Hood latch spring - painted or unpainted?

[sdweatherman]

Got a gripping question for you all. The spring that sits on top of the hood latch bracket - is it supposed to be painted or unpainted? Both my Satellites are painted (but they are far from original cars), yet I noticed that the Wellborn Hemi GTX and Eric's 440+6 have unpainted springs. Maybe the unpainted springs were slightly beefier for Air-grabber hoods? Thanks for your thoughts in advance! Scott.

[ajcpaperboy]

My '71 Road Runner built in St. Louis in September of '70 was an original paint car when I got it and the spring and the safety lever were painted body color. Forgot to include it is a factory AG car.

[Eric]

Are you talking about the pop-up spring? If so, every original car I've looked at was unpainted with a black or brown finish....doesn't mean there weren't exceptions though.

[Eric]

A few original paint examples both air grabber and standard hood cars

[general]

The finish was a black phosphate, not painted. Eastwood has a paint that closely resembles this finish if you wish to go this route.

[ajcpaperboy]

Could I email someone a picture to resize and post for me to show mine during teardown.

[sdweatherman]

OK, thanks guys - looks like unpainted/phosphate finish is what we are finding. ajcpaperboy you can PM me and I will send you my email addy. Thanks everyone - If someone finds something different - please post. Scott.

[ajcpaperboy]

Thanks Scott, I sent it to a buddy. I hope it works

[kenny]

im not trying to take over scotts post and i already have my pop up spring finished in a very low gloss black however i have not done anything with my hook part that the latch clamps on or the safety hook because i have been told and seen them so many ways. both of mine have some body color paint on them but ive been told they should be bare with no finish and i seen a lot of them also done in black and body color and even a few in silver but none bare. so i would like to know how those were finished by the factory.

[dangina]

I wasn't sure so I just painted mine the body color