Were these 69-70 window stop bracket plates originally painted black on back and silver on front? Seems l8e I have also seen them natural without paint, but won’t that leave them vulnerable to rust?
Painted body color.
I have seen the outlines where they were painted, on both the package tray, and the windshield under cowl.
Thanks for the response! But the plates I am referring to are located at rear of doors and above door latch post on B pillar. They were not installed when the car got paint from factory. So they are not usually body color unless the car has been painted. On both of my original Cougars, they were silver that matched the two bolt heads on front, and painted black on back. I just am not sure if that silver on front was paint or coated steel?
Scott, I just realized you were saying the plates were placed on package tray or cowl at the factory to get painted with the rest of the car. Interesting! I Just got a salvage plate from WCCC and it’s base coat was silver paint which was visible under the bolt heads. That is the way they were on my car too. I wonder if they got painted silver if they missed the body paint at the factory?
Scott is correct, they should be body color. On a hardtop they were placed on the package tray during the painting process and will leave a shadow. On a convertible since there is no package tray they would be placed on the cowl, and the shadow would be covered when the blackout was applied. The attachment bolts should not be painted.
Thanks guys! So body color on front and back, or just body color on front and Ford semi gloss black on back?
All 4 plates painted body color.
Got it, all 4 plates painted body color. But what about back sides? Like the one pictured in my first post, all that I have removed have nothing on backside except black paint over raw metal. Sure appreciate all the expert help! Should have joined this forum years ago.
Guess your asking for a 70 Deaborn car - Correct.
When and where often make a difference in the details
Yes, a Dearborn produced 70 XR7 convertible built In Dec 1969. It’s not a show car, but is all original so I try to preserve as much of that as I can.
I uncovered the layers on the salvage plate from a 1970 car.
4. Green paint layer on front is sloppy repaint (bolts were this color too).
3. Silver paint layer on front (like my two late 69 produced cars both had).
2. Black primer layer on front and back
- Bare steel
So it looks to me like the steel plates got primed front and back (perhaps by the supplier or stamping plant), then front side either got the body color top coat, or the silver. Sounds like body color is the standard, so the process must have varied along the way.
Thanks again for the help!
Thanks
Since your car appears to not have been restored or repainted in these areas (B pillar and inner edge of doors) I would suggest that you document and return what you found unless there are some facts you have not shared and you believe the finish to be original. I agree that Ford wanted them painted body color and had been in the year prior but it appears there are plenty of 70 Dearborn examples where they were not and apparently none of the vast number of inspectors took issue with the unpainted ones and had them corrected. Of the non- body colored examples I found most were a silver color on the visible side. Had a smaller number from unrestored cars that appear to be bare metal or so lightly coated it did not hold up very well even in what would be considered dry states
Appears that Dearborn did a much better job at this during 69 production than 70
Some examples
The three that appear to be bare steel are from the same example
Hope this helps
Thank you sir, that is very interesting! Unfortunately, I can’t submit pix since mine were slightly rusting on the edges and I have already stripped them down to bare metal. Thus the question about refinishing properly. I do try to leave everything as I found it, but can’t do that when rust has started. My original 70 was never restored either and had one that was half painted silver, and the other half rusting. I’ll attach a picture I found of it from the 80’s, but it’s poor quality.
I saw some of those last week when I was going though some parts boxes, these were off a 69 hertz eliminator. (painted) And I don’t think the door jams were ever painted. The backside looked like they were black but was very rusty.
when I looked for them to take a picture I noticed I had the sunroof manual crank plug. don’t know if anyone would need one?
Thanks for pic. Those look like good examples of how they were supposed to be finished from the factory.
I found this picture of my current 70 Cougar showing the window stop adjust plate on drivers door. Not great resolution, but taken in 2013 showing the silver plate starting to rust around the edges before I removed it for refinish. All four plates looked just like this one, but passenger door plate had some additional rust where the bolt heads had chewed through to bare steel. All four plates had black prime coat front and back with surface rust visible on back side. Front sides were painted a dull silver over the primer. This is an unrestored CA car with 63k miles and original paint. VIN sequence number of the car is 530650 produced Dec 8, 1969.
The proof of whether yours was painted or not can be answered by looking under your cowl cover or package tray.
It’s a convertible but I looked under the cowl cover after Scott’s post and didn’t see any outlines. How often have you seen silver among all the many Cougars you have parted out, Don? I just assumed they were all that way since both my 70’s were - lol.
Unfortunately at Dearborn in later 69 and 70 the painter applying the engine compartment black typically extended the black all the way to the windshield opening covering the body color and any remains or evidence of the window adjustment plate painting would often be covered unless the worker placed them closer to the outward edge or somewhere else on the body
