Thanks Jeff- Pics and description tell the story. It is hard to believe that some of that mess was allowed back then. So having a clean cut line is generally considered over restored?
Ford had a bunch of inspectors for just about everything but there were areas that were important and those that were not. The bottom of the doors is like the inside of the trunk or areas of the engine compartment. Not seen while the owner is walking by or while driving the car. But would not agree that a details like the one were discussing if done nicely and following the patterns shown would be "over restoring"
Things worked out as planned all the time as long as the pattern follows one of the ones patterns we find like above. Sometimes workers and painters did what was expected, for many they took pride in their work, and things turned out really nice. But historically correct restorations as well as those viewing such cars should IMHO take into consideration what did take place based on research.
Often with paint, sealers and so on, its a range not an exact, always the same detail. Often if can simply be describe as being between a little or allot. This can be a challenge for many owners/builders restoring cars since they want a simple "do it exactly like this" sort of answer and direction or pictures of restored cars. This is one of the reasons I don't post pictures of "restored" cars since we would end up with allot of exact copies of one car. Not something that represents IMHO of what a group of new cars would have looked like in 68 for example, but this is what some will try and do to make things easier and take less effort.