Pro street under carriage question

[foxbat426]

Hi. I’m doing a pro street duster in purple flake and the directions call for the under carriage to be the same color as the exterior. Is there a reason for this. I like to do under carriages black, but have never done a pro street before. It’s probably a stupid question.  Think it might look strange with the under carriage as the same color as the car.  Thanks.  John

[Snake45]

Paint it whatever color you want. It's YOUR model. And be sure to read my signature line below. 

[Jantrix]

'Ol Snake here has the right of it. However back in the day many pro-streeters were build without the intention of ever laying rubber on a drag strip. And during that time, mono-chromatic paint was the current trend. Thus we had trailer queens with matching painted chassis'. Like many automotive trends we see it as rather silly now, but there it is.

Paint it the way you would want it if it was parked in your driveway. 

And a quick note on Snake's signature line. Sometimes, the order in which things are assembled is quite important. I've shot myself in the foot a couple of times by assembling in the order I wanted for painting reasons, only to find the assembly thereafter to be near impossible. The Revell '32s for instance. The color chart tho? Definitely someone elses opinion. If I want a pink headers, by golly pink they shall be!

[Snake45]

2 hours ago, Jantrix said:

And a quick note on Snake's signature line. Sometimes, the order in which things are assembled is quite important. I've shot myself in the foot a couple of times by assembling in the order I wanted for painting reasons, only to find the assembly thereafter to be near impossible. The Revell '32s for instance. The color chart tho? Definitely someone elses opinion. If I want a pink headers, by golly pink they shall be!

Didn't say kit instructions are always wrong (although, sometimes they actually are). Just sayin' they're not always the BEST way for YOU! 

The real modeler will figure it out. Improvise! Adapt! Overcome! Make it work! 

[Oldcarfan27]

Counter Point.

Look at the many different ways car builders (real and scale) interpret how a chassis should look.

• Some do it in primer with body color overspray, like the factory finished it.

• Black chassis' represent undercoating to prevent rust.

• Full painted chassis is an over-restored or custom look.

• Brown is either muddy or on its way to be devoured by "tinmites"

Decide what look you want to present and do it that way.

Living through the 80s, I remember Pro Street Cars being professionally built and lots of money being put into them. No professional worth his salt would put undercoat on a chassis after doing all that fabrication and handiwork. Those cars were going to be shown off, not driven in salt laden, snowy climates. (Imagine driving a Pro Street car on a snowy road - talk about a thrill ride!) So a black undercoated chassis would look inappropriate for a show car.

Point is, decide on the purpose for the car your building and paint it accordingly. 

 

[dshue76]

The reason they call for body color is that from the factory these Mopars had some amount of body color overspray on the underside. Quality Pro Street cars were as nice on the underside as the top side. I remember the welded joints on pro street roll bars/cages being "smoothed" in quite a few examples. I also remember many having aluminum floors and interior panels.
They also were built in many different ways. Some had all stock floor/chassis components from the tubs forward, some were complete fabricated floors/chassis and others were built just like a pro stock as far as floors/chassis/cage. These days 12" tires on an otherwise stock vehicle get called a Pro Street.

Just don't be afraid of color, I know a lot of restorations on 1:1 cars have the underside painted body color. Some cars came from the factory with body color floors, My 80 Olds Cutlass has body color floors, my 02 F-250 Super Duty has body color floors, both came that way from the factory and neither was undercoated.