My 67 resto project is almost ready for paint. I need to make the front grill pieces and taillight bezels look pretty before it all goes back to gether. This is a challange. At the factory there must have been a template that was used to get that cool black/silver/chrome shading effect on the front, and one to overspray the chrome taillight bezels with the black background.
Does anybody have any info on this? How about some tips? I know people must do this all the time and there has to be a few tricks. Does anybody do custom grill restoration? If I run out of time, I might consider something like that.
West Coast Classic Cougar sells restored ones…be siiting down, if you look it up. Otherwise, it’s a lot of painstaking work, as you’ve already figured. I skipped the grey on mine, taped off the chrome with 1/8 or 1/16 blue trim tape(can’t remember which!), and did it all black.
Yeah I know about WCCC. I’ve already spent a fortune there.
I’ve already stripped the rear bezels all the way down to chrome because the black was all crappy. I had planned to leave them like that, but I’m starting to think its gonna be pretty bright. As for the front grill pieces, when they’re new/restored they look fantastic. To be done right, all the paint should be stripped. Are you really happy with just the chrome on black? That grey in the middle really makes for a great effect. Somebody must have figured out a less labor intensive way to do this.
Darren will probably kick my ass for telling you this because he told me the other day he is buried in work, but the man is an artist with this stuff. His company is Critter Creek Cougars. He is in Canada so it makes shipping a bitch, but seriously, he ROCKS. I did my own taillight bezels, but wasn’t going to even try to do the front grille. At some point I will probably have Darren do my taillights too because I know even though they look great now, they will look even better after he works reworks them!
Yes, I like the straight black/chrome. I had even considered doing straight black, no chrome…:shrug:…it’s all what you prefer, IMO. I’m so far away from “original”, that it really didn’t matter much, and I liked it that way…
Good point mo2872. I never thought I’d be a correct detail freak. So far though, since I’m redoing everything (really everything except for automotive stuff) its an option to try and go original. Thanks for the advice.
Wildman, you said you already stripped your tailight bezels. Did you spend hours with a dremel tool like I did? Anyway, get you some GOOD metal etching primer, trim black spray paint, and 1/8" plastic tape and you can make your bezels look really nice. It takes time and patience, but these things look great when they are done!
I like it, G68. Actually, I used Aircraft stripper (scary stuff-- requires some precautions) and scraped it off with a tiny spatula. Still took a few hours to do it, but they’re clean and shiny now. I was thinking about also stripping the front pieces with the solvent and spraying it off with a pressure washer. Then there’s still the question of how to go about repainting those. Thanks a lot for the tips!
I taped off the chrome bars on my grille after cleaning the entire grille. I painted the grille semi gloss black. I didn’t worry about the silver / argent areas. After the paint dried I installed a new Cougar emblem, background and corral from WCCC. I am pleased with the way it turned out. As stated above everyone has their own preference on how they like their grille. What ever you do it will require some time to make it look good.
Steven
If your going with the more original look, your going to want the argent silver paint between the chrome ribs. For myself, I will be going with a restomod look with just the black. It looks very clean. Here is a picture of a grill with just the black. West Coast Classic cougars has a great example of a totally restored grill. I have heard that you have to separate the grill ribs from the head light door, mask them off, then spray the self etching primer and then argent. I don’t think you can do it any other way.
If you want to do it the “right way” you should separate the chrome portion from the rest of the grill. Much easier to repaint the grill and the silver on the chrome bars.
I know it is not stock but I powder coated the whole deal black. Chrome and all. My powder coater made a nice jig to hold them and keep them from warping. They turned out great. I am assembling them and will post some pics when done. When I was looking at doing just the non chrome part, I did separate the chrome from the back. Not too bad a job just some grinding on the back side to get the chrome loose.
I thought it would be just the opposite. All black would hide the gaps unless you have a GT-E horizontal bar. I could be way off on this because I have only seen one Cougar with a blacked grille in person. It was a black cherry GT-E at the Miami Beach auto show when I was a junior in high school.
Steven
Steven – What year did you see the GT-E in Miami Beach and what else do you remember about it ? Interior color ? Vinyl roof ? If yes, what color ? Standard or XR-7 ? 427 or 428 ? Thanks.
Jim Pinkerton, Cougar GT-E Registrar
Jim it was 1984 because I graduated in 1985. The GT-E was a 428 because I remember the black stripe on the hood. I spoke to the owner but I can’t remember his name or if it was a standard or XR7. I took pictures of it and I can remember it like it was yesterday. His car was the near the restroom area at the new Mercury display area. The areo Cougar was on a turntable and the GT-E was at the back of the Mercury area with velvet ropes keeping people from sitting in it. I will see if I can find pictures I know I had them the were very dark because of the flash.
Steven
Steven – Thanks very much. And yes indeed if you find the pictures I’d be glad to repay any costs for reproducing them, as I’d like as good a copy as I can for the Master Record. Because of some discovered Shelby documentation, all of the 428 CJ GT-Es are already on the Registry (that documentation having satisfied Fords’ requirement of “physical evidence of the car” outside of the production record). However, its’ current location is unknown, if it still exists. So any help you can be would be greatly appreciated.
Jim
Thanks to everybody for the input! I finally just got down to it and went with chrome on black all the way around. Heck with the grey. A lot of picky little detail work with aircraft stripper and steel wool,1/8" tape, various little detail tools, etc… thorough cleaning with wax and grease remover, and finally 2 coats of SEM primer and 3 coats of SEM semi gloss black on top, they look great! A note to anybody else doing this: remove the masking tape (within 24 hrs) before the paint hardens (48hrs)! Will try to post pics when the project is done.
