poll; body color under car or chassis black?

[Andy White]

I was at carlise and noticed a few of the cars had been painted underneath as nice as the top. any one else doing that?

 

[abodyjoe]

thats cool but i imagine a lot of work to keep clean if you actually drive your car.

 

[inkjunkie]

Mine just got sprayed gloss black. It will never look like this again, even after just trailering it home someday thanks to the silty road I live on....

 

[69DARTS]

thats cool but i imagine a lot of work to keep clean if you actually drive your car.

x2

 

[BP27]

They do look better body color but it drives me crazy it sounds like a tin can

 

[Hemiroid]

I was not going to go this far when I decided to paint it, buy I did.

View attachment 27.jpg

 

[daliant]

It sure looks nice with the underbody painted but like abodyjoe said it would hard to keep clean if the car actually gets driven.

 

[daredevil]

Is it correct? I cleaned mine up some and used rubberized undercoating similar to lizard skin.

 

[inkjunkie]

Is it correct? I cleaned mine up some and used rubberized undercoating similar to lizard skin.

Certain areas of my wheel wells were done with Lizard Skin, then resprayed over it. Body guy did this cuz of the dirt road I live on.....

 

[ocdart]

The only undercoating on my old '69 340 Swinger when new was the rear wheelwells. No undercoating anywhere else.
Back in the very early '80s when I was (stupidly) turning it into a race car, I sprayed the entire bottom body color - made it a lot easier working on it rather than having the bottom all black.
As with most every other subject - your car, your money, do what you want unless your doing a factory resto.

 

[dodge freak]

Black hides rust and scale, if the metal is perfect then body color is best. Factory just used black cause it was cheaper to paint.

Yes its YOUR car now, I do what I feel is best for my car, who cares about who designed everything, chances are they are all dead now anyhow:toothy7:

 

[mopardude318]

body color looks very neat, but i do imagine it not being very durable? wouldn't undercoating provide more durability?

 

[Andy White]

I am not doing a concours restoration by any stretch of the imagination. What I noticed on my 67 is underneath, where there is no undercoating the car is the body color.
Thanks for all the response guys. The guys that posted pics, your cars are awesome!
Andy

 

[68-GTS]

I was not going to go this far when I decided to paint it, buy I did.

View attachment 246736

Body Color makes you wanna repair it.
Black says you have to repair it. haha
IMHO... always loved body Color in the engine bay and the underside.

 

[yellowdartdave]

Remember, the cars were dipped in primer/rust proofing after the body was built.
Any paint that was on the bottom of the car was just overspray from when they painted the lower portion of the body.
They did apply undercoating to the wheelwells to cut down on noise and cover up any primer or body color that would look tacky.
Factory undercoating was a 2 edged sword. It protected the metal but after a while it got old and cracked which gave moisture a good place to sit and do serious damage...sorta like water under a rubber floor mat.

 

[BadAss71]

I personally like the underbody to match. I think it looks way cleaner. Like this 71 cuda we just finished up. The bottom is just as nice as the top. And yes they drive it!

 

[Andy White]

I wanted to kick this thread up again as I am getting closer to having to make a decision.
Plus looking back at the cool pics!

 

[68dodge]

Painted is nice. I painted mine from the cowl back in black. I did it because when I race it, you pick up all the grime from your burn outs, plus on the way back to the pits. I do clean the underside after I get home. But its alot easier for me to touch it up when its black, just in case you do get some chips in the paint

 

[roadrunnerh]

Black hides rust and scale, if the metal is perfect then body color is best. Factory just used black cause it was cheaper to paint

Factory used body color, not black.

As long as it's clean and not rusty, go with what you like.

 

[Bulldozer]

i thought about painting it body color, but i decided that because i drive it , i was going to undercoat it from the torsion bar mount back .

 

[95teetee]

Remember, the cars were dipped in primer/rust proofing after the body was built.

yeah, hard to believe, isn't it?!?

:iconbigg:

 

[Dartnut]

Remember, the cars were dipped in primer/rust proofing after the body was built.
Any paint that was on the bottom of the car was just overspray from when they painted the lower portion of the body.
They did apply undercoating to the wheelwells to cut down on noise and cover up any primer or body color that would look tacky.
Factory undercoating was a 2 edged sword. It protected the metal but after a while it got old and cracked which gave moisture a good place to sit and do serious damage...sorta like water under a rubber floor mat.

Yeah, the rustproofing was only good if you lived in the Mojave Desert......
R.I.P. Dave.

 

[ir3333]

..original was just primer with some over spray.
..done original they can look nice.
it's your car

 

[Bulldozer]

my duster came with absolutely no undercoating what-so-ever. when i tear into that one ,i will paint the bottom body color.

 

[813Demon340]

FWIW, Los Angeles built cars had black (dip primer) undersides with body color overspray.
Heres a pic of the underside of my 71 Duster, where the gas tank goes.

LA built cars also had very little undercoating, just the rear wheel wells and around the gas tank, nothing up front.