Found Blue Paint on My Black Torsion Bar ('65 Formula S)
????? Don't they just have the number stamped in the end 892 and 893?
Yes, but sometimes it helps to put identifiers on parts to help the assembly line operators from picking the wrong part... Doing the same thing on a car gets repetitive and sometimes the operators can miss some things and install the wrong part... The colored paint marks on the torsion bars will help the assembly line workers pick the right part... It's much easier to look for the colored paint on the part than to look at the ends for the part numbers...
That's called "error proofing" or "idiot proofing"....
I used to work in a truck factory back in the 90's... One of the parts that I was responsible for was the decals and tape stripes... The computers at each station would flash the color code for the decal or stripe for the next vehicle to enter their work station... Even then, the operators would put the wrong part on sometimes...
So to help that, we made the color code in the computer come up in the same color as the decal or stripe as another way for the operator to key in on which part to install... This helped reduce the amount of wrong color stripes or decals being installed on the trucks... They still could put the wrong part on, but with the color code flashing in color on the computer helped reduce the number of wrong parts getting installed...
We once had a truck get out with a v-8 emblem on one fender and a v-6 emblem on the other... They were done with different operators on each side of the assembly line (operators are not allowed to cross the assembly line for their job while it is moving - union rule for safety of the operator)... When the operator works on one side of the assembly line, they can't see what the one on the opposite side is doing... The operator accidentally grabbed the wrong part and installed it... So we made the engine cylinder flash in large letters on the computer screen to help them know what part to install on the truck that is in their station... The screen would flash a large V-8 or V-6 on the screen to help them pick the right part....
