Without documentation, is there a way to know if the paint coat is the original one?
While the color, onyx black, is the correct one for my car is there a way to know if this is the original paint?
Thnx
Look closely for overspray where there shouldn’t be any. The Concours Mustang forum can also give you an idea of what original paint should look like.
Given that there appears to be red oxide primer directly under your paint, that’s a good sign. Another thing to look at is the pinstripes. The originals have a specific style and size, and people usually didn’t try very had to recreate them exactly. If you post a couple pics of your pinstripes, at the ends and/or panel seams, we can probably give you a good opinion on whether they’re original or not. Most original pinstripes I’ve seen are 1/16" stripes spaced about 5/32" apart, but others here have documented different results.
This will be a moot point in your case but another thing to look for is that the lower rockers / pinch welds are blacked out. The factory did this but most repaints ignore this detail. I suspect they didn’t bother on black cars though…
Like Mr Bundy said, look for things that are tell tails. start with the pin stripes, there shoulle be a small gap between the fender and the extensions at all 4 locations. If your unsure then please post a picture. Then open the hood look at the bolts holding the front fenders on. If they are painted body color you have a repainted car. If not look at the edges of the fender where it turns down next to the hood. If you can see primer, over spray or a stepped line in the paint, you have a repainted car. You can also look at door jambs and in the trunk where the body turns down to go under the lid. Look at the front of the core support(radiator and grill bolts to this) If you see over spray you have paint work at least to the front of the car. Some painters are really good at hiding there work so it does not look like a repaint. But they also charge for the extra work.
Looking at the pictures you posted here;
https://cccforum.discoursehosting.net/t/1967-cougar-289-4v-v-8/10694/3
It looks to me to be a good possibility that your Cougar has it’s factory paint. But the pictures are not as detailed in the areas I would look closely at.
Ok Thanks. Here are some close up pictures. Right front and left rear pin stripes (all 4 corners look the same) And the bolts under the hood.
I’m not sure I can identify over spray, but I don’t think I see any.
Looks like those are vinyl stick-on pinstripes? If so, then they’re not original.
Ahh ok good to know. Does that mean the paint is not factory, or simply that the stripes were added on top of what maybe factory paint.
How does factory paint affect the value of the car, specially in a case like mine where there are chips etc.
IMO It’s more likely that the car was repainted at some point, because the factory pinstripes seem to last about as long as the paint job itself, from what I’ve seen. It would take a lot of overzealous polishing to take them off. I’d be pretty surprised if it was original paint with non-original pinstripes. But I’m getting thrown off because the chipped areas in your pics look fairly thin and I don’t see evidence of multiple layers of primer and paint. And I’d be surprised if it got stripped to bare metal and primed with red oxide, just for a repaint back in the day.
In your engine bay closeup of the fender bolt - am I seeing a tape masking line towards the bottom of the pic, where the hood gap would be?
Yea I was thinking the same, there is metal primer and thin layer of paint. The car also had these “door” protector thingies (dont know the name) that ran along side of the car mid way through the door front and rear qrt panels. These were also stuck onto the car, maybe those were added with the stripes.
I don’t see the masking tape mark. I think its dirt I wiped away. I’ll double chk
All the above is very good advise. The only thing I have to add is check every area of the car. It may have not been a full repaint but rather a section repaired from damage at some point. The red primer under the chip you posted does appear to be original in that section at least.
With my car I changed the color and my body guy took the extra mile to make it hard to tell it was ever changed unless the car was stripped pretty far down so its still possible to have a repaint and not look like but but if you search long enough you should be able to find evidence one way or the other.
Here is a diff angle of the previos pic. I’m not seeing or don’t know how to identify the mark you see. Maybe this angle gives a better view.
Just to clarify what I was seeing, here are some arrows pointing to what I thought might be a masking line. But maybe it’s just a trick of the lighting in that particular picture. Worth taking a close look at though.
Oh I see. Thanks the visual clarification! Yeah that was just dirt.
Were original stripes painted? Or are you saying that “sick-on” are after market?
For the car that is the subject of this thread the original pin strips were painted on.
Randy Goodling
CCOA #95
For future reference exterior body color would not have been applied directly over rear oxide on the exterior of these cars. Another possible clue in this example
Here is a photo from my 67 Cougar GT. It shows the factory process layers.
- Bare metal
- Red primer
- Grey primer
- Paint Sage gold
- Pin stripe black
Do you think the body panels were in red primer to avoid flash rust and then dipped in gray primer before being painted. My understanding is that ford started a phosphate primer dip bath in 1967.
I remember seeing a Ford commercial long time ago, must’ve been in the 60s where the whole body was dipped in a bath wonder if that was phosphate primer dip.