What are all the daubs of color for? 73 Dart

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Lasalle

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I'm finding daubs of paint all over the front suspension. What are they for? Were they put there at the factory? White on the lower control arm rivets, orange on the tips of the torsion adjuster, yellow on the tips of the lug nut studs, ball joint studs, and tie rod studs, green on the torsion rod, and blue on the machined face of the spindle casting.

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Document ALL of them. Those are inspection marks put on at the factory. Some of them indicate that certain fasteners were tightened. Others differentiate one part from another on the assembly line. For instance, torsion bars were marked with paint codes so the assembly line workers could easily see what part they were grabbing. It was much easier(quicker) to look at a paint daub color then read a part #. Leaf springs had paint marks and so do rear end housings. They all have a meaning.

I'd love to see more pictures of them. You should soak those LCA's in EvapoRust. That will get rid of the rust but leave the paint marks intact.
 
I did keep written notes of all the paint spots I found. I did not take pictures of any others. I intend to replace them on all the clean parts. I actually matched the olive green color on the torsion bars with alkyd paint. I am OCD enough to reproduce the paint marks but not enough to try to preserve the originals.

This brings up an interesting line of thinking in car restoration and preservation. This car has been in my family since new and is in untouched original condition. Details such as these factory paint spots are lost in a restoration. This is the first time these parts have been removed since the factory. This front end restoration had to be done, however. I want the car to perform as it was designed in addition to being factory original. I can preserve it 100% as a museum piece or I can sacrifice some factory originality for driveability.
 
Restore to your comfort level then drive the heck out of it.

I have my dad's 67Dart Convertible, he bought new and drove as his daily driver for 300,000 miles over 25 years.

It is only original once, but it can be fun and educational to a new group of enthusiasts if restored and driven.

I'm in northern Colorado and I drive my Dart every month of the year I have had the top up 1 or 2 times in 2 years.
 
For those of us that are into very trivial details, notice the line of rust across the rivets on my LCA s. According to other posts on this forum, the LCAs were bare steel and dipped in cosmoline at the factory for temporary rust prevention. They were hung by the ball joint hole and not dipped entirely. That rust line caught my attention because it proves the cosmoline story to be true.

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Lasalle said:
For those of us that are into very trivial details, notice the line of rust across the rivets on my LCA s. According to other posts on this forum, the LCAs were bare steel and dipped in cosmoline at the factory for temporary rust prevention. They were hung by the ball joint hole and not dipped entirely. That rust line caught my attention because it proves the cosmoline story to be true.

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After 1967 yes!
 
Honestly it Does not matter in the end run! I did all of this on my one of 272 69 fish!

If you car is not 1 of 5, don't waste your time other than to make yourself smile!!!!

Not a be a discouragement, but an awakening! A true Owner!
 
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