Body number tag

Posted by Fred Puhn On 2011/8/9 10:42:57

I am painting the firewall on my 1950 Deluxe 8 23rd series. There is a small removable body number tag on the upper right side of the firewall near the stamped-in raised numbers. This body number tag is difficult to clean up for painting so I removed it for cleaning. I want to paint it the way the factory did originally.

My car was repainted in the original yellow color years ago and both the firewall and this body number tag share this yellow color. However I looked closely at the paint on the body number tag and it has black paint under the yellow. Does anyone know what the factory did originally? There is no yellow paint on the firewall under the body number tag so that would indicate the tag was attached first and then the firewall was painted. However, why is it black under the yellow color?

I know this is a silly little detail, but I want to do it right if I can.