Chassis color questions

[sak]

I was just wondering if there is some kind of formula for determining the proper color of a chassis. I understand 50's era cars used were sprayed with red oxide. Up to what point was this done? After unibody construction I would assume the subframe would have not been this color. But on my 73 plymouth the chassis and subframe are both yellow, same as body color, the subframe being heavily oversprayed with flat black paint from the engine bay. I thought that mopar chassis were grey primer oversprayed with body color only at the rockers. And on Gm cars, when would the chassis be body color, if at all. Or is flat or semi-flat the correct choice? I don't suppose anybody out there knows of a assembly line image database. I tried ebay, but full chassis shots are few and far between. I sent a picture of the coronet that I am working on, and I doubt its correct and thats ok for me, but for future reference.

[ChrisPflug]

On the real cars the amount of overspray on the underside would vary from car to car

Generally GM and Chrysler products from the early 50s on had the assembled bodies dipped in a tank of gray as the final step of washing/rust treatment then were sprayed by actual workers in the paint booths (as opposed to later robots)with varying amounts of overspray (as well as light areas of paint on the topside)

Fords were said to have been given a coat underneath of reclaimed "waste" paint that was a mixture of several colors and resulted in a brown color

Different vehicles also got different treatments as far as flat black paint and undercoat. In addition to factory undercoating it was also sold as a dealer option and applied afterwards with a much different "look"

Because they were done by individual workers there isn't a real consistent "pattern"- the underside can vary from the dipped primer with a small amount of overspray to being almost completely painted underneath- some attempt at blacking out the wheelwells seems standard as well whether or not factory undercoating was ordered