Should the pinch weld that sticks down, running along the side length of the car wheel-to-wheel, to the inside of the rockers (actualy where the rockers meet up with the floorpans) be painted black for a 1969 Cougar – like it is on the Mustang? Or is this car just missing the trim so I am seeing the weld that I usually don’t see?
Yes it should have the black pinch welds.
Both. The car is missing its rocker moldings and the pinch weld should be painted black.
I was unaware of the black pinch weld. So did they paint the black and just, how do I say, let the color over spray onto the bottom of the rocker and the maybe onto the flange of the pinch welds? In other words how does the transition look? I think I would like to do this on mine as I have never liked the looks of the white flange sticking down.
Get a can of semi gloss black and spray pinch-weld and keep as much as you can off of the bottom of rockers and floor pan.
Are same pinch welds behind the rear wheels body color?
Sgeegle has it documented
https://cccforum.discoursehosting.net/t/69-dearborn-undercarriage-finishing-a-guide/8419/4
No. They are also blacked out.
What rattle can paint would be best to use? This car isn’t mine, but I do have a couple of others that need this little detail completed as this is one of the things – like body color fender bolts – that bugs me.
Any semi-flat black like Krylon 1613 would work just fine. You could also use DP90LF or some other catalyzed semi-flat too.
Thanks Brian, Everyone. I do recall seeing that document and when I get to my laptop I will probably find that I downloaded same. Forgot all about it.
Here’s the info I used from the other forum when we did my car …
by “snakepit”
"Yes the cars had this done before the front fenders were done from the front edge to the rear valance area. The application also produced overspray of black over the exterior color overspray and the epoxy primer mix on the undecarriage. The rear wheel wells may have been blacked out at the same time by the same worker.
Remember that the edge of the black out should not show a masking tape line as they were likely done free hand originally. Many owner use a technique called back-masking to tape off the area. It does not produce a sharp edge if done correctly"
I can’t say this is correct but that’s what was available to me at the time.
Remember or at least consider that this is not just the pinchwelds but the floor (less the shadow produced by the pinchweld) and any part of the body that hung down from the floor got direct application of black and or overspray that could reach inward often to 1/2- 3/4 of the way to the driveline tunnel. Amount of paint and distance was a result of the angle of the spray when applied. Not unusual to find heavy runs on some cars in some close (to the rocker and spray) surfaces.
Examples of things that hung down would be front frame rails, convertible front seat supports, rear spring torque boxes and so on.
Adding this detail or correcting this with a rattle can will nor produce the amount of black that would have been produced at the factory and doing it after the car is assembled means that allot of parts that should not have black may get black on them. But you can at least black out the edge that is most visible when people see the car pass by. Once you know this detail your eyes will almost be automatically drawn to it every time you look at a classic Cougar - Just what happens
Yep – just like the painted front fender bolts.
Before I knew about this (I attended a super interesting lecture by Bob Perkins using a low-mile B9 as an example at an IMMM in Montana a few years back), I remember seeing this detail on half a dozen crusty old cars over the years and thinking some previous owners were sloppy losers who had rattled the rockers and done a really bad job. 
One of my pet peeves, and like others mentioned, it draws the eye. Once you see it you can’t unsee it!
Aaaand I need to do mine too (among about a zillion other things, LOL!) >.<
Yeah it’s one of those details that can make a significant difference in making the lines of the car look crisp. Interesting to see the pictures of spray-on black there… a few months ago when Dave W. stopped by with his two original paint 1970 Eliminators, we looked at the blacked out pinch welds areas, and the black was clearly brushed on, rather than sprayed on. Maybe a change for 1970?
Current understanding is that the brushed on black out was when a car was mistakenly missed and an inspector caught it later down the line. Too much hassle pulling a car off the line and moving it back to a booth. Its believed that were were a few gallon cans (or coffee cans) with a brush and paint made available on the line at some point. We see the same practice every so often (when and where spray painting would be the norm) on other areas of the exterior was were blacked out You have the interior of the front fenders on some years of Cougars, back engine compartment edge of fenders on Cougars in other years, headlight buckets on 69-70 Mustangs and so on.
The brush on pinch welds are pretty rare but seen back as far as 66-67 on Dearborn cars as well as other plants
We still don’t know for sure if the pinch weld black out was applied by hand (worker with a spray gun) or with the use of mounted spray jets (like the floor panels from the firewall rearward) operated by a switch that was triggered on and off by the moving unibody. Think the evidence favors the stationary jets
