both good condition but no trac e of the previous fininsh, what is correct for a -6 ,is there a difference with late car or -4

I'm not aware of any differences between the 4 & six. Front should be a satin finish, with a heavy rubber sqeeze-type seal on the trailing edge. Muffler shield should be painted body color, though the paint would be thin - many were sparayed with rustproofing in the eastern states prior to delivery (along with the rest of the belly).

Hope this helps.
Pat

Pat- grey like primer on mine, w/ spatterings of undercoating. No white to be seen.

Al, I assume you're talking about the muffler cover.

I've seen all kinds of variation on these & in all cases, the best body color paint was minimal. Seems like when they painted the underside of the rear trunk, the muffler cover caught some or none of the paint - usually very thin if any, like it not really intended to be sprayed.
Pat

Sorry, yes the heat shield is just primer & undercoating. The steering shield is gloss black like engine tin.

My 72 has the muffler shield as Pat as described it. it has the undercoating and then the body colored sprayed over it.