> I have removed the grille assembly in order to design and fit
>a badge bracket.
> Is the front valence behind the grille, or any part of the
>inner headlight surrounds,
>supposed to be matte black? Mine's all body color, but it was
>resprayed by the PO.
> The grille assembly is badly rusted in places. After
>cleanup, is the correct paint finish
>matte black, along with the "front apron finisher" strip?
>
For reasons to lengthy to go into here this was something I was
trying to find out last year. I had noticed the body colour behind
the grill on many cars and always thought this was the sign of a
re-spray, I thought it was unlikely that so many PO's had decided to
paint the area black, so I asked the list. Two people thought their
cars were in original paint and were painted body colour behind the
grill, whilst two others said their cars were matt black, but noted
that the paint appeared to have been brushed on.
I tried to find press release pictures which could prove this one way
or the other, but it is difficult because this area is usually in
shadow and can appear black in a photo. The only picture I found was
in the Brooklands Gold Portfolio, page 77, a road test from 1971. A
low angle front close-up of a light coloured car, the metal work
behind the grill is visible, and black.
Last year at Gaydon's Triumph day I saw the very original 1975 car
featured in Bill Piggot's book, (PAC 50M), and this is painted black
behind the grill.
Personally I prefer the look, but I am puzzled why so many restorers
miss this paint.
From memory the grill and finisher are coated in some sort of black
plastic (?), rather than painted. If this is damaged (perhaps over
tightening), water gets behind the coating and rust develops
unnoticed, until the coating starts to peel off.
--
William Davies
1975 TR6 PI
CR6157-O
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