AMT '71 Duster 340 paint questions (factory stock)

[Speedfreak]

Hey everyone, I've got an old AMT '71 340 Duster kit I started years ago that I'm going to try and finish and have a couple paint/color questions. I'm building it factory stock.

The main question concerns the chassis: The instruction sheet shows that the bottom of the chassis should be painted the body color, but didn't Mopars from this era have semi-gloss black chassis' with some overspray of the body color coming over the sides? Or, where they in fact painted the body color?

The interior is going to be white but even with 'white' interior wouldn't the: dash, carpet, console, steering wheel? (and I'm not sure what else) be painted black on a '71 Duster 340?

Any and all info will be greatly appreciated.

[1972coronet]

The only time that Chrysler used a black primer was at its Los Angeles plant .

I'm not sure that it's exclusive to the L.A. plant ; however , I know that Hamtramck (where most 340 Dusters were built) used a light grey primer .

You're correct regarding the overspray .

For more info , check out Hamtramck Historical - 1970 Registry . 100% factory publications , 110% worth every minute of perusing it !

[Tom Geiger]

I believe the Mopar unibodies were dunked in a primer tank. So there would be even primer on the underbody. There's pictures of that process in some brochures.

As people go to detail chassis everyone forgets that there was an optional factory undercoat available. It was on both of my '66 Valiants, my '65 Barracuda, '73 Barracuda and '73 Scamp so it was not a rare option. Maybe more in rust prone areas. All my cars came from New Jersey. I had a '67 Valiant that didn't have the undercoat, nor did it have much of a floor left!

The undercoat was a dark tan dirt color and a strong crinkle pattern. I don't know at what time in the build process it was installed but I remember having to chip it off the bolts on inner fender panels to get them out.

[Speedfreak]

Thanks you guys. I have some light gray primer,and, black primer. I forgot to mention that the instruction sheet also shows the drive shaft painted 'body color', that don't sound right, but I don't really know. Tom, I currently own a '64 Valiant Signet 200 2-dr hrdtp.

[Nick Winter]

Noticed no one answered your interior question............White/Black Mopar interiors are my favorite........okay I'm just bias to them.

To address that question...........a 1971 Duster with Buckets and Console in White would have;

Black:

Dash

Upper door sections

Carpet

Steering wheel

Seatbelts

kick panels

Arm rests*

Column

Center console

Sun Visors*

White:

Seats

Door panels

Arm rests*

headliner'

Sun Visors*

*- I've seen Mopars built with white interiors have either colored arm rests & Sun visors, even the same cars (make/model/year/trim)

[Speedfreak]

Thanks Casey! Ya, I really like the white/black Mopar interiors from this era too. And, since I already have the body painted 'Panther Pink' (going to use the black stripes on the sides) it should look good together.

Casey, if the 'upper' door section and 'kick panels' are black, would not the 'lower' door section be black as well?

Do you know about the 'drive shaft' color? Seems silly to me that it would have come from the factory 'body color.

Thanks for the info!

[a/gass]

If I rember right panther pink was a one year only coloer 1970 and a dodge only coloer.

but their were special order stuff but that was in the vin tag and didn't call out specific coloer's.

[Speedfreak]

Thanks Blazz, I painted the body 15yrs ago! LOL! (It's been in the box that long, ya think the paint has gassed out?) Nothing I'm gonna do about that now.

Edited November 19, 2013 by Speedfreak

[Casey]

if the 'upper' door section and 'kick panels' are black, would not the 'lower' door section be black as well?

The upper and lower door sections, above and below the interior door panel, should be black for a '70 black & white interior:

[Speedfreak]

Thanks Casey.

Edited November 19, 2013 by Speedfreak

[Art Anderson]

If I rember right panther pink was a one year only coloer 1970 and a dodge only coloer.

but their were special order stuff but that was in the vin tag and didn't call out specific coloer's.

"Panther Pink" was called "Moulin Rouge" at Plymouth.

Art

[KevinMoparFord]

Technically upper door frame colors are called out on fender tag. Most white cars had black upper colors, but not all. I have seen white on white, there are also weird color variants out there of this as well. My 70 RT is burnt orange car with burnt orange interior and the upper door color is also burnt orange. You may see body color on fender tags for some Mopars 3 times, lower body color, upper body color (Could be two tone car with trim for vinyl top used to break colors) and uppder door frame color.

[Speedfreak]

If I rember right panther pink was a one year only coloer 1970 and a dodge only coloer.

but their were special order stuff but that was in the vin tag and didn't call out specific coloer's.

As Art states, and according to the 1970 Hamtramck Registry library, Plymouth called it 'Moulin Rouge, Dodge called it 'Penta-Magenta. They show it as being availible in the * Spring of 1970. But, from reading the litrature they show for 1971, it seems possible that you could have 'special ordered' the color. Not sure where the 'Panther Pink' name comes from, maybe some sales/advertising campaign around that time.

Edited November 22, 2013 by Speedfreak

[1972coronet]

FM3 is called "Moulin Rouge" (Plymouth) and "Panther Pink" (Dodge) .

