Info needed: Ford Instrument Cluster- Correct Gold Colour

[Jacques Reed]

Good Day,

Does anyone know a close match for the gold paint used on WW2 Ford instrument clusters? I looked at the late Bob Moseley's Instrument Panel Restoration thread but could not find any colour reference. Looked at a few off the shelf hardware store colours but usually too bright a gold colour.

Searching the web I found a reference to the color on the G503 website referring to a the colour of a 1941 Ford Jeep instrument cluster as a "code that Baxter Ford has" That Jeep cluster is similar in many ways to a Ford CMP cluster minus the shift points on the odometer. The gold colour of the plate would surely be the same.

From the G503 post is sounded like Baxter Ford is a Canadian Ford dealership. A standard modern Ford vehicle colour then perhaps is close such as Aurora Gold? I guess I could drive the local Super Cheap Auto parts employee crazy by asking to look at all the gold vehicle colours inside the locked paint cabinets but would prefer not to, I might want to shop there again!

The attached shows the cluster panel as found, the second one is after filling in the 4 screw holes with brass strip soldered behind each hole then filling with JB Weld and followd by filing, priming, spray putty, and sanding.

The last photo is why I am replacing the panel. Some previous bright spark cut out the panel at the ammeter to give the needle more room to move due to the gauge being warped. Grrr! Why go to all that trouble when simpler solutions exist.

As Bob stated "Nothing is impossible"

Cheers,

[Dave Newcomb]

Early for ford V8 club is international.. lots of info on Fordbarn.com 40 trucks were brown background and 41 up were a lighter color. without the chrome surround. newc

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Dave,

Thanks. I am on Fordbarn.com too but it can be a needle in a haystack search like on most forums.

My main thing is to find an Australian source if possible. Even if available, a $10 can of paint could cost $50 if posted to Australia from almost anywhere in the world. That is even assuming they will post it as many suppliers do not ship to here. Obviously Bob found a good colour match in Australia a few years back when he was restoring instrument panels for others.

I took a $8 gamble and bought a can of Satin Gold aerosol paint from Bunnings. (I lost)
It is a bit brighter gold colour as previously mentioned.
the Satin Gold colour chip I sprayed is in the speedo aperture for comparison with the original colour. It looks a lot closer in colour in the photo than in real life.


Cheers,

[David Herbert]

Possibly the thing to do is to look at modern car colours when you are out and about. Most cars are available in some sort of gold/metallic brown colour and there might well be one that is suitable.

David

[Jacques Reed]

Hi David,

Yes, that may be my best way of getting a close match of colour.

My late Father-in-law had a 1997 Toyota Camry in a light gold colour which from memory was a bit lighter shade than the instrument cluster plate.

With all the metallic colours of cars available, there there is bound to be one with a close match. Might be worth my while to ask a local panel beater for a suggestion as they would have a lot of knowledge, and a good eye for car colours.

Will post my results for all when/if I get a good match.

Cheers,

[Mike Cecil]

Hi Jaques,

Possibly not much help to you in Oz, but I used:

Ace hardware Brite Gold Metallic spray can
Testors Dark Red barcode 0-75611-11040 (red stripes)
Rustoleum Gloss white spray can (for the back & interior)

Best regards

Mike