What was the Factory color of....

[ROKuberski]

I am about to have my car painted and I am wondering what was the factory color of the sheet metal piece that is below the grill just behind the front bumper.  It's painted silver on my car now.  I am about to have the car painted White/Red.  I've seen pictures of this piece painted red on a White/Red car, but I want to verify what it was originally.

Thanks,

Rich

[suede57ford]

The front valance of all '57 Fords are originally painted "Argent" which is "Silver". 

A light silver off a late model car(honda) should work fine and can be clear coated to help it last.

[ROKuberski]

Thanks for the information.  I knew mine had been repainted because it was such a crummy job.  I removed this panel because of rust at the place where it joins the fender.  I've got it all cleaned up and reprimed, ready for paint.  The car goes to the painter today, so I can now start on polishing the stainless steel parts.  I've been going through the pile of rusty, damaged trim clips trying to see what I am going to do to reattach all of those trim pieces.  Concours Parts appears to have the odd one's, but I am likely to take the car and trim to a store here in Denver that sells these clips to the trade.  I should be able to get what I need there for a better price, at least I hope I can.

I had quite a bit of rust on the right front fender behind the gold trim.  Not so bad in the three other locations.  I am considering placing a little sealant on the back of the trim when I reinstall it just to keep it dry behind.  My collector cars don't get rained on much, but they do get washed a lot.  I was thinking that my sealant would make it very hard for a future restorer to remove the trim, but I may do it anyway.

Rich

[RICH MUISE]

Rich...Imho you want sealant/caulking at all of the holes for the clips to keep water from getting inside the car, but not on the trim. Keep in mind the sealant will also work to keep water traped IN as well. If you wash your car at home, try blowing the water out with an air hose.
Good to hear your cars close to paint..you must be excited.
On buffing your stainless..one suggestion I'd offer...check around to see if your local suppliers carry 2" wide wheels. The easier to find one inch wide, or narrower, wheels are just too dangerous and hard to use.

[Ford Blue blood]

What Rich said!  As I was buffing the stainless on a 62 Bird I was building that narrow 1" wheel snatched the top of the fin stainless out of my hands and shot it acroos the yard a good 50 feet!  Only by the grace of God and a little luck neither it or I was injured.....be very very carefull.

[ROKuberski]

Rich, a good friend gave me some sealant "rope" that is designed for sealing the holes on the trim.  Just about all of the clips had an old white sealant used on them.  About the only place this was not used is on the trim on the top of the rear fins.  Everything on the side had it and I am 99% sure that all of it was original.

The same friend has a stand mounted polishing rig.  My stainless looks pretty good, but as long as it is off of the car, I want to improve it.  I hear you about having things taken out of your hands and thrown around.  Same issue with a grinder and wire wheel.  I move my Corvette well out of harm's way when doing things like this.

I hope to get the car back in 2 -3 weeks.  I'll have the trim ready and should have the clips ready too.  It will only take a day or two to put it back together.

Rich

[Zapato]

Eastwood and others sell "argent'' silver paint in spray cans as Rallye wheel paint. 

Zap-

[gasman826]

The buffing wheel thing.  I have a pedestal buffer.  I wanted wider wheels.  The guy at the industrial mill supply counter looked at me blankly and said "just stack 'em".  I bought several thin ones and add and remove to match the trim that I am buffing.  I felt kinda stupid but I'm glad he said something or I would still be looking for wider buffing wheels.

[ROKuberski]

Rich...
On buffing your stainless..one suggestion I'd offer...check around to see if your local suppliers carry 2" wide wheels. The easier to find one inch wide, or narrower, wheels are just too dangerous and hard to use.

Today, I borrowed a stand mounted polisher from a friend.  The wheels on it were almost as wide as the roof trim.  I managed to get through all of the trim in about 3 hours, then took the grill apart and did that too.  It all looks real good.  As I was cleaning and inspecting the parts, I found one small area on a part that I wanted to repolish.  I have been wearing gloves all day, but I picked this part up, flipped the switch and just as I finished with the touch up polishing, I managed to polish part of the base of my left thumb.  Talk about a dumb thing to do.  No blood, but it did thin the hide in that spot.

Bottom line is that polishing the trim is an easy task, just takes a while and it really is an improvement.

Rich