Chrysler undercarriage color

[DoctorLarry]

I'm building a 70 Challenger for a friend. What color was the undercarriage floor pans? If I remember right the front inner fenders are body color. Is this right? Thanks!

[slusher]

Many do a little over spay of the car color but I paint all of my chassis semi gloss black…

[Steamboat]

The unibody is primer gray with a little body color overspray.  The k-frame should be semi gloss black.

[DoctorLarry]

Thanks!

[Mike 1017]

[StevenGuthmiller]

8 hours ago, Mike 1017 said:

Total paint coverage such as this is a restoration finish.

There’s no way the originals looked that nice!

 

 

Steve

[1972coronet]

If one really wants to get nitty-gritty about the colour primer used on Challengers / Barracudas :

- Grey was used in Hamtramck (Michigan)

- Black was used in Los Angeles (1970-only) 

Blackout was sprayed (to varying degrees) on the grille-side of the radiator core support, front wheel wells, rear wheel wells, between rear wheel wells (i.e., axle region), and the driveshaft tunnel. 

Should one not want to go bonkers with the blackout / undercoat, one could just simply overspray body colour along the rocker panels, and the - as you've noted - full engine compartment and firewall ; engine-side of rad core support, too. 

Naturally, dark colour paint ( Black, Dark Blue, Dark Green ) didn't receive the blackout on the rad core support.

[gtx6970]

Not exact. But should give you the idea

 

 

[gtx6970]

Most of the plants they will be grey primer. ( LA plant cars were black primer) 

The amount of overspray underneath varied from car to car

No mopar  cars were ever full body color bottom side

 

Unless fully undercoated the only black will be the wheelhouse area

[Mike 1017]

Every original Chryslers that I could find were either undercoated or just bare steel

Good Luck

Mike

[DoctorLarry]

Thanks, all. Very Helpful! 

[StevenGuthmiller]

Here's how I did my '68 Coronet under carriage.

Gray primer, body color over spray, undercoating in the front and rear wheel wells, and then dirtied it up a little.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[DoctorLarry]

Looks great. Thanks!

[bill-e-boy]

There is some good reference material here. Most of the above concurs with my research for Mopar underbody colours.

It gets interesting when you get a full resto job where the whole underbody has been painted as the builders obviously don't like the "cheap" look of unfinished paint work.

[Rodent]

16 hours ago, gtx6970 said:

Most of the plants they will be grey primer. ( LA plant cars were black primer) 

The amount of overspray underneath varied from car to car

No mopar  cars were ever full body color bottom side

 

Unless fully undercoated the only black will be the wheelhouse area

I can't speak to the MOPAR questions exactly, but I have been around a lot of San Jose Mustangs in my life and owned a few in the past. When representing overspray, you must remember that the overspray was from painting the body from the side. Whatever the painter thought was enough paint on the lower quarters and the rockers translated into how much overspray there was on the floor pan. And again remember that this paint came in from the side when you paint your models that way. The very nicest Mustang I owned was blue in the rear fenderwells (over the sound deadening, opposite of MOPARS), heavy finish on the outward facing surfaces of the rear rails, and some overspray on the outer floor pan where the front seats attached, which hang lower than on these MOPARS. Basically zero overspray on the inside of the rockers or anything not in the line of fire from the outside of the car.

[Mike 1017]

I talked to my brother who, also worked with my Dad (rip) at Grand Spaulding Dodge.

He said that " cars came with painted black or just bare steel floor pans" Undercoating was sold as a dealer add on, to prevent rusting due to the corrosive road salt that Chicago sill uses. Hardcore Muscle guys did not want to add the extra weight to their cars.

Mike

[espo]

20 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Here's how I did my '68 Coronet under carriage.

Gray primer, body color over spray, undercoating in the front and rear wheel wells, and then dirtied it up a little.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

Very natural looking finishes.