Windows frame colors & others

[80stang]

I'm confused about the side window frame (not molding) colors, and side panel color on the rear pillar and hood scoop color. Mainly I'm looking at the pics in the Recognition Guide and 79-81 sales brochyres.

Windows frames seem to be body color on the 79-82. In '83 black is standard?

Pillar panel was body color too. Mostly. In some cars with windows blackened frames the panel is black but there are pics with black frames with panel in body color.

So I see three combinations:

Frame Black - Panel Body C.
Frame Black - Panel Black
Frame Body C - Panel Body C.

Was it an option to choose these three combinations?

About hood scoop: was it always in body color?

Side moldings: is this the option "61P Bodyside protection, lower"? Some cars have it, some don't.

[negusm]

Here is what I can find on the Capri:

79-84 All had Black and/or Chrome frames except SPECIALTY TuTone

81 Tu Tone SPECIALTY Paint (not regular Tu Tone) had color keyed sail panel INSERTS (not the whole sail panel) and color keyed door frame and b pillar.

82-83 - Tu Tone Specialty Paint had the color keyed door frame and b pillar

85-86 All had Charcoal Grey and/or Chrome frames.

Now, whether this is 100% correct is not certain. I looked through the product fact books. The Tu-Tone option was SO RARE though that it may tough to find examples to corroborate or refute the Ford literature.

For Mustangs, I don't have all the brochures and the fact books I have don't have nice diagrams of the moulding and frame colors.

-Mike

[roush235]

On 79 coupes, body color frames and sail panel inserts were standard. There was an option called the Sport Option (my car has it) which made the frames black but left the sail panel body color.

On 79 fastbacks, the Sport Option was standard so the frames were black. But the sail panel was body color. Unless the fastback was a Ghia or Cobra, I believe the sail panel was then body color.

I don't know if these schemes carried forward for 1980.

I'm not 100% positive on the above but I think it is right.

I don't know about hood scoops but almost all that I remember were body color.

The other item you mentioned was 61P Bodyside Protection, Lower. I think that refers to a vinyl coating which was applied below the wide bodyside moldings. My car has that too. Per my window sticker it was a $30 option.

[Travis T]

roush235 is right on the 79s. All 79s except for the Pace Cars and Cobras had chrome trim. Standard 79 coupes had body color frames and sail panels, with flat black optional in a trim package. The hatchbacks had flat black frames and sail panels standard. The Cobra had black frames and trim, with body colored sail panels, and the Ghias all came with body color sail panels and frames. Ghias also had chrome rocker panel moldings instead of the black ones (which were optional), and depending on what option package your car had, there was an extra strip of trim on top of the doors (below the belt molding) and at the bottom of the rear quarter windows that was black on all of the Mustangs with the exception of the Ghia, which had chrome trim. I'd imagine this was pretty true up until 1983.

[negusm]

OK, JUST for 1979, Ford has this to say:

2 Door Sedan & 2 door Ghia - Standard Equipment - Chrome window trim. Color Keyed Sail Panel Louvers. Appears to be color keyed door frame. For the Ghia add chrome rocker panels.

3 Door Sedan - Standard Equipment - black window frames, black rocker panels, black sail panels, chrome window trim

3 Door Ghia - Standard Equipment - chrome window trim, Chrome Rocker Moulding, body colored window frames, body colored sail panels

Cobra - Body Color Sail Panels, Black door frames and trim. Rocker Panel Mouldings are deleted.

Options:
1979 Cobra Option - (available on 2 door???? and 3 door sedans) - Black Rocker Panel Mouldings (standard) (huh? a few pages back, they said they were deleted)

1979 Cobra Alternate Package Option - (available on 2 door and 3 door sedans) Black Exterior and Interior and Green Graphics

1979 Exterior Accent Group - (only available on 2 Door Sedans) - bright belt mouldings, black rocker panel mouldings

1979 Rocker Mouldings - (only available on 2 door sedans) - Not available with Sport Option or Exterior Accent Group. Standard on Ghias, Black on Cobras

[roush235]

Thanks Negusm. Travis T and I appear to have had it right (except for me not saying what I meant to say-- On the fastbacks I meant to say "but the sail panels were black").

Which leads me to a side comment or two: It sure was fun back then when you could order options on cars a la carte. Made for zillions of combinations and uniquely equipped cars. Contrast that to today where each car has a few stand-alone options and a couple packages. Honda/Acura has taken it to the extreme, I believe on some of their models you choose the color and whether or not it has a nav system and that's it. I guess it is all a matter of cost and efficiency.

But back to the 79 Mustang: can you imagine the poor guys and gals on the assembly line, cars whizzing by, trying to keep all that trim business straight???

[negusm]

Yep, I think you guys got the trim really close there....seems like the books were pretty accurate.

Cars are now more of a commodity and go by the "value menu" approach. Want fries with that? For a few cents more you get a drink too....but we also require you to take the apple pie.

In the end less choices means cheaper cars for exactly the reason you described. Cars whizzing by the assembly line with a zillion things different than the last car. Too many options = more labor and more mistakes, more recalls, more fixes in the field, more cost all around.

-Mike

[Travis T]

1979 Rocker Mouldings - (only available on 2 door sedans) - Not available with Sport Option or Exterior Accent Group. Standard on Ghias, Black on Cobras

This isn't right. My 79 hatch has the exterior accent group, and it has black rocker moldings. Several of the 79s I've owned have been the same way.

[negusm]

1979 Rocker Mouldings - (only available on 2 door sedans) - Not available with Sport Option or Exterior Accent Group. Standard on Ghias, Black on Cobras

This isn't right. My 79 hatch has the exterior accent group, and it has black rocker moldings. Several of the 79s I've owned have been the same way.

Read further. The Accent Group already comes with the rocker mouldings. That is why the "Rocker Option" is not allowed when you get the Exterior Accent Group.

-Mike

[Travis T]

Doh! Literacy is my friend. :lol:

[negusm]

Doh! Literacy is my friend. :lol:

As complicated as all that was in 1979, I am amazed that you guys got it right without even referring to the Ford books!

-Mike