70 Cuda grille question

Author Topic: 70 Cuda grille question  (Read 6786 times)

Offline Green Drop Top

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Re: 70 Cuda grille question
« Reply #15 on: December 30, 2006 - 12:17:15 AM »
IMO, when it comes to grill Silver Argent being light or dark? The correct answer is "none of the above".

The reason is that while most will say that Light Argent is correct (and I would agree) the actual shade varied somewhat during production according to original examples I've seen. Some were slightly darker than others but none were even nearly as dark as the "Dark Argent" you typically see on items such as 71 Rallye Wheel Center Caps, etc.

What complicates and confuses this subject is that many dealers sell what they often call "Correct" Light and Dark Argent paint that is not even close to the original shade. If you want truely correct you'll need to have someone like Mike at AllTrim Specialties paint your grill, he's one of only a couple sources I would even consider if perfection is the goal.

The other thing that complicates things is that old Silver Argent paint fades, oxidizes, and sometimes darkens with UV exposure (like 30 years of sunlight will typically do to any paint, especially silvers) so matching an old painted part that's seen even moderate sun exposure is not a good sample to match to when comparing paint. The other curve ball is todays metallic flake paint additives which are a different material than originally used in the Argent formulations, it's nearly impossible to match exactly unless you have some NOS componants to mix your new paint with.

 :2cents:




Offline 70Cuda

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Re: 70 Cuda grille question
« Reply #16 on: December 30, 2006 - 03:42:13 PM »
OK, thanks but now toomanyprojects is going to lose faith if you are only giving opinions  :) but I'll take it anyway since I painted mine light (from penstar and it has really held up well - center caps, shark gill mouldings, grille, valance insert).  Maybe those shouldn't all be the same color but that's what I did and if anybody cares to jump in and say what is right/wrong that's good info anyway.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2006 - 03:44:27 PM by 70Cuda »

Offline toomanyprojects

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Re: 70 Cuda grille question
« Reply #17 on: December 30, 2006 - 07:43:08 PM »
No, i do not lose faith if ithe answer makes logical sense-i worked on several projects for EPA/and AQMD(for those that don’t know-it stands for Evironmental Protection Agency and Air Quality Management District here in California)-and you cannot get the correct original materials to duplicate the original finish here in california because they contained high amounts of VOCs(volatile organic compounds) and are illegal to spray without special permits-also it depends on the batch that was made up that week for spraying-if the mixture had different amounts of reducer to color ratio-the evaporation rate would be different, and hence would end up drying either darker or lighter depending on how many coats the sprayer applied-and what day of the week it was(according to triplets uncle-mondays and fridays were the worst because it was either they weren’t in the groove to start the work week or they were anxious to leave on friday quitting time-you must remember-this was a time when automation and quality control was far less than perfect-

as for spraying laquer or thinner base with high VOCs-i only know of one shop here in southern california that can spray high VOC laquers and enamals-but they are not cheap-a friend of ours painted his Boss Mustang and it cost 22k-the body was straight and no rust-the only thing that was done was door dings ect....

i also have an original 71argent cuda grille i have been saving and it looks darker than triplets unmolested 71 cuda grille because of age and heat from weather and radiator-

i sent my 70 cuda grille to All trim and it looks exactly like my original 71 argent-it might not be correct but it is beautiful-i have not had the privalege to see an original 70 and compare it with my 71-so like Harms had stated-it is very difficult to give a difinative answer-there are just too many variables-and i don’t think lugging my original grille around to compare to other restored cars and tell them -”IT’S NOT CORRECT-look this ones original”-and who knows-since i don’t have the original box and it has been hanging on my garage wall for the last 20 some years-the flourescent lighting might have had some effect on the finish-

so unless someone out there has on stashed away in a nice cool dark basement in the original box away from any ultra violet light-the world will never know-

Offline 1970hemicuda

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Re: 70 Cuda grille question
« Reply #18 on: January 04, 2007 - 11:46:51 PM »
There is only one "Argent" color ... if you've seen different shades over the years, it's probably because somebody gave their best shot at trying to come up with an Argent color.