I media blasted the vin tag because it had rust and couldn't be read. Now it's shiny and bright.

I know the factory color is some grey or whatever. What do you guys normally do with it when you fix 'em? Trim black?

I never meant on going this far with this car but it was one of those things where every time I went an inch into it, I found 10 more inches of problems. Body is straight now.

-- Joe

 

All the ones I've seen have been satin black

 

I believe they leave the tag bare metal after it's stamped (if they didn't it wouldn't rust as easy). Yes, newer ones are black, but they're also printed with the VIN and a bar code. What I did with mine is just hit it with the wire brush and then put a clear coating over it to keep it from rusting again.

 

If I'm right the ones with the bar code is a decal and the ones with the metal tag was installed with the special rivets and then painted satin black??

 

IDK... I've never had the windshield off of anything that wasn't a thirdgen and had the black VIN tag with the bar code.

I've also never seen a 3rd gen tag that was painted the same black as the cowl surrounding it. Most of the ones I've seen are either rusted or seem to be bare metal, as mine was after I cleaned the rust off of it and it was the same color as it was before it rusted because the windshield was damaged around it and allowed water to get in there. I doubt any are painted with anything since so many seem to get rusty really quick once they start.

The only painted tags I've seen are the ones used on the early cars that are riveted to the radiator support. And those aren't VIN only tags.

 

Never Saw One Painted Black,The One's I've Seen Looked Like This.

 

Black would look weird IMO, and would make me question whether or not it was even an original VIN tag, at which point I would start wondering if the car had been stolen and given a different VIN.

Go with as close to the original gray as possible, as seen in the photo above. VIN tags are not something you EVER want to look anything other than 100% stock/factory untouched.

If you need to match one up for the right color, then rip one off a car at the JY and bring it to a body shop so they can scan it and get the correct shade.

 

Yeah it's like a grayish. Not quite as bright as primer gray. I'll try to match it up.

-- Joe