1956 Ford Thunderbird Painting Help

[USFDon2012]

Evening all!

Ran into a spot of bother with a kit I've recently purchased and thought I'd come to the forum for a bit of advice and wisdom.

The kit in question is a 1:25 1956 Ford T-Bird from AMT-Ertl. When I opened the kit, everything that needed to be in the box was in the box, except for one thing: The color call-out sheet.

Fortunately, I already know what color I will be using for the exterior (Fiesta red) and for the engine block itself (Ford Engine Red). What is giving me a bit of concern are the colors for things like the chassis, the interior, and the other bits which comprise the engine.

Does anyone have/know of a color call-out sheet for this car? If not, can anyone recommend a good reference site so I can piece color schemes together from photo references?

Thanks!

[charlie8575]

Honestly, the best thing to do is go to your favorite search engine and start seeing what pictures you can find.

i do know that red interiors were available in T-Birds.

Here's a couple of places to start with.

http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/ford/thunderbird/1618893.html

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0LEV0assRZTwQ8AXM9XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTB0cTA1N3VzBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1ZJUDM4NF8x?_adv_prop=image&fr=fptb-msgr&va=1956+Ford+Thunderbird

Charlie Larkin

[berr13]

Try www.cars-on-line.com. Lots of cars for sale, with photos.

[slusher]

Great advice from Charley and James. I have typed in year and make on Google and hit images and look at many pictures to get ideas. You can just type in 56 T-bird interior and look at interior pictures. I hope this helps also...

[Lovefordgalaxie]

On the mechanical part of the Thunderbird, it's not that hard.

The frame is semi gloss black.

The rear end , rear springs, and front suspension is also semi gloss black.

The spindles and the steering arms are bare steel.

The driveshaft is bare steel, as is the manual transmission.

The automatic Ford-O-Matic is aluminum.

The bell housing was painted with the engine.

The pulleys were gloss black.

The exhaust manifolds were bare iron, as were the exhaust tubes.

brake boost was gold, brake master cylinder was steel.

Fuel pump was aluminum.

Fuel filter was aluminum, with steel filter cup. Fuel lines were steel.

carburetor, if Holley teapot was a goldish silver. If Autolite, was cast aluminum.

Starter generator, and oil filter cartridge were black.

On manual transmission cars, the bell housing lower cover was painted black.

Mufflers were aluminum.

radiator was semi gloss black.

voltage regulator was blue.

intake manifold on dual quad cars was bare aluminum.

Engine compartment was body color.

On the rear end, the gear housing was red oxide.

the floor pan could be body color or red oxide primer with body color overspray

Interior would be all red, red and white, all white, all black and black and white for your body color.

Fuel tank was galvanized steel with black steel stripes to keep it on.

wheels were painted black or silver from behind, and body color up front.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

I have a book with some pictures of a unrestored original '57, and for all details the colors are the same.

DON'T TRUST RESTORED CARS AS REFERENCE!!!!

[Art Anderson]

Great advice from Charley and James. I have typed in year and make on Google and hit images and look at many pictures to get ideas. You can just type in 56 T-bird interior and look at interior pictures. I hope this helps also...

I second that! I've come to use Google Advanced Search, type in the year, make and model of car, then click on "images"--IF there is an image online, it will show up, and a great many of those images are more than large enough to help out in determining the colors of the various parts and components. Don't just stop with the first one, keep on looking, as you may find discrepancies which can lead you to ask questions. One good source for answers is the website for Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) which has a huge set of forums, including individual make and model forums. To post a question, you will have to join the forums with a user name and password, but that's free of charge.

Art

[John Goschke]

I have a book with some pictures of a unrestored original '57, and for all details the colors are the same.

DON'T TRUST RESTORED CARS AS REFERENCE!!!!

x2! Also, don't trust model kit instruction sheets either!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Tulio (Lovefordgalaxie) has it dead on as far as I can remember from the many un-restored 'Birds I've worked on over the years, except for the possible exception of the voltage regulator, which I remember as being black usually (although I may be remembering cars with replacement regs). IDK what color for sure was on the OEM.

And John Goschke is also dead on with his warning about trusting the instructions regarding colors. Mistakes are frequent.

[Sport Suburban]

Double check me but I think the auto Trans should be steel not aluminum. The Trans cases back then was cast iron originally.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Double check me but I think the auto Trans should be steel not aluminum. The Trans cases back then was cast iron originally.

You're right about the FordoMatic case being cast iron, but I THINK the bellhousing and tailshaft housing were aluminum on those gearboxes. Manufacturers were generally a little better in those days about spending a few extra pennies to put at least a light coat of paint on everything, and I'd tend to guess the case was originally sprayed cheap chassis black before the bellhousing and tailshaft were bolted on. I know many complete gearboxes got sprayed all-over silver (aluminum) when they were rebuilt later.

[62rebel]

side note; I don't for the life of me know why or how Ford did it or even if it was intentional, but when I pulled the Fordomatic from my '60 Starliner and cleaned it up, the cast-in "Ford" oval was more gold in color than the rest of the casing which was aluminum.... I thought possibly it had been painted and scrubbed it with steel wool and brake cleaner and it simply shined up more gold-like. very odd and I've NEVER seen another like that...

Fords have been my life and I'm never amazed by what they did. they were willing to try ANYTHING once...

[Lovefordgalaxie]

All Ford-O-Matic I've seen here on unrestored cars had casings painted silver.

Maybe something done for export??

Since cars were fully assembled (including painting) here in Brazil from parts made in the States and in Brazil, I suppose some differences can happen, like the voltage regulator color. In "our" Birds they were marked Autolite in yellow over dark blue.

I also heard stories about cars leaving the Ypiranga Ford Factory in São Paulo custom painted in Lincoln colors and with Edelbrock intake manifolds.