While it was technically a 1970-only colour , there are two 1971 Dodges which were factory-painted in "FM3" ; however , the documented 1971 Charger R/T has a paint code of "147" on its fender tag , as opposed to the de rigure "999" (Special Order Paint) . As to why it was assigned a seemingly arbitrary paint code is anyone's guess ...

The other 1971 Dodge which I personally encountered was , prima fascia , Panther Pink . It was on a 1971 Challenger R/T ( 300hp 383 Magnum , 4 speed , Super Performance Axle Package ( 3.91 / Sure Grip , H.D. Cooling w/ clutch fan and some other specific parts) , W11 Deluxe Wheel Covers , black interior , AM-8 Track 5 speaker stereo , rear defogger , etc.

Its paint code was "999" , which lent some credence to its Panther Pink paint . A subsequent search for the cars build sheet(s) turned up nothing more than a shreaded-remaineder ; and under "comments" , handwritten in grease pencil , was "GB8" (another factory colour , but was limited to C-bodies)

"999" simply means that a customer ordered a paint which wasn't *available* on that specific car line (i.e. , EA9 Charcoal Ird .on their 1970 Challenger . Since 'EA9' wasn't listed as available for any carline except the Imperial / Monaco / Fury , the Challenger received the Special Order Paint "999" code. ) or was a limited-availability colour ( "Rallye Green" on the 1969 B-bodies , which was shared with Chevrolet's car line (e.g. , 1969 Camaro) ) .

[Speedfreak]

John, So where does the 'Penta-Magenta' come in?

[gtx6970]

www.pantherpink.com

[Randytheroadrunner]

Mopar had guys in the pit, that sprayed black paint up into the core support so the light colors on lighter cars would not show through the grille. My cousin did that job back then.

[Speedfreak]

John, and Randy, much thanks for the info! Bill, great info on that web site, thanks for the link! From everything I've read it looks like to me that in 1971 you 'could have' special ordered a 340 Duster in 'Moulin Rouge. Whether or, not that actually happened is no matter. The '71 Moulin Rouge 340 Duster lives!

Edited November 27, 2013 by Speedfreak

[Speedfreak]

What should I paint the deck wing with? Flat, Matte, or, semi-gloss black? Thanks.

[Casey]

What should I paint the deck wing with? Flat, Matte, or, semi-gloss black? Thanks.

Matte would be my choice. Flat have to little gloss, and semi-gloss too much.

No idea if this '70 340 is original or a clone, but nobody's gonna check the VIN in 1/25 scale:

IIRC, this is a /6 powered car, but is a verified FM3 car:

[Speedfreak]

Thanks Casey. I think that first car is a '71 the /6 car looks like a '70.

Also, I've found several pictures online with cars that have the chassis/undercarriage painted the body color. Is this something that people have done/ are doing to clones? Because accoring to what has been said in this thread they were either gray, or, black. Like I stated earlier the instructions for this model say to paint the chassis ' body color.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Speedfreak

[Casey]

Thanks Casey. I think that first car is a '71 the /6 car looks like a '70.

Also, I've found several pictures online with cars that have the chassis/undercarriage painted the body color. Is this something that people have done/ are doing to clones? Because accoring to what has been said in this thread they were either gray, or, black. Like I stated earlier the instructions for this model say to paint the chassis ' body color.

Remember that Mopar cars and vans were unibody vehicles, so frame rails, floorpans, firewalls, cowls, radiator supports-- all of that was welded together and passed through the dip tank and paint booths as one assembly. They all got at least some body colored overspray underneath, though how much or how far underneath the color coat extended depended upon who was doing the spraying. There is no "six inches inboard of the rocker panels" type of uniform application for the body color overspray, so it will vary form vehicle to vehicle. It also depended upon how the vehicle was mounted as it went through the paint booth. Vans hung much lower and had deeper rockers, so much less overspray made it onto the underside then compared to a '70 Dart for instance.

For a resto, it's again all over the place. Some coat the underside fully with body color, some try to replicate only what the factory did on their particular vehicle, and others do things in between. There is no hard and fast rule, and no universal standard.

Long story short, I'd recommend you use a grey or rust colored primer, then apply the body color however you like, with as much or as little overspray as you feel looks best. Black primer was used on some Dodge/Plymouth B-series vans built at the Windsor plant, but I've seen mostly grey on cars of the musclecar era.

[Speedfreak]

Ok, the chassis is gray primer now so I guess I'll leave it that way, makes things easier as I paint outside and windows for painting a far and few, thanks again Casey!

[1972coronet]

Another consideration ; if you want a truly authentic underbelly , don't forget to spray the wheelwells , chassis-side of the Shear Panels (colloq. , "inner fender wells") , and at least half of the grille-side of the core support (from the bottom-up) , in a satin black .

Even cars which didn't receive factory undercoating had those aforementioned areas "blacked-out" . Only exceptions / exclusions were factory-produced race cars (e.g. , 1967 Super Stock Coronet and Belvedere) and cars painted dark colours ( TX9 Black , GB7 Blue , GF8 Green , etc.).

[gtx6970]

Floorpans were a grey / blueish looking primer EXCEPT LA plant build cars. They were a very dark grey - almost black primer . NONE were ever body color except the some overspray along the rockers and in the wheel well areas as mentioned