SWB suspension (front +rear) and axle finishes

[Will 1967]

I have tried to find threads about correct finishes for SWB suspension components (66 and 67) without luck. I'd need pics of either perfectly restored or compeletely original ones where you could actually see something underneath dirt.
Some are quite obvious and easy; brake calipers yellow zinc, rear trailing arms + front a-arms black, as are drop links etc.
What about rear spring plates? And housing for rear spring plates? I have Boge struts and all I could find underneath was black, but I saw in some other threads that they would be blu-grey at least in very early ones but doesn't look like that still in 1967? What about housing in front struts holding calipers etc, yellow zinc?

Pics would speak more that thousand words so they would be perfect (front and rear), I imagine that would help quite many other SWB owners as well.

Many thanks!

[718RSK]

Below is based on my observations of some original unrestored SWB cars

- brake calipers, yellow zinc, brake fittings grey phosphated, Ribe bolts black phosphated
- rear trailing arms, black gloss
- front a-arms, black gloss
- drop links, black gloss
- rear spring plates, black gloss
- housing for rear spring plates, black gloss
- Boge struts, black less gloss than other black components but more than tie rods which are close to flat
- Housing in front struts holding calipers, grey phosphated

Hope this helps,

JK

[Will 1967]

Excellent, thank you very much! These were as I thought, which is good. Easy to do at this point to correct finish, much harder later.

[roblav]

I remember the black being more semi-gloss rather than full gloss.

[Richy]

The spring plates are almost flat black , absolutely not a gloss black . Perfect example of being done wrong so often now people think wrong is correct .

[718RSK]

The spring plates are almost flat black , absolutely not a gloss black . Perfect example of being done wrong so often now people think wrong is correct .

On my car which was taken of the road and garaged in 73 they were very much glossy. With regard to the semi gloss versus gloss.this has been discussed at length in the 356 world. I think many components were painted with what was considered gloss at that time. The cheap quality of the paint and working environment dulled things a bit. I agree that modern paints have more depth and Don look quite right

[718RSK]

On my car which was taken of the road and garaged in 73 they were very much glossy.

a picture of one of my plates to back my statement

[Richy]

That spring plate is not what I'm used to seeing . I've never seen an original spring plate that didn't have the rubber bushings vulcanized to the tube . The bushings cannot be removed and leave nice paint , in fact there should not be paint where the bushings are , which indicates your spring plates are not original and have been painted with new bushings .

[Will 1967]

Ricky, mine looked similar that 718RSK posted. (have been off the road for almost 40 years))

[718RSK]

As with everything I am sure there were differences over the years. My plates do not show any signs of ever having been repainted. Restoration of components also does not match up with the condition of the rest of the car. The spring plates on the 356's were also quite glossy. As such the plates of early SWB cars having the same finish seems logical especially as it is backed up by observations on other early cars.