We recently discussed the two tone paint on the Mercury Cyclone Spoiler and Spoiler II and how the Wimbledon White was the second coat of paint, not the first. In this three part series we are going a little deeper into this discussion of how your car was painted as well as a little discussion on DSO numbers. We will also take a look at what is considered an original paint job.
Chris Vic stimulated some of this discussion with is ongoing concourse restoration of a Dan Gurney Spoiler II. We have also brought in our own Guru, Rick Ochs and “Here Come the (FCA) Judge”, Marty Burke.
In 1969 the painting process was much more manual than today’s automated robots. The paint materials were also considerably different.
We may have mislead you somewhat when we previously said the Spoiler and Spoiler II cars were first painted the darker color and then the Wimbledon White was applied. Before you run out to sand on your original paint Gurney or Yarborough cars please consider this. The Torino/Talladega and Cyclone/Spoiler cars are all unibody and not body on frame. The shell was painted separate from the doors, front fenders and hood. Therefore, these parts only received the white coat of paint.
Rick Ochs had the following comments about this process.
Having worked in a Ford plant many times I watched as men not robots sprayed Torino’s and Cyclones. The units moved on a rail that looked like a large motorcycle chain. As they moved along the unibody shells would enter a paint booth and were sprayed the color in this case red or blue. They would then move through a body shop area where the second color, in this case the white, was added. On a Talladega the flat black was spayed over the body color on the tail panel (Taillight area) you can see tape line just inside trunk at lower part of trunk seal.
George Clinedinst who has a Talladega also owner a Cale Yarborough Spoiler II which he drove from Mt. Airy, Maryland to my place here in Michigan right after the II got a 100% complete restoration. George showed me a whole set of pictures he took during the restoration. I could not understand why the factory would paint the car red then white over the red. I have been painting cars for over 40 years. Red is known to be a “bleeding color” or a color that bleeds thru after time if it is painted under another color.
If you look closely at Cale Yarborough cars closely you will see some of this red “bleeding” through in areas where the paint is a little thinner on the car, like the floor pans etc. You will not see this on the Gurney cars. I have personally gone over two original paint Gurney cars. One a Spoiler and one a Spoiler II and the evidence of blue under the white is clear.
Next time:
Part 2: Is it Original Paint or Not?
