I am doing some painting of Harbor Blue on the firewall of my 1940 TownSedan in prep for putting 216 back in. Good weather today to roll her out and do some light sandblasting( very light !) and spot priming. While in process I noticed the left and right hood spring retainers--- Stamped steel hooks attached with two bolts to sides of firewall-- Both seem not to be painted body color. Would these have been installed after body was painted? Should I follow Chevgenes advice and when in doubt ,paint black? Does anyone know if originally these were an unpainted part ,or should they both be body color. Appreciative as always, Chevy40

I do not know the color - BUT - I would go by the color on the back side.Ift its silver they were cad. plated...if black they were black...some hood hardware was also black oxide-so dull black paint would be OK.I doubt very much if they were body color...If they were the firewall /cowl surface that they were bolted to (surface under the bracket) would be unpainted.

Chev's of the 40's,On my 1940 Town Sedan, they are Silverish, I just did a lot of engine work and had the front clip off, as I'm going back together, I removed them to paint them flat black, on the underside the fire wall is black, no paint on the spring retainers, My car is unrestored, so should be what it was.

Mine also appeared to be the silver, probably cadmium plated as stated, but had enough surface rust on them I really could not be certain-------Thanks for the responses!! Chevy40

i have a pair of n. o. s. brackets . they are cad plated . kozy 2772

Chev 40,

Speaking of Harbor Blue, do you or anyone else have any hints or neat tricks for painting those 2 clip-on panels on the side of the hood the car color and leaving the raised letters - Master Deluxe - unpainted? I suppose the only answer is to hire a good artist like BigBob did.

DocB

Doc B -----No problem ---spray the color coat on --then ( as the color coat is still wet )---wipe off the color with damp q-tips on the actual wording (damp with the reducer or thinner that you thinned the color coat with) note that you will go through a bunch of q-tips ,when it's to your satisfaction --spray with clear !!!!! Worked for me --------good luck