Sorry for the late replies. Yes, they shipped monday as planned (some shipped 2 days earlier). The silver ones are plain machined so they are not protected; the anodized ones have some level of protection from the elements. Yes, you should be able to clearcoat it just fine (I clear-coated a billet antenna I have for my Cougar to keep the nasty weather away.
).
BTW, thanks for letting us know re: The optimas. I know the Cougar has slightly less hood clearance and won't fit a tie-down on top of an optima yellow (by just a teensy bit) so it's good to know the Contours do.
