Correct stripe and blackout on front valance for 1973 vert.

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Apr 22, 2013
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san diego
My Car
1973 mustang convertible(some day)
Correct stripe and blackout on front valance for 1973 vert.

I plan on doing the hockey puck stripe and read a comment on a car on ebay that the front valance for 73 didn't come completely backout(argent) as the picture shows. That the front valance was only partially painter.

What I'd like to know is:

1. Is the placement on this car correct

2. Do the stripe kits give enough material to go down into the valance?

Thanks for any input!

mustang valance.jpg

 
That is a great looking car!

Just bumping this up to see if anyone can answer the OP's question.

 
Jim I think it depends on if you have the lower decor molding or not. With out molding the valance is black or argent.
Mike

My question was whether the front balance was painted both colors like the picture.

According to the owner of the car the balance was not completely painted black/argent from the factory for 73.

 
Jim I think it depends on if you have the lower decor molding or not. With out molding the valance is black or argent.
Mike

My question was whether the front balance was painted both colors like the picture.

According to the owner of the car the balance was not completely painted black/argent from the factory for 73.

My 73 that just got delivered last week does not have the hockey stick stripe but is blacked out on the lower and is factory. It has the trim that establishes the break. This is a 48,000 mile, California car that sat in garage for the last 20 + years and has not been painted, original top and interior. Hope pictures answer some of your question.

David

 
73 cars that had two tone paint or the polished molding at the division line would have terminated at the bottom of the front bumper. It was not at the fender/valance joint line as on 71-72 mustangs.

 
I don't get why they didn't just paint the entire valance black, like the '71s & '72s before them. Would've made more sense, since they didn't have an elegant solution for the hockey stripes.

I know why they did it - to take away some of the attention from the huge front bumper... but dang, with design gurus on-staff (like Larry Shinoda and the others), they could've come up with something better. Just seems like a half-assed effort, to me.

Nice car, BTW - I'll bet you're over the moon with it! ::thumb::

 
Jim I think it depends on if you have the lower decor molding or not. With out molding the valance is black or argent.
Mike

My question was whether the front balance was painted both colors like the picture.

According to the owner of the car the balance was not completely painted black/argent from the factory for 73.

My 73 that just got delivered last week does not have the hockey stick stripe but is blacked out on the lower and is factory. It has the trim that establishes the break. This is a 48,000 mile, California car that sat in garage for the last 20 + years and has not been painted, original top and interior. Hope pictures answer some of your question.

David
Yes this is very helpfuf!

 
My 73 that just got delivered last week does not have the hockey stick stripe but is blacked out on the lower and is factory. It has the trim that establishes the break. This is a 48,000 mile, California car that sat in garage for the last 20 + years and has not been painted, original top and interior. Hope pictures answer some of your question.

David
^

This.

David's yellow convertible here shows the correct placement of the molding and paint dividing location for a 1973 car with the Exterior Decor Group.

A '72 with the Exterior Decor Group would have a single-color valance (in black or argent) with the molding at the edge between valance and fender.

The '71 Exterior Decor Group never came with this divider; however, stripeless '71-72 Mach 1s would come with the molding identical as you'd find it on a '72 Exterior Decor Group car.

The blue '73 convertible that started this thread - nice as it is - bears no resemblance to anything that Ford did at the factory.

-Kurt

 
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Here is another example, not my mustang but a beautiful car. They just went a little crazy with the molding/stripes/etc



I would hockey stick it in which ever way you like (unless you are going concurs restoration)

Most people won't know and the ones who do won't really care. We love them all.

 
Ford clearly recognized that the new-for-73 front bumper and valance design rendered the 71/72 tutone/ hockey stick stripe wierd-looking if applied. It all stemmed from the tutone dividing line location on the side of the front valance.

Thier original solution was thier best one: redesign the side-stripes on the 73 to minimize the wierd-looking junction of bumper/valance/fender. By eliminating the tutone lowers, it no longer draws attention to that area, plus it saved money on assembly by not having 2 paints on every Mach 1.

For some reason though, they decided to offer the 71-72 stripes as a factory option in 73...and they did some funky adjustments to try and make it work visually. Lowering the paint-break and molding location on the valance helps a bit, but it looks funny not being on the edge between the two panels. And an extra piece of stripe to fill in the gap looks added-on.

To me it just looks odd. Square peg in a round hole kinda' thing.

And that yellow convertible appears to have maybe had the front bumper repainted, and if so then maybe the rest of thr front end or possibly the whole car. If so, it lessens the % of proof as a factory offering.

 
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