air cleaner base color

    I would appreciate some clarification concerning the correct air cleaner base color please. The car in question is an early November 64 Dearborn built K code Mustang. Should the base be painted gold or black? MCA judges, what is concours correct? Thanks for your help and replies.

    Here are pictures of Gene's original 1965 air cleaner base and my restored air cleaner top.

    1)original painted base.

    2)restored.

    3)On my 289 for show.

    I had fun restoring it for Gene. I saved the original paint chips for Gene to compare and it was perfect. Thanks to Charles Turner for the paint codes. Enjoy! Dave V.


    [Blocked Image: http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg122/CSXEng/HiPoAirCleaner002Medium.jpg]


    [Blocked Image: http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg122/CSXEng/HiPoAirCleaner018Medium.jpg]


    [Blocked Image: http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg122/CSXEng/HiPoAirCleaner020Medium.jpg]

    I had consulted with the MCA rule book concerning the base color and had also searched the archives and Bob Mannel's excellent book and found possible conflicting information. I realize that Falcon Sprint bases were black and that assembly line techniques could vary depending upon circumstances and parts availability and production plant location. Some of the photos,from old magazine road tests back in the day, and from Bob Mannel's book suggest a base color that appears a darker hue than the gold color we expect to see. I know that preproduction and publicity photos could vary from the finished accepted product. Could it be that black bases were used during this early November 64 period on K cars? I have an older MCA rule book and did not know if there had been an ammendment or update to the 65 gold ,66 corporate blue rule. I would appreciate hearing from wiser, more experienced and knowledgable individuals on this subject.( Jeff Speegle and Charles Turner are you out there?) My curiosity on this subject was piqued by a friend who is putting the final touches on a restoration of said car, and the fact that I enjoy learning about these cars. I do not have an agenda to stir the rulebook pot, just trying to expand my knowledge.

    CSX Eng., THANK YOU for the excellent before and after photos.

    Once again, thanks to all for their thoughts and contributions on this subject.

    <BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>I would appreciate hearing from wiser, more experienced and knowledgable individuals on this subject.<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana" size=2 id=quote>


    I don't know if I meet the criteria listed above but I can offer this, relating to Mustangs:


    The gold has been listed in the MCA rule book for the early cars for a couple of years now. There have been some instances of bases with the Jan 65 date code on early cars in corporate blue, but that may be attributed to the part having been a service replacement. If there were instances of any variations they would likely be found in Bob Mannel's book. Early publicity photos don't tend to show the bottom of the air cleaner base, so I'm not sure how much traction you'll get with that direction.

    The 1965 K-Code Mustang was not the only Ford product to use this design of carburetor air cleaner tray.

    Mercury: C5MF-9A600-A (painted Vermillion M1J-2J-4J-1730-A)

    Ford: C5AF-9A600-G (painted black)

    Mustang: C4ZF-9A600-K (painted Gold Bronze M1J-2J-4J-842)


    Edited by - kar-nut on 04/08/2008 16:47:40

    HiPo air cleaner base colors are a real saga, perhaps an epic! When I wrote my book, there were no forums and networking like today. Today, I would go with what is found on original cars and why it is so important that these cars be documented. The color problem is muddied by other high performance cars using the same air cleaner. And the Falcon Sprints in 63-64 used the same bottom tray. Then there are the service replacements. It also seems that when a date code was stamped on the bottom, it was used for many months. So, a 5A date code could still be in use for 1966 production. One 5A bottom I have is painted Ford corporate blue. Seems they made them in batches. Bottom line is, we need to hear from owners of original cars and begin to build a consensus. Sounds like we have a good start with gold for 65. I have confirmed that the 63-64 HiPos were greenish gold (1968 Chevrolet Ash Gold is an exact match) top and bottom. Also, the transition from painted top cover to chrome is still unknown. Seemed it might be around 4-2-64 according to old MPCs, however, I have found a very original car with painted top cover with a scheduled build date of 27E. That's pretty late in the production year. As time goes on, we learn a little bit more. Please pass around what you know.

    I had asked that same question before and got NO real answer as my car is a July/Aug 64 built Mustang and wanted to know what correct color to paint the air cleaner base?

    The original color on my K (Oct. '64 San Jose) was gold. I repainted it when I rebuilt the engine in '04. I painted it with a gold spraypaint from NPD.

    Hi!I have what I believe to be the original air cleaner on my car.It is the correct CAl. emission type base w closed fitting,and the orig type 2 chrome lid.When I stripped it all the way down to bare metal there was no date code at all,and there was only black paint all the way down and it never appeared to be gold ever.I found this to be odd and assumed it might be a service replacement but I don't know if all bases had date codes.Any thoughts?!Thanks Randy

    Here is another data point that seemd reliable. Back in the early 1990's I came across a very original 1964½ Mustang dated in June 1964. I photographed the engine (in black & white). It was a California care with closed emission system and wanted to get a picture of the hose attachment under the air cleaner. It is in my book on page 4-33 (photo 4C31(h)). The air cleaner bottom was gold. It also had a flat-top (type 2) chromed air cleaner lid. I remember we discussed that because it seemed a little early for the flat-top. He was not the original owner, so he could not be sure. But, from what I saw, this was one of the most original HiPos I had seen. everything was there: generator pulley, fan, carburetor, distributor, engine tag, etc. And nothing had been repainted. I could find nothing out of place. I know it was not an aftermarket lid (it was genuine), but whether it had been added to this engine some time later or was original to the car was something I could not determine. There were no decals on the top -- no high performance decal (like 1965), nor the replacement parts or spark plug decals (like 1964).

    Does any body have the correct color code or paint number for gold air cleaner base so you can buy the correct Mustang color from paint store?

    I had two air cleaners painted by a professional shop

    using Charles formula so I don't have any paint left.

    May have the formula somewhere but I think Charles

    should decide if it's okay to publish it here.

    /Bo

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