well as making your job a little more difficult (not allot of other cars to reference from)

Something you will want to mention to anyone (sort fo a warning to not copy looking at your car real deeply and taking a bunch of reference pictures

[Skyway65]

Another note might be that, as I understand, the Skyway cars were sent back (to Detroit???) and refurbished as needed, so hard to say how much may have or could have been done in each case-by-case refurbishing.

The thoughts I have are from my experience of 1984 after the LA Olympics. I worked at a Buick dealership (Buick was a major sponsor to the '84 Olympics) and many of the dealerships around the area handled the thousands of Buick Century's used for that event. They were given full factory warranty (then 12 month-12,000 mile) beginning on whatever the odometer showed at time of sale. EVERYTHING and anything was covered from cigarette burns to full interior replacements to full repaint if needed. It was a major undertaking on a few of them.

I imagine Ford did a lot similarly with all the Skyway convertibles they had refurbished, but I am sure Gary knows more about his particular Skyway car than the majority of the others that are long gone now, never seeing a restoration. This is one of those extremely unique details in Mustang History that a lot of information seems to have been lost or is undiscovered. uncirculated at this time. Gary's 65 is a REAL part of the "story" of Mustang.

Richard

Hi Richard- The car was actually in pretty decent condition when I started working on it.  When the body was stripped to bare metal it had no evidence of any previous body work.  The factory assembly details are, in my opinion, original and accurate for the car.  I have duplicated as many small details as possible keeping it true to what it was when it was sold by Ford in December of '65 from their Employee "B" lot as a used car.

[rodster]

Transmission tunnel on my 65 Dearborn April (scheduled) coupe.  Very dark, I'd say more black than gray.

[J_Speegle]

Transmission tunnel on my 65 Dearborn April (scheduled) coupe.  Very dark, I'd say more black than gray.

Four months later

Have some green and blue floors also if we're looking at the whole production year