This may be a dumb question but under the hood, the part of the car that surrounds the motor not the motor itself. On all classic mustangs that I see at shows, this area is painted black. Did the cars come this way from the factory or what? I have a '66 and I sort of want this area to be painted blue like the rest of the car instead of black. It is black right now but I think it had been redone at one time. Thanks.

 

It is semi-gloss black from the factory. But, you can paint it whatever color you want it. I just like to stay concours as best as I can.

 

Mustangkristy.

Great question. Hope the pros can answer it for us. I have a 66 Fastback that I am redoing. The engine complartment is the only area left. It is also black, but would like to match it to the color of the car.
Gary

 

I think that is a great question and also a great idea. I've seen a few Mustangs (Clutch's car comes to mind) that have the engine compartment smoothed and painted. Even saw a clone G.T.350 that had the white stripes carried through the engine compartment, and another guy did the dash (metal part) with the body color and stripes.
Makes the car stand out from a crowd.

Now the down side is, it takes a lot of work to make it look right. In order to get that really clean look you need to remove everything attached to the fire wall, then clean off all the crap. Then you use bondo / spot putty to smooth out the firewall. Then you have to think about where you want to move all the wires and accessories that were hanging there.
Finally is the upkeep. Ask Clutch how much time is spent cleaning his engine compartment before a show. He drives his car a lot so he is a good indicator for what it takes to keep it up.

Good luck,