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A Study of Original Grille Colors with a concentration on '76 -'77.

Blue71

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Wanted to bring this to the top to see if anyone knows if the Special Decor grills were flat, semi gloss, or glossy black

Thank,

Andy
Blue71
 
OP
OP
fordfan

fordfan

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Andy, I am still trying to research this topic, but have not made a lot of headway. I am almost certain that the "Special Décor" grilles were either Satin or Flat Black, and not Gloss. The few archive photos ,that show the grilles, seem to show very little sheen.

Was the low mileage red one, that Chad L. had for a while, a Special Décor? If so, that would probably settle the question.

About the rough red one that I have: the black on the grille is so weathered, it is hard to tell on the grille, but one thing that is interesting is it looks like the factory actually sprayed the grilles black after they were installed on the tub. The radiator support is partially sprayed black (all visable areas when the hood is closed is black so you can't see red behind the black grille) and you can see the ghost image of the grille on the support. This paint is original and in better shape (than the grille) and it is satin black ..almost flat black, but not as flat as say high temp black or "BBQ Black". The red and black painted radiator support looks almost crude if you really look at it, but Ford was just building another "Bronco"; They didn't take the care that most 'restorers' do today!
 
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clarrance

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My low mileage 76 Special Decor grill was a Satin color. I have a CD with a lot of pictures and details of that Bronco. It too had a few crazy weird things that Ford did back then, and I know it was original.
 
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fordfan

fordfan

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My low mileage 76 Special Decor grill was a Satin color. I have a CD with a lot of pictures and details of that Bronco. It too had a few crazy weird things that Ford did back then, and I know it was original.

I think this answers the question: The black Special Décor grilles were satin black. Chad, maybe you can post a picture or two of that '76 when you have time.
 

Broncitis

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Just looking at the grille color of the Peroni Balloon Chaser. It appears to be black or dark grey.... Maybe Drew can explain a little better. This Bronco looks like it was a Special Decor with the Ranger interior added; or possibly special ordered or built by Stroppe. It is not labeled "Ranger" on the dash lid; it has "Sport" badges on the fender; and the top is almost the same color of the body; like a Special Decor.....?:??:?

I hope over 4 years later is not too late for a reply? LOL

I was just searching for something and ran across this old thread.

My Dad and I were just talking about this the other day. We really need to get a Marti Report on the Ambulance to clear it up. It was originally red before Stroppe/RVI applied the orange with graphics.

It has tan Ranger seats and door panels and colro matched dash pad. They added wood grain rear inner quarter panels and black carpet along with a funky gold printed headliner with black carpet trim. No remote drivers mirror which is normally (but not always) found on Rangers. No Ranger badge on glovebox door, but there is a large Built by Bill Stroppe decal on there, so they may have removed that to put that on?

It has Sport badges and a black grille, but I am not sure what Stoppe added for sure. Here are pics when it was being outfitted by Bill Stroppe himself aloing with his crew.

It was not special ordered, from my understanding these were pulled from local dealer stock or from RVI stock in the case of the vans and some/all of the pickups. Once finally approved, this was a fast tracked project so I doubt there was time to special order. Plus, if they would have, they would have ordered them in the correct base colors. As mentioned above, the Ambulance was originally red, and the F100 was black.
 

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DirtDonk

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Interesting that at the Stroppe shop it looks like it does not have the chrome trim around the marker lights. At least not the front driver's side.

Paul
 

fosgate150

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Decor options...

From all of my research on the Décor options:
All of the décor broncos had a satin black grill insert.
All of the Head light rings were satin black regardless if it is a sport or not.
The FORD grill letters where solid bright with no red insert (I'm about 95% positive on this one).
If you have a black stripe (mine does) it is also satin black. There were white, black, and yellow stripe options.
Only the face of the core support was painted satin black.


If I come across something else I will add it to the thread...
 

Crush

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YEP, House is right. they never made grille letters without red inserts. i know of three original SD Broncos that have red inserts. I dont know if my two are original but both are SD and Both have red inserts. my 77 I am the third owner and I cant imagine the last two would take the time to replace non red insert with red insert letters
 

gnsteam

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Hey Drew, thanks for bring this thread back. Very interesting.:cool:

When I purchased my 76 Special Decor. The grill had been repaint to body color, with chrome headlight rings. And in the first picture you can see the Red inserted letter "D" peaking out from behind the winch. So my thoughts on the letters is they came factory with the red inserts.

