I would say the cowl to shock tower braces were originally black. I would use chassis black or a semi-gloss black.
I've always painted mine black but I have seen some gray ones. Are you trying to go 100% original with it? On my blue car I painted them with black base coat and clearcoated them. I really like it like that and it's so much easier to keep clean and very durable. Dan Himes might be able to point you in the right direction of originality.
On my 73 they were Black, and since it was a Cali car they weren't rusted and the paint was still good when I repainted them, almost gloss black but not quite, I used Krylon semi-gloss black.
No, I am not going for "original", but I was trying to decide what color to paint them. They look almost charcoal-gray-black on Dan's (now Rick's) gold Maverick, which I think looks good. I originally figured I'd go with a gloss or semi-flat black, but it also dawned on me that I really don't know what the "original" color was (black?), which is why I asked here...
I always found them to be just bare metal with some kind of coating on them. I always like to paint them with Cast Blast paint. Goes on easy, dries quick, and very easy to touch up.
I am not sure there is a "Correct" color, mine were originally a very dark muddy brown, and still are on the bottom sides. My understanding of how Ford painted a lot of parts such as the braces and a lot of suspension components, springs, control arms etc, is that they were either dipped or sprayed with paint that was left over from painting the bodies of the cars. The leftover bits of paint were collected in a vat and every day it could change to a different shade depending on the colors of the cars painted that day. Ralph
My Mavs: 72 Grabber: Black 72 Sprint: Silver-gray 75: Chrome... PO got to them before I saw the original color. 72 Sprint: Silver-gray The black that Ford used on most every black piece of trim was 'semi-flat' black.
