The Ford Barn

gwhite · 02-20-2015, 11:03 PM

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Late 1930's Houdialle factory service manuals call for them to be painted "M-1713 Air Dry Black Enamel" FWIW, M-1713 corresponds with Ford chassis paint (V8 era).

Model A era shocks were most likely sprayed with asphaltum-based enamel and would have a gloss level similar to wishbones and axles. Marco's website (www.abarnyard.com) features a photo of a chassis on the assembly line with painted shock bodies (approximately similar in sheen to the wishbones/axles) and unpainted shock arms. It is likely that the shock arms would have been sprayed with pyroxylin (nitrocellulose) on the line during touch-ups, so the shock bodies would also probably have some overspray from that process.

I spent many hours filling and blocking my shock bodies trying to make them 'perfect'. They're not quite as glossy as the photo illustrates, but the black color is a spot-on match for contemporary Ford black asphaltum enamel (not all 'blacks' are 'black'). Oh, and the shaft should definitely be masked off...

02-20-2015, 11:03 PM	#4
gwhite Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Texas: Where Bob Wills is still the king! Posts: 354	Re: Shock absorber paint question Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) Late 1930's Houdialle factory service manuals call for them to be painted "M-1713 Air Dry Black Enamel" FWIW, M-1713 corresponds with Ford chassis paint (V8 era). Model A era shocks were most likely sprayed with asphaltum-based enamel and would have a gloss level similar to wishbones and axles. Marco's website (www.abarnyard.com) features a photo of a chassis on the assembly line with painted shock bodies (approximately similar in sheen to the wishbones/axles) and unpainted shock arms. It is likely that the shock arms would have been sprayed with pyroxylin (nitrocellulose) on the line during touch-ups, so the shock bodies would also probably have some overspray from that process. I spent many hours filling and blocking my shock bodies trying to make them 'perfect'. They're not quite as glossy as the photo illustrates, but the black color is a spot-on match for contemporary Ford black asphaltum enamel (not all 'blacks' are 'black'). Oh, and the shaft should definitely be masked off...