I would like to restore the car as close as possible, and the gas filler flip panel is looking kinda weathered and not so new. Is there a plating process on the panel and the spring bracket that can be done somewhere? It appears to be a smooth galvanized finish, but not sure. Cold spay galvanizing just looks like primer grey. I called and talked to a few people at West Coast Classic Cougar, and they do not know. I have not gotten to talk to Don directly, and for the last month, NO ONE answers the phone on Fridays. Everything has been rechromed, a new center aluminum ribbed sticker is there, A new red lense is there, I just need new plating, whatever it may be and the color/plating of the spring! Thank you! Gene
I believe KTL may have gone down this path before. If you find a really nice original, you can soak it in evaporust. Leave it too long and the galvanized “flake” appearance will come off.
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They are closed on Friday now, and have been for quite some time 
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Check your local platers, if there are any. Look at samples of what they offer in galvanized steel.
What are you expecting people to tell you? Not sure what your question is.
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I asked a very simple question: What is this plating on the gas filler main body. and what is the specific color of the spring, 1969. Thank you!
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Hello again! The plating upon the gas filler plates LOOK kinda like a smooth galvanized, but I am still investigating… and the return spring is painted over… Anybody restore their car and not give it just a paint job? Thank you! Gene
Yes, originally the metal was galvanized since the same part was used on 69 -70 Shelby’s I’ve done a number of them. Items like floor pan plugs, door latches, trunk latches and other parts that make up our cars were finished in the same plating.
To duplicate this finish we first tried to have them plated but could not get the look right. Either they were plated with too much product, chunks and shapes were not right - looking much more towards heating and A/C duct finish found on home HVAC at the furnace look. Originally they were plated on big sheets with the logo of the company that proved them to Ford and other companies and the parts (license plate and hinge brackets) were formed from these sheets exposing the logo on some finished parts. We reproduced stencils for that reason.
After multiple attempts at plating the best results came from plating the metal in zinc then doing a faux finish using multiple applications and removal, using a stiff plastic bag technique to produce the geometric shapes we were looking for. Then coloring the mounting studs, reassembling and installing
Here is a link to a thread on the effort
If your a member there (ConcoursMustang.com) there is a full article in the Library section in the Shelby section titled Reproducing Galvanized Finishes with more details and pictures.
Thread - Reproducing Galvanzied finishes
An example of the finished effort - Slightly different methods produce different size of chunks and patterns.
Basic steps and process. Final look is not finished if someone was wondering
Hope this helps
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I know you did not like this answer but check with your local platers and see if they do galvanized plating. If they do they may offer several different levels of plating. If you live around oil and gas refining or close to the coast you may find several possibilities since they use galvanized finishes on many of the components they use in industry.
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