I'm all for originality, but as a mechnical engineer, I do find it a bit strange to paint fastners.
I recommend showing your car even if you don't want to ensure your bolts are anodyzed in the correct color. Often you get really great parking, even when you are unlikely to win anything.On a side note - the front fenders on my 1968 Mustang have unpainted attach hardware (bolts). See pic below.
I had the car restored in 2005/2006.
Before I had my car restored, I was at the 'Mustang Round-Up' in Bellevue, WA to do some homework on who could do the work - and just have fun.
I was talking to one fella who had his 1967 Coupe on display. He and I were talking right when the judges came through to judge his car.
I stepped back and watched the spectacle. The 4 or 5 judges spent 20 minutes discussing what the correct color anodize was for these very bolts and the implications of such highly important features. They got to the point of not only discussing what the color was/should be but also - was it supposed to be flat? Satin? Shiny? Jeezzeee....
The rest of their judging time was equally obtuse... Blew my head right open - and I left the area wondering what I was getting into....
Witnessing that - I made a personal vow to never show my Mustang in any MCA judged show. The shop that did the restoration on my car was disappointed at that (for they would have appreciated the exposure showing my car would give them) - but - they did understand why I would not want to go through that BS.
For my car - I am on the fence with how I will 'show' my car that is coming up on delivery from SFDon... I really don't care about originality (in this trivial way) - but I do want to have fun with the car. Will see how my time with the E9 goes moving forward....
Below - For the Mustang, you can see the before (with fender removed) and after (with the silver anodized bolts shown).
The reason the Mustang has unpainted fasteners is that the hood, fenders and some other smaller body items are painted off the car and then installed. So, makes sense to not have fasteners painted.
painted by hand after installation is my vote
It looks like they painted them installed, did the final installation then took a comedy paint brush and slathered paint over them after they were done.
View attachment 160747
Note the slop on the wheel well cover and the less than careful brushstrokes above the bolt heads and washers as also seen on other examples above.
Here's a close-up of mine. The hardware matches Erik's and others, so not all were fender-type screws.
The stop brackets were pushed forward from their former painted positions, but there's no former impression or shadow on the plastic liner...
I don't think a raised lip is necessarily a characteristic of a fender bolt. I think fender bolts are characterized by having a captive washer...Does anyone know why fender bolts have a raised lip?
agree… hand painted on production line….mmmmFully in line with the consensus that seems to develop; painted body color over yellow CAD from factory.
My car has been fully restored in the 90's before I tore it down again. It still had the original bolts, though without paint. I start to think mine had their paint removed in the 90's.
I'm all for originality, but as a mechnical engineer, I do find it a bit strange to paint fastners. Not sure If i'll be painting them.
It feels like painting over your 110V/220V sockets and light switches in your house.