Fair enough and we are going to have to agree to disagree. From a materials science standpoint in 1966 (my Barracuda's year) a black RTV Silicone used by a US automaker was like finding a Ipod that year .... you can't because it was not available yet. Available sources say stuff like this:
The factory adhesive Chrysler used was a black, hard-setting epoxy-type mastic Chrysler called it, generically, a “thermal setting black epoxy adhesive.” Internally it was a resin-based mastic manufactured by:
- United Technologies / Dexter-Hysol precursors, or
- 3M’s early Scotch-Weld equivalents
Why it's not what we now call RTV silicone because RTV Silicone:
- Didn’t exist in the needed oil/heat-resistant black formulation until the late 1970s
- Stayed flexible—not good for bonded trim
- Was too expensive for mass production in the 60s
Epoxy, on the other hand:
- Cured rigid and glass-hard
- Withstood 250–300°F easily
- Stuck well to aluminum + painted steel
- Could be heat-accelerated on the assembly line
- Was dirt cheap
This was the standard trim adhesive of the era.
Modern equivalents are things like:
- 3M 08115 Panel Bond (structural, overkill, permanent)
- JB Weld Original (steel-filled epoxy)
- 3M Scotch-Weld DP190 or DP100 (closest to the old Chrysler adhesive)
- Hysol EA-934NA (a nearly perfect period match, rock-hard when cured)
Feel free to vote me off the island, but the story is not checking out. Based on available records of the era, in 1965–67:
- Silicone RTV wasn’t oil-safe
- It wasn’t heat-stable enough
- Black RTV didn’t exist
- Urethane RTV hadn’t entered automotive use
- Polysulfide RTV was toxic, expensive, and aerospace-only
- Epoxy-RTV didn’t exist yet (epoxy adhesives cured via chemical hardener, not “RTV” vulcanization)