The linkage was not painted, it was actually a black plating. You could paint them a flat black if you didn't want to have them plated and they would visually be very close.
If you do want to have them re-plated, look-up Bill Meerholz. The link below is his webpage that has examples of what his re-plated linkage looks like.
http://www.bmcuda.com/products.asp?cat=11