Did Factory Undercoat the Fuel Tanks?

[69hemibeep]

My B-body was factory undercoated with a clean original tank also. The original owner is only a mile away and a great resource for the history of the car.

 

[autoxcuda]

Bought it from the original owner. It was in storage since 1984. The only things that has ever been replaced where filters, battery, tires, belts, hoses and the heater bypass valve for the AC. 80k miles. A true survivor.

more often than not undercoating optioned car had some undercoating on the tank. Usually thicker or more prevalent on the sides than in the middle (if any in middle). since thinner in middle that tends to break off get removed from oil leaks over 50 years.

They did not mask that on the assembly line. And the frame, truck pan, and wheel well all closely surrounding the gas tank where supposed to get protection.

here’s a 70 challenger A/C with undercoating on gas tank. You can see it gets thinner as it heads to the middle of tank.

 

[autoxcuda]

Here my 68 Barracuda Formula 340 S with factory undercoating. Original gas tank. Car has been continuously driven and registered since 1968. And gas tank still looks great inside (thanks WiFi boroscope camera)

This pic below shows the original chrome tips and tail pipes... with condensation weep holes. The tip clamp was replaced at some time though.

notice the undercoating right to the edge of tank and sprayed with tank installed.

My 71 Challenger has a bunch of undercoating parts of the OE muffler shields that are next to the gas tank.

lot of variability here. But if there is undercoating outlining your gas tank, some undercoating would have got on your tank originally. The thicker the outline is, the more that got on the tank

 

[autoxcuda]

On the assembly line the drivetrain was installed as a unit from underneath of course. the shocks were dangling waiting for the rear end.

notice the wheel wells have undercoating all in them. The headpipes are installed. But can’t tell if tailpipes are on body or drivetrain fixture.

this is a Air Conditioning car so they typically get full undercoating.

 

[autoxcuda]

This is mid 70’s Production line, but same process... looks like headpipes were installed with drivetrain.

Rest of exhaust installed to body before mated to drivetrain. Very time consuming to install tailpipes after axle is installed.

 

[autoxcuda]

Here is a non undercoating 63 Valiant.

Looking down the underside of chassis you see bright spots where there is not full undercoat.

BUT the wheel wells are still blacked out with undercoat for corrosion resistance, noise, and visual appearance.

NOTE muffler does not have tailpipe installed.

I see a pic of a 67 Fury C-body with tailpipe installed on drivetrain jig. Another Cordoba pic with the tailpipe sitting on the jig as if to be installed near the same time as drivetrain.

Seems like tailpipe install varied per car and possibly option (duel exhaust, muffler configuration, etc)

 

[Keith Mopar]

My second 65 Barracuda car was a factory undercoated car and it held up real well. The Gas tank was mostly undercoated but had been backed into so many curbs and stuff it rusted out and was trashed but the rest of the under carriage was really nice.