Ii always find it interesting when people become the final word on what's correct and what's not. After restoring at least 10,000 boosters in the 27 years I've been in business, I guess I can speak with some experience as to what boosters may have looked like when they were new. When you open up a booster that's had a good life, you can get a real good idea what the outside finish might have looked like when the car was new. That 29 mile original booster looks like it has lost most of it's gold wash in the 40 years it has been exposed to the atmosphere. I venture a guess that if it was opened up, it would have a shiny gold finish inside.
Rather than try and promote my business here as others are doing, I will only say that I have had many boosters in my shop that were Cad plated by someone else and they don't look anything like what I see on the inside of original GM boosters.
I've attached a couple of pictures of
original plating on the inside of boosters. One is a 1970 Chevelle and the other is a 1967 Corvette. Remember, these pieces are at least 40 years old, so some fading and dulling will happen, even in the best of circumstances. You can see the plating was indeed shiny zinc.................
Thanks, Steve Gregori Brake Boosters Inc.
www.brakeboosters.com