Data Plate & Color Question

[Jeremy]

Well, I've been going through all of the data code info here, which is great, and I'm stumped on my '60 bird.

My Color Code is "M" (which should be white), but the car seems to have the original paint and is turquoise (which would go with the Trim Code of "57"). It's been in our family for 40+ years. My great-grandfather was the second owner, and we never had it painted. Just spent an hour looking for white, and I mean there isn't a drop of white paint anywhere, except the roof. The engine bay, under the hood insulation, in all of the holes, etc. is turquoise.

Any thoughts on this? Am I reading it right? Very confused...

[YellowRose]

Data Plate & Color Question

Hi Jeremy! Are you certain that is Color Code M you are looking at? M IS Corinthian White. Is it possible that someone put a different Data Plate on that car? Or that someone did have it painted, but you do not know about it? Those are the only things I can think of. Is that the original data plate?? Some times they are taken off and replaced with another one. You can get replacement data plates.

[Guest]

Jeremy, cross check your VIN# on the data plate with the VIN# on both your car's title and also a VIN# stamped on the frame of the car. The VIN# is labeled Serial Number on the data plate. If all are the same #, then you've still got a mystery as to paint. But if they are different, then you've opened up another bag of bird feed. That would be synonomous with "another can of worms" in another language.

[Guest]

Hey Jeremy,
Look on the left inter fender, right by the upper control arm and check the VIN number with the one on data plate.
Trim code is the color of your interior! 57 should be Dark and light Turqouise.
Also if you go to Google and type in Thunderbird Catalog, you can get a lot of catalogs for free!!!
Richard D. Hord

[Dan Leavens]

Jeremy all of the statements are good ones and may help you solve the puzzle. Have you had the back seat out of ther 60?? Also another area that may help, is take off the bracket ( two screws ) holding the Sea-Clear bag ( windshield fluid ) and see what colour is under it

[vernz]

Is there another letter in front of the M? You stated it has a white top. Turquoise and white could be IM, CM or KM depending on the shade of turquoise. My White top Beachwood Brown body '60 is color code HM.

Vern

[Jeremy]

Thanks for all your help with this guys.

I did know that the Trim "57" is light and dark turquoise interior, and that's what she's got. No problem there.

So, got the VIN off of the fender and it matches the plate. Pulled out the back seat, and everywhere there is metal it's turquoise. Took off the windshield-cleaner-bag bracket, and, you guessed it, turquoise. The whole engine bay (even in front of the radiator all the way down to the where you'd have to pull the engine to get a paint gun in, is turquoise). The only clue that I've found is there are a couple of chips around the edge of the trunk lid that are showing a speck of white underneath... I read somewhere that ford used a white primer. If this is true, I'm stumped. If not, then someone 40+ years ago did a heck of a turquoise paint job.

(BTW, no other letter in front of the M... just M)

[Coral]

Hey Jeremy...

After you make sure all your NO#'s match ...

take a lamp, flashlight and shine it directly onto the data plate
if its clean/clear of debris, take a sheet of paper and a pencil and rub the impressions onto the paper...sometimes a ding can distort the plate, then again there's that pesky detail about swapping them out... perhaps the car was ordered white, then changed before delivery to the customer at the dealer?
since your bird is only a 2 family bird ( are you SURE? ) there's not a lot of wiggle room here...

[bird 60]

I could be wrong, but my guess is as mentioned that the previous owner went to town with it & changed the color with a top spray job. My '60 was Silver & had a Rotiserie restoration. It was sprayed Red with a White Top & there is no indication of any Silver whatsoever anywhere. Another way of checking is if you can get in touch with the previous owners Family.

Chris....From the Land of OZ.

[JohnG]

could you post a photo of the Data Plate??

[tbird430]

What about the ROT sheet Jeremy? Have you tried looking for that?

-Jon