Topic: Underbody Paint

[Building 3]

Here is my understanding of the underbody paint at the three plants for the time period of the 1964.5-1966 MY Mustang production.  I would like to know if it's correct.  At San Jose, the semi-gloss to glossy red oxide was used for the entire production time. At Metuchen, it started off as red oxide but switched to a dark gray glossy batch color. At Dearborn, it started out with a fairly glossy black but switched over to a batch gray.  Does anyone know the approximate timeframe for the switchovers, if there were any? Or did the plants shift back and forth among the three alternative paints for the underbody at a random sequence? Did Ford ever reach a consensus as to what to paint the underbody?  For instance, after xx/xx/xxxx date all cars at all plants were painted only one color? Thanks

[J_Speegle]

Here is my understanding of the underbody paint at the three plants for the time period of the 1964.5-1966 MY Mustang production.  I would like to know if it's correct. 

Some times this information is used in determining if a car has been altered or rebodied so some may not be real supportive of sharing specific dates and times in public or in private

At San Jose, the semi-gloss to glossy red oxide was used for the entire production time.

No there was a period (possible two) where a very dark batch color was used and a pale "salmon" red oxide version was applied. 

At Metuchen, it started off as red oxide but switched to a dark gray glossy batch color.

Not that I'm aware of




 

At Dearborn, it started out with a fairly glossy black but switched over to a batch gray.  Does anyone know the approximate timeframe for the switchovers, if there were any?

Believe it was always a version of batch. From just about black, to green to blue and to gray depending on the time period

Or did the plants shift back and forth among the three alternative paints for the underbody at a random sequence?

Depended on the plant and the supply as mentioned above

Did Ford ever reach a consensus as to what to paint the underbody?  For instance, after xx/xx/xxxx date all cars at all plants were painted only one color? Thanks

No reason to reach a consensus - IMHO and to my knowledge there was no single time that all cars were painted the same color.  Cars within the same plant didn't all use the same method of apply the paint - some were shot with a gun, sprayed from fixtures and dipped depending on which line and type of vehicle