Great question. I have an NOS one that looks like silver-clear zinc. I'll post some pics in a bit. A member posted a pic of his NOS one a while ago and it looked dark. Is that what parkerized looks like? I'll see if I can find that post....

I believe Moparts member ID "xs29j8" is the one who had the darker NOS shifter but I can't find the post. Maybe he will chime in.