Paint order?

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cobra94svt

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Feb 8, 2017
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Location
Rockport Indiana
My Car
1965 fastback, 1965 coupe, 1966 coupe, 1979 Indy Pace car, 1989 notch, 1994 cobra, 2001 GT vert
How were the Mach 1's originally painted? As far as order from bare metal to primer and color and stripes?

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That's a great question.  I know my painter did mine all bass-ackwards.  He painted the rockers, valances, and hood all black, then installed the hood, masked off the rockers and the Tutone on the hood (which I actually had to do because he screwed up laying down the template), then shot the body color.  I had to install the valances myself (which I was fine with, honestly).

The whole hood treatment went weird - after I fixed the TuTone stencil (he'd put it on too far to the passenger side), his body guy went in behind the stencil, striped the voids, pulled the stencil, and then masked off the black area before shooting the body color.

I would imagine the cars are shot body color first - all of the cars initially would be painted a solid color.  Then the cars receiving the TuTone paint treatment would go to a different area to have the rockers & valances masked & painted - with the cars receiving the TuTone hood treatment done at the same time.  I'm guessing the rocker molding or decals (Mach 1, Boss 351, hockey stripes etc.) were probably applied in that same process once the paint had dried.  Then back onto the assembly line.

That's just my guess on how it's all done.

 
Are you going for concourse judged or just interested in sequence? If you have a painter I would probably let them work the sequence they are comfortable with if you are wanting a show car, but not concerned about concourse judging. If interested in concourse I can locate the sequence for rockers and then body color. I cannot just not recall right now.

 
Ok I have two never painted original cars one I ordered and the other a California car with original paint and Decor Group.

My original is a Mach 1 and so far on the forum is the highest optioned car with 32 factory installed options. I have original order form, window stickers, dealer invoice and since so many said not possible a Marti.

The car was seam sealed and any under coat applied. some on firewall, under wheel wells front and back and on the floor pan. The car then went to primer in gray which is a neutral color so worked best for all colors. The body color was then sprayed. There was over spray in the front wheel wells.

The black under the hood was applied and along the back of the hood. If you had Mach 1 or Decor Group they sprayed the flat black around the gas filler and inside each tail light to hide body color. If Mach ! they sprayed either flat black or argent around the front side markers on 73 model.

The Decor Group black was also sprayed after color.

My cars have never been painted or altered so I can send pictures if you want.

One other detail is that the trunk spatter paint was applied after final assembly and had over spray on side marker lights, wiring, tail lights, fold down etc, etc. they did not do a good job at all. Most cars are over restored and not correct. Nothing like original.

 
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Just curious as I'm almost ready to paint the Q code Mach I have in the shop. I've read on the 429 forum that the marker light bezels were installed therefore no color was in the opening but this car has it. Also there is no black out paint behind the door to fender opening. Also there is no primer under the painted argent stripe across the bottom. Then above the stripe is red oxide, then grey, followed by the green color. This car has more flat black pieces than slop grey which is explainable. This is just more curiosity than anything as I'm not painting to be concours, I can't stand orange peel lol.

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That discussion could go on for a long time. I have two original paint cars one I ordered new and both are 73. I have not taken the marker lights out of one of them but the other had the marker light frames painted separate from car so there is paint behind. The marker light were in place when they sprayed the trunk spatter and had spatter paint on side light, tail lights, fold down, etc. 

I have not taken the Mach 1 apart but the vert had lots of body color paint on the front inner fenders and is obviously factory no over spray on the suspension or bolts or lines.

On my 73 the front side marker light frames are flat black to blend in with the stripe and the factory also sprayed flat black around the light before putting the side stripe on. This is the car I ordered and have had since new. 12,000 miles on it.

There was only one assembly line and paint line. They did paint cars special colors on a different line. There should not be any one of a kind fliers out there unless they were early pre production units before everything was finalized on process.

My son works at the BMW plant and they started building a few 2018 models several weeks ago. The official change over date for models in pretty much all U.S. auto plants is the July 4 holiday. They shut the plants down and change out for the new models.

 
This could go on lol. Even the black out paint that's suppose to be under the honey comb tail light panel is missing, it's all green. I have all the overspray in the trunk on the bottom of the tail lights and on the marker lights. I used to work at Toyota that built the sienna and sequoia. You would be surprised of the 1 of 1 stuff that you would see. So many of the sequoia's go to the Middle East and they get special parts. Plus preproduction projects that are assembled in classified areas. But I can't say what I've seen in there.

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