From what I've learned from this thread, my headlight rings should be black. So I would guess a PO changed them to chrome when the body color paint was applied to the grill.

In the second picture you will see the grill letters without the red inserts. Two of the letter were missing inserts, so I removed the others. I intend to get new inserts or just paint the insert area red some day.

The third picture shows the grill repainted back to black. Using Rustoleum Satin Black. I also added grill trim and "Alice" 66-68 turn signals.

Fred
 

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fosgate150

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Interesting.
I have never come across a part number for a letter w/o insert.

YEP, House is right. they never made grille letters without red inserts. i know of three original SD Broncos that have red inserts. I dont know if my two are original but both are SD and Both have red inserts. my 77 I am the third owner and I cant imagine the last two would take the time to replace non red insert with red insert letters

Awesome... I have been trying to nail that one down... Thanks for the information... :)
 

ford man

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All of the Head light rings were satin black regardless if it is a sport or not

Hey fosgate150 I never knew this but I when back and looked at a very nice original bronco that I see every year a super celebration and you are spot on learn something every day! Make that two different ones at SC both really nice! The red on red was the first one I was talking about.
 

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toddz69

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From all of my research on the Décor options:
All of the décor broncos had a satin black grill insert.
All of the Head light rings were satin black regardless if it is a sport or not.
The FORD grill letters where solid bright with no red insert (I'm about 95% positive on this one).
If you have a black stripe (mine does) it is also satin black. There were white, black, and yellow stripe options.
Only the face of the core support was painted satin black.


If I come across something else I will add it to the thread...

I question whether they all had black headlight rings. I've seen some with black headlight rings but plenty with chrome too. I guess they could have all been changed by previous owners but that seems unlikely.

Todd Z.
 

toddz69

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I found a few pics in '76 and '77 era brochures etc. and they show chrome headlight rings but I don't know if that proves if they were offered or not. The b&w shot from the '76 data book shows a truck with chrome headlight rings but the text specifies black ones.

No wonder there's so much confusion.

Todd Z.
 

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Crush

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Good catch Todd. I was looking for those ads to post. I would say being the last two years of production that if the black ones were not available at time of assembly then they threw the chrome ones on. Or it might have been a misunderstanding on the assembly line, one installer understands "chrome trim" to include headlight rings and his relief on the next shift knows it is supposed to have black. Also I think they came with white or chrome bumpers. My 77SD has white. Looks to have never been changed. My 76SD has chrome and seems to have never been changed. Also both were factory SD broncos, they both have remnants of the original tape stripe and the grills are both black with black core supports from just under the hood latch down.

One other note - I believe that the 77 SD Broncos came with the Black and Silver Magnum 500 looking hub caps instead of the bronco caps, I have seen several of them with them. Never on NON-SD Broncos either. One was an original owner SD but at the time it wasn't worth saving or paying what the owner wanted so It disappeared
 

Crawdad

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My goal is to put a SD on my 77 build regardless what the Marti report says. I love stripes! With that said I’d like to do something with the grill like a satin black. I hope yaw forgive me for doing this to a 66 eyebrow!
 

matts460

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My Mom had a 1977 White wagon SD. Now im not really a white color fan but.... white with sd package looked really good. And I cannot find one single pic of a all white wagon with sd stripes. except for some old polaroid of Moms Bronco we have from the 80's
 

Crawdad

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My Mom had a 1977 White wagon SD. Now im not really a white color fan but.... white with sd package looked really good. And I cannot find one single pic of a all white wagon with sd stripes. except for some old polaroid of Moms Bronco we have from the 80's

Matt, we need pics of the Polaroid pics!!!!
Matt
 

Tugross302

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‘77 SD with black rings. It’s supposed to be exactly the way it came from the factory according to PO. 18,000 original miles and a first place in an Antique Automobile Club of America national event.
 

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DirtDonk

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My Mom had a 1977 White wagon SD. Now im not really a white color fan but.... white with sd package looked really good. And I cannot find one single pic of a all white wagon with sd stripes. except for some old polaroid of Moms Bronco we have from the 80's

Polaroid or not, good quality or not, we'd love to see it I'm sure!
If you don't want to host it up somewhere, or become a contributor for just one photo, you can e-mail it to me or one of the others with contributor status and we'll post it up for you.
Be great to see it.

And while it seems strange, I think the enjoyment of the pics gets greater as the quality of the image gets worse. Black and white, blurry, pics of our families as they were, all that adds up to a good pic no matter what.

Let us know. Be fun to see a white one no matter what.

Paul
 
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