1960 upper hood latch color

[Chas Henderson #28127]

My buddy has brought his upper hood latches in to be cleaned. They were a dull black which I assume was fron the black out process. When we disassembled them, we found that under the locking ring that helped to hold the spring inplace, that it was gold plated in that spot, but the rest of the bracket seems to be cad plated. What color are the male pins, springs, and the locking rings suppost to be befor the car was painted and blacked out? Any guess as to why the area under the lock out ring was gold plated? I assume the whole bracket was suppost to be cad plated.

Thanks,
Chasman

[John M.]

Re: 1960 upper hood latch color

Chas,
Most of the 60 male latch plates I have seen are cad plated with a cad dicromate finish that imparts a slightly gold hue. This same finish can be replicated with zinc and chromate just as well. Some early cars still had the straight cad plated plates with no chromate dip just like the eariler models.

Regards, John Mcgraw