Should the Shock Tower Top be black or natural, unpainted?
1968 Metuchen, 200-1V I-6
Actual Build Date: 07/24/68
First thanks for including when and where the car was built. Might consider putting that in your signature so you don't have to remember to add it in the future.
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This question related to 68 Metuchen built Mustangs has come up before but I don't think it was in a previous thread here on this site. Long term understanding or belief has been that there were two different suppliers for many of the years and in 68 one supplier painted theirs semigloss black while the other plated and coated them with phosphate and oil. I will likely link this thread to the 68 Metuchen Running Change Thread in the near future.
I suppose you already looked at the "late" (8T01T171035) example in the Unrestored picture section of the site. Not many pictures but it does show the drivers side mount and its black. Not sure if that is fully trust worthy since there are some areas and parts in the engine compartment that have been painted black that originally were not. Of course this is a detailed shared with other Mustangs so it does not have to be a 6 cylinder but can't be a Shelby. Here are some additional examples to pull details from. Did not use any cars if there were indications of any use of black rattle cans in the engine compartment or other details that would make me suspect things may have been "messed" with other than a possible shock replacement as part of maintenance. making calls on every one so tossed out allot of them that were not as clear as I would like after I tried to compare the finish on the shock mount to the shock tower support and the shock tower itself.
A quick survey from my collection. It appears to me based on the evidence that Metuchen car assembly plant receive shipments from both suppliers depending the production period. As a reminder though I have listed and arranged the examples sequential numbers we don't know that they were built in this exact order as we have discussed and documented in other threads.
8T02S1172xx Semigloss black
8T03J118xxx Phosphate and oil8T01T1211xx Semigloss black
8T02J1222xx Phosphate and oil8T03C1289xx Semigloss black
8T01C1377xx Semigloss black
8T02J1401xx Semigloss black
8T03C1454xx Phosphate and oil?
8T02C1571xx Phosphate and oil
8T01C1730xx Phosphate and oil
8T02S1817xx Phosphate and oil8T01C189xxx Semigloss black
8T03C1943xx Phosphate and oil
8T03J1942xx Phosphate and oil
8T03C1943xx Phosphate and oil
8T01C1975xx Phosphate and oil
8T01C1978xx Phosphate and oil
8T02J1986xx Phosphate and oil
8T01J1992xx Phosphate and oil
8T01T2050xx Phosphate and oil
8T01C2062xx Phosphate and oil8T02C2097xx Semigloss black
8T01C2120xx Semigloss black
8T01C2120xx Semigloss black
8T01T2144xx Semigloss black
8T02J2181xx Semigloss black
8T01C2202xx Semigloss black
8T02J2986xx Phosphate and oil
2 No specific VIN or date Semigloss black
Hope this helps you make an educated choose when it comes to this detail
