But what did they use for a reference during restoration? I thought I heard this car was less than pristine when restoration started.

Every restoration is an interpretation. Even if colors are matched, paint formulas will be different. If marks are recreated, the meaning and relevance of a particular mark to a particular car is lost (unless it is copying a mark that was already on the car, and lost during restoration). And each plant had its variances that must be taken into account.

I'd rather see pics of a car in a field with crayon marks on the firewall; pics of an old barn find with the paper tags still in place (Roderick's car comes to mind as a prime resource), and vintage photos.

I am about to refinish a '68 400 driveshaft. The pink stripe is still visible. There is no red stripe like the T/A pic, I wonder what the significance of that is?