This is interesting to read because i'll likely apply this type of thinking when i come around to putting my roadster back together for the last time. I have a question though, were Ford and Mercury both black? Because i have a '39 Mercury trans that is a dull red.. and as far as i'm aware its never been painted. It came out of an original car. Then i also ended up with a '48 Mercury rear end, and the backing plates are a similar red. Even inside the backing plates, is red. @Bruce Lancaster do you know anything regarding Mercury paint colours?
Heres some pictures of the Mercury stuff. Someone painted the rear end gold at some stage, but its all flaking off with the red left underneath. As you can see, inside the drums the parts are all red.. And one of the trans.. also a similar red..
I use Tremclad gloss black and thin it with mineral spirits. It drys to a nice sheen but not to glossy. It's also very tough. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Not a backing plate, but an NOS 39 or 40 front crossmember. As has been stated, replacement parts may have had lesser quality paint than when it came off the line. I don't know. RO
I would suggest that the actual sheen is less important than being consistent with it throughout the project. Remember also that the higher the gloss the more sins show loudly. So unless you ate willing to fix every dent and pit I would recommend a satin to semi approach. Any good chassis black will look go on well, last good and look correct. Just be clean and consistent and purists and HAMBers wiil dig it. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
On the Merc colors...engine and trans were built and delivered to assembly plants as a unit, and should have matched as they came out of the Rouge engine plant. In 1939 and 1940, at least, Merc engines and trans were the same mossy green as Ford, with only a stamped 99 on engine and the 99 serial on trans to distinguish 239 from 221. Some time after, I think 1941, Mercs started getting new blue paint, probably because of assembly line screw ups...the 99 stamp was not exactly conspicuous! 221's stayed green, and after the war all the engines were 239 and all were blue '46-8. After '48, Ford went nuts and there were a bunch of different colors for various applications '49-53. According to the books, all the castings were painted after machining and before assembly into engines, so gaskets, cad plated nuts, and such were clean. Engine tin like pan and filter were black. Castings abaft of trans were black. Note the "chassis touchup" stage I mentioned, that probably originally got a lot of black hosed over fasteners and stuff in the chassis. Red would probably be normal for anything that fell into the hands of rodders, hoodlums, and other sociopaths. We all know red stuff is faster.
That's the stuff I used George. I've used it on my dirt bikes before with decent luck. I had an idea of hand rubbing it to give a heavily washed or waxed appearance like I do on my 50s relic-ed guitars I've built. "Listen Mr... It ain't broke if I can't fix it"
The Jalopy Journal
