444 restoration question

[snocatpete]

I am back on track to get my wife's 444 finished. My silly restoration question is: Should the grill screen on the hood scoop be painted yellow or black? My original piece that came off the machine appears to be yellow and looks like the original paint however looking on the website here and many other photos of 444's I have noticed that that lots of people have painted either yellow or black. Just wondering what the consensus is on the correct original colour should be?
If anyone can definitively answer this question - yellow or black - I would love to hear from you!

[Cory Moffat]

Our 444 came new black

[fap67]

I have seen machines with original paint that came both ways.

[snocatpete]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Sounds like you can go either way on this so since mine appears to be yellow originally and the hood is already painted yellow, I think i will just leave it like that. Less work to tape it off and paint it black!
Thanks
Snocatpete

[snocatpete]

My wife's 444 is now completed. She can't wait to try it out this winter on the snow. I like to thank Barrie and Bruce and a few others in helping me with this restoration. Without their help, it would have been very difficult to complete this project. I thought I would post photos of the before and after...
What a great website this is!!

[fap67]

Excellent job Pete. It's always nice to see another one restored. Did you replace the fender or fix the original? Do you have any underhood pics that you could post?

[snocatpete]

Thanks fap67. II restored this to original condition. Here are some pictures of the under hood. I tried to use as many original parts as I could. Sheet metal is all original. Barrie supplied me with a new hood scoop screen and the front fender is the original. It was an incredible amount of hammer, dolly and picking to get it back into shape. If you look closely, you can still see some minor dents and ripples but there is no body fill or bondo on it. It's all metal. I sandblasted, primed and painted.

Cheers, Peter

[Andy]

Wow Pete! It sure is a beauty! The detail is great, right down to the little nylon pulley the brake cable runs through. It is also great that you plan to use it, they are so much fun in the snow. I have a few dents in mine from my son meeting up with a tree and your post is sure encouraging, maybe I will try to straighten a few things out. Thanks for posting. Andy

[fap67]

Thanks for the underhood pics. You sure did a nice job.

One more question, is that an old pic in your avatar or is it a newer pic done in black and white to look old?