1942 Sedan Paint Originality?

[rosenkranswa]

I have a '42 Tudor Sedan that has won Rouge awards for Interior and Drivetrain in the early 90's (while owned by someone else) and for interior a couple years ago (under my ownership). I work very hard to maintain the original interior, but a couple years ago had to pull the engine to do some ring and valve guide work so did some general cleanup and repainting under the hood, in correct colors and finishes, but I understand why it lost the drivetrain Rouge.

My question has to do with paint originality - experts that have given the car a once over are divided on the originality of the paint and I'm just trying to settle the question in my own mind.

A few observations:

The color is uniformly black and glossy.
The black on the firewall and under the hood appears to be the same
There is no evidence of overspray or other color on any trim, panel lines, or hidden surfaces except one noted below.
There are a few areas where the paint has worn thin and red oxide primer is visible.
Well done touch-ups can be found.
When we had the gas tank out a couple years ago there was a splotch of what could be Florentine Blue paint visible, but nowhere else can the blue be found.

The car spent most of its life in the Towe collection in Montana, then Harrah's, then another collector in FL, then us. It was known not to have been repainted during those ownerships. I pulled a ton of gravel out of the chassis doing general cleanup so suspect the car spent some time on gravel roads early in its life.

So I see a couple scenarios:

Its actually original paint that's been incredibly well cared for.
Its original paint that at some point had a clear coat applied.
It was meticulously repainted, perhaps taken down to bare metal, early in its history with enough time to elapse for some paint thinning. It was originally Florentine Blue.

Based on the serial numbers, window bugs, etc., we think the car was built during the last month of regular production and as such would have been held in dealer stocks and doled out for war critical uses. I could generate a purely speculative story of an owner shortly after the war ended wanting to spiff their car up after the rough usage of the war years. New cars were hard to get, and body shops were looking for work. A local shop did an exhaustive refinish of the car changing it from Florentine Blue to Black. The problem with that story is that such an extensive refurbish would have been expensive, and how likely would it be that would happen in the late '40s on the family Ford?

So, like I said, just wanting to settle it in my own mind. Any thoughts??

[edhd58]

Since the bodies have no numbers, possibly it started as Florentine blue in the factory but somewhere in the assembly process they needed just one more Black body hence the " from the factory" look in black?
Maybe pull a door or kick panel and see what that reveals?

[rosenkranswa]

Did that actually, color is matt black behind the kickpanels.

I hadn't thought about the possibility of a factory repaint while on the line, makes sense I suppose.

[rockfla]

@rosenkranswa
We have an early production 39 Mercury (see avatar)
(Ocotober of 38, all glass is bugged, Early Ford/Mercury Caps and many little "early" touches) and it is a three time "Rouge" winner.....three for interior and Running gear.....And once for all three! We do think that he rear trunk lid and fenders suffered a "fender bender" at some point but beyond that, our paint is like yours, no signs of repaint, red oxide spots starting to wear thru.......and still a split decision on the originality of the rest of the paint. As for the "blue" under the gas tank....Theory #4 or #5, the car before yours on the assembly line was "blue", yours was next and "black" so he sprayed what little blue was left in his gun in an inconspicuous place until it started spraying black paint and whallla....your car is black!!!! It happened many times from 1932 on up!!!!

[rosenkranswa]

Oh I like this one, would certainly explain the blotch of blue paint under the gas tank. Certainly sounds more plausible than my theory of a bare metal respray in the late 40's/50's. I think that's my new story.

[Frank Miller]

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When I removed the undercoating on my 49 there was a shade of paint that looked like a bunch of leftover paint mixed together. The scenario above about finishing up the blue before the black came out makes sense.

[alanwoodieman]

I had a mandarin maroon station wagon with lyon blue partially painted on the bottom, it was very visable when the body was removed from the frame

[rockfla]

As mentioned before, going all the way back to 1932, there are many times people have had one color or another sprayed on the inside of the body but a totally different color as the "true" body color. I'm sure this practice more than like could be verified by some Model A guru's too???