These are photos of factory original parts from an unmolested one-owner 69 Barracuda during disassembly. The spring could be phosphated, but my best guess is bare metal. The bottom edges of the post-it notes show the limit of good spray paint coverage. Above bottom edges is overspray.

In the top photo I believe that is original (too much) factory grease. The bracket that anchors the spring at left was not designed strong enough and is deformed.