Hood Latch Question

[PbFut]

Just curious. I am doing a disassemble and deep clean of the front half of my 72. The hood latch base appears to have a different finish than the radiator support it is attached to. Can someone shed some light on how this part was finished? My truck is not original and I am not doing a restore, but I run across things like this and can't seem to let it go.
I spent time looking through a number of photo threads. It seems that the part tends to surface rust more than the radiator support. My part is the same and I'd like to coat/paint with something that would be close to original to dress the area a little better than present.