1957 vacuum booster- black or natural finish

[fordomanic]

Should the power brake booster on a '57 be black or natural finish (I often see both on these cars)?

This page contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated. As an eBay Partner, and Amazon Associate I may be compensated if you make a purchase at no cost to you.

 

[knuckle47]

For what it’s worth, my mid year ‘57 is black. My ‘56 is that gold cad color and looks to be original. I love the look the Calistoga has with his chrome one but clearly not the answer your looking for. I did buy the Eastwood kit to rebuild a spare booster I have with the gold cad look and the outer covers seem to look better To me than the black

 

[Ward 57]

From my experience The cast part is natural just like the M/C and the vacuum canister should be black. I have the original booster and that's the way it came from the factory.

 

[doug7740]

This information is from the Thunderbird Restoration Manual.

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird

 

[Ward 57]

This information is from the Thunderbird Restoration Manual.

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird

View attachment 26731

View attachment 26732

Interesting, but I know for a fact that the casting on early '57 has never been painted. Is it possible they quit painting it for '57. The pictures in Ray Miller's " Thunderbird " are all B/W so hard to tell. I would think that anything that could come in contact with brake fluid would not be painted. Same as the M/C.

 

[knuckle47]

I’m guessing that a properly working brake booster won’t leak so….they painted it? Like I said….the ‘56 looks … again “LOOKS” original , has the tag on it and works a poorly as the ‘57 and it’s that gold cad color but aged.

 

[Ward 57]

I’m guessing that a properly working brake booster won’t leak so….they painted it? Like I said….the ‘56 looks … again “LOOKS” original , has the tag on it and works a poorly as the ‘57 and it’s that gold cad color but aged.

Not because of a leak but in the bleeding process. Funny thing also my brake pedal doesn't have the chrome center band but just raised rubber letters with 'power brake' I have switched that out but with the wear on it, it looks original and listed on the factory invoice so not dealer installed.

 

[doug7740]

Interesting, but I know for a fact that the casting on early '57 has never been painted. Is it possible they quit painting it for '57. The pictures in Ray Miller's " Thunderbird " are all B/W so hard to tell. I would think that anything that could come in contact with brake fluid would not be painted. Same as the M/C.

Looking at page 168 of Ray Miller’s book it is hard to tell what color the booster is, even the brake line looks black.



If you look at the upper picture on page 43 of Roy Bacon’s book you can see that everything is painted black. Since the owner of that Thunderbird chrome plated the clamp ring that secures the two halves, we can’t use that picture as an example of power booster authenticity.



To find out the authenticity of the power booster we have to turn the Authenticity Manual. The Authenticity Manual states that the power brake booster is painted black, the filter screen and retainer is cad zinc or plain, and the booster bleeder screw is cad zinc.

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue

 

[ICON 56]

Mine is painted Black