2002 to 2005 Color Stats

[Will]

Re: 2002 to 2005 Color Stats

Okay, thanks, Dot. I guess in the winter I'm one of 174; in summer I'm one of ten. Now it's time for:

Yep! My Retro was soldered together on this date in 2004 as one of only ... well, whatever. A half a decade old & 35,000 miles on the odometer (though only the most recent 7,000 are of my doing). Lots more smiles ahead!

[snowbird]

Re: 2002 to 2005 Color Stats

Martin, did you happen to check the vin#s for the two cars?

A definite difference was noted in the 02 blues back in 2002 when we had some together in the summer of 02 - one had been a very early car and more "green" than the later 02 blues. We were told by a wixom painter that Ford changed paint types back in late June 2001. There will be slight differences in shade just from batch to batch but most batch differences will be hard to tell unless body panels are interchanged so the colors are actually side by side.

Dot: Have the VIN from one of the '02 red Birds. This one had a significant darker/richer red than the other '02 and even the '03 that was there in red. The number in the VIN seems to make it quite a late production model. " 2Y130823 "
MartinB

[snowbird]

Re: 2002 to 2005 Color Stats

Martin, did you happen to check the vin#s for the two cars?

A definite difference was noted in the 02 blues back in 2002 when we had some together in the summer of 02 - one had been a very early car and more "green" than the later 02 blues. We were told by a wixom painter that Ford changed paint types back in late June 2001. There will be slight differences in shade just from batch to batch but most batch differences will be hard to tell unless body panels are interchanged so the colors are actually side by side.

Dot: If you go to this site on 'photo bucket' put on by Mike Kearns and look at picture # 9 and perhaps 12 the two reds seem quite distinguishable. Both those red cars are '02's.
Martin.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...view=slideshow<!-- / message -->

[5bird7]

Re: 2002 to 2005 Color Stats

I'm going to assume that the darker red car is owned by the original owner? if not original owner then there would be more questions about the paint color being factory original. I've had a whole fender repainted on my Inca and you can't tell if it's original or not - also had trunk lid repainted on 02 and it looks original.

Also something to look at - the side view mirrors were not painted at the factory and neither was the hood scoop bezel. Even the bumpers were not painted at the factory. I think I have an inside Wixom photo of the bumpers stacked up waiting to go on the cars. I would think those three items would match the other red cars and not the darker red.

I'm assuming that the car with license plate NGS is the one with the darker paint? If original paint, looks like Wixom had a paint glitch when they mixed that batch. There would probably be some other reds from that same week that show that same darker red if it happened at the factory. It would help to find some other red owners from that same time period (same day, week) and see if their color is the same. sounds like a long term project for someone.