Lettering on Mach 1 Hoods

[MAD IRISHMAN]

My '72 Mach 1 has no blackout on the hood. It does have 351 Ram Air on the hood just behind the duct opening. Did they come this way or did some previous owner add them?
Thanks!

 

[Sheriff41]

I've never seen one with the ram air lettering unless it had either the black or argent two-tone treatment.

 

[Spike Morelli]

Yeah, the previous owner did that. He probably wasn't aware of how the factory did things. I did something similar years ago to a "70 442 W-30 that I bought. It was gold with white deck and side stripes, as I got it, and needed a fresh paint job. I had seen the reverse, white car with gold stripes somewhere, so I had the paint shop re-do the colors flip/flopped. It wasn't until after I painted it that I found out.....ONLY the Hurst Oldses were white with gold stripes. Depending on body color, W-30s came with either black, or white stripes only, never gold. I left it 'cause it still appealed to me, albeit factory incorrect.

 

[Hemikiller]

For 71, 72 & 73, the 351 and 429 displacement callouts only came on cars factory optioned with Ram Air. I'm sure plenty were dealer added. The Boss 351 simply had "Ram Air" on the hood. In 1973, Ford added the "TuTone Hood" option which gave you the NASA hood, contrasting paint and hood locks, but no RamAir parts or callouts.

FWIW, those callouts have been available from Mustang parts vendors for 30+ years for about $5 ea.

 

[tpj71mach]

Yeah, the previous owner did that. He probably wasn't aware of how the factory did things. I did something similar years ago to a "70 442 W-30 that I bought. It was gold with white deck and side stripes, as I got it, and needed a fresh paint job. I had seen the reverse, white car with gold stripes somewhere, so I had the paint shop re-do the colors flip/flopped. It wasn't until after I painted it that I found out.....ONLY the Hurst Oldses were white with gold stripes. Depending on body color, W-30s came with either black, or white stripes only, never gold. I left it 'cause it still appealed to me, albeit factory incorrect.

Nice car, I loved the 70 GM sport mirrors with the style line, in 71 they rounded them out and lost that line down the side. I had a 70 gold 442 convertible back in the day.

 

[mrgmhale]

I got our 73 Mach 1 Hood Scoop Call-Out Characters from Graphics Express. in our case I opted to purchase the "351 RAM AIR" stencil as we were restoring the car, and the entire car was going to be stripped of all prior paint and reshot with primer, base white, a fine grain metallic, translucent PPG Sunset Orange color, and clear. For the blackout we used PPG Hot Rod Black. But, instead of using a "351 RAM AIR" decal, using the stencil let the Call-Out characters appear as the Sunset Orange color peering out from behind the blackout treatment. I thought it would look pretty cool, which inspiration I drew from the GT500 Call-Out reflective tape over the Candyapple Red paint on our 69 Shelby. It really did turn out nicely.

Anyway, I am sure plenty of folks will be happy to tell you the factory only put those Call-Out characters in hoods with a black or argent schema. Unless you want to do the black or argent schema anyway, I would not let anyone make you think you lost your bag of marbles. But, if you do want to do a black or argent schema on the hood, the Call-Out stencil, as opposed to the decal characters, may be an option to consider. Following is the link to graphic Express where I got out stencil, which is an ordering option in place of the decal foreground color.

https://graphic-express.com/products/1971-73-mustang-mach-1-boss-351-ram-air-hood-decal-set

This is what our Call-Out characters look like with the template vs the decal (attached photos). We used PPG Hot Rod Black Matte to provide both a smooth surface and a nice (if not proper) diffusion of reflected light (sun). Following is a YouTube link for a walk-around video showing the car and its blackout schema with the Call-Out stencil final result:

 

[Spike Morelli]

Mr. Hale!
I must say, the stencil treatment really looks good . Super nice custom touch, without looking inappropriate. Overall, your Citrus Punch is outstanding.

 

[mrgmhale]

Mr. Hale!
I must say, the stencil treatment really looks good . Super nice custom touch, without looking inappropriate. Overall, your Citrus Punch is outstanding.

Thank you. We enjoy the bee geebies out of the Mach 1 (also). Sadly, it is put away with the other pony cars for their Winter Hibernation...