Six Engine Cover Torsion Bar Paint, What Color? Options

[jrrobertson]

I am restoring a 1971 six and I hope someone can help me with a question about the paint color on the torsion bars that hold up the engine cover. The ones that came with the car are painted black and this appears to be the original color. However, I have seen some sixes with these torsion bars painted body color. Does anyone have a six with original paint that could verify the paint color?

[Cairo94507]

My '71 Six, which was gold from the factory, had the black torsion rods for the engine lid. That is the way they came. Though it looks like at some point they got a bit of overspray on them, they were black.

Additionally, engine lid torsion bars on a 6 were smaller/thinner than on a 4 as the 4 cars had a rain tray which added weight. The 6 never came with a rain tray so lighter rods were installed so the lid would not fly open and bang the rear of the targa bar.

When we repainted my car we did them in body color. In hindsight, I should have done them in satin black. Maybe I will address that in the future. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[jrrobertson]

My '71 Six, which was gold from the factory, had the black torsion rods for the engine lid. That is the way they came. Though it looks like at some point they got a bit of overspray on them, they were black.

Additionally, engine lid torsion bars on a 6 were smaller/thinner than on a 4 as the 4 cars had a rain tray which added weight. The 6 never came with a rain tray so lighter rods were installed so the lid would not fly open and bang the rear of the targa bar.

When we repainted my car we did them in body color. In hindsight, I should have done them in satin black. Maybe I will address that in the future. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

Thank you for the information. This is good news. It is much easier to paint them with a spray can of satin black than to mix the body color and use big spray gun.