MELLOWYELLOW06

I HIGHLY doubt it. You think Ford would paint the roof when they wouldnt splurge a few extar bux to paint the stripes on the GT500's or KR's.

5 DOT 0

The roofs are painted. You can take that to the bank.

06GT

I'm still confused as to how that is even a discussion--it's been known for over a month.

Tony Alonso

From a manufacturing point-of-view, it would be far easier to send roof panels into an automated paint booth process than have someone manually trying to cover the expanse of the roof with a vinyl decal.

Painting stripes is a more labor-intensive operation that is not within the capability of the current line. And for the number of people who would take a stripe, it probably is quite cost prohibitive to even set up something like that.

I am basing my comments on my tour experience at the AAI facility a few years back (2007).

5 DOT 0

To your point on another forum a member had 1970 style Boss stripes painted on his car and it cost approximately $1,400.

Tony Alonso

I certainly understand you can get them painted on in that sort of cost range in a body shop. However, factoring in the changes to a manufacturing facility and the resulting cost in order to offer that option at a similar price level would be difficult, in my opinion.

Of course, at AAI does have some sort of "offline" area where the Ford Racing cars are built, so perhaps there is an opportunity. However, I obviously have never seen this layout, but the painting process and booths are configured in the main area for maximum cleanliness, speed, and a high quality finish at a production rate that supports the volume.

5 DOT 0

My point was painting is a LOT more expensive than decals.

Tony Alonso

Yep, understand your point! Mine was that to not use an automated paint process for a large sheetmetal component like a roof and then manually apply a decal to it would not be cost effective when you are running thousands of them.

I'd welcome any Ford engineer who is monitoring to set the record straight on this particular point if you care to do that. Otherwise, I consider this an interesting discussion while the wait continues

06GT

I guess it really depends on the assembly process for the roof panel. If it's joined to the body shell prior to painting, then yes, it takes a special process to paint it a different color than the primary body color.

However, if it's assembled to the body shell after painting, the roof panels can just be pulled from normal production white and black panel inventory and attached to the vehicle during assembly--and not incur any additional production cost.

06GT

Also decals are a lot easier/cheaper to replace if they get scratched or marred in some way.

bpmurr

The white roof (and no Sync) is keeping me from buying one. I want Kona Blue but not a white roof.

Tony Alonso

It actually looked better in person to me than in the photographs when I saw it at Woodward this year.