Were the undersides of Roadrunners originally painted the same color as the car? I see some this way and some black. Was there a factory undercoating option available at the time for them as well? Asking in particular about my '69.
'69 Roadrunner paint color bottom side
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topside
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Except for LA-built cars, they were a low-gloss medium grey - LA cars were black.
All had some body-color overspray from painting the lower body areas.
All had some body-color overspray from painting the lower body areas.
R413
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Never full body color from the factory. They were gray primer with body color overspray.
LA built cars (digit E) had an almost black primer with body color overspray.
On all cars the wheelwells would be sprayed in undercoating for protection and avoiding rust out from gravel thrown from the tires. This includes the underside of the front fenders or it will get dents from inside out.
J55 undercoat was an option. It was very thick and would dry hard, doesn’t come off easily unless it is soaked in oil or trans fluid.
Then some dealers would sell undercoating. It is usually thin and flakes off after a few decades.
LA built cars (digit E) had an almost black primer with body color overspray.
On all cars the wheelwells would be sprayed in undercoating for protection and avoiding rust out from gravel thrown from the tires. This includes the underside of the front fenders or it will get dents from inside out.
J55 undercoat was an option. It was very thick and would dry hard, doesn’t come off easily unless it is soaked in oil or trans fluid.
Then some dealers would sell undercoating. It is usually thin and flakes off after a few decades.
Dang it! Mine is body color the whole way through! Do a lot of folks do that? Only thing that looks like undercoating is the rubber in the rear wheel wells from doing burnouts LOL. Can't say I knew enough to paint it correctly if I did it myself at the time of the paint job. Thought I knew a lot at one time but then I joined this place. Boy was I wrong. Not sure how much of a Mopar guy the previous owner was that restored it. The indent on the deck lid was painted the same "matte black" like the hood stripes too. Haven't seen that around much personally, if at all. Hate to redo anything just yet as the integrity is very acceptable to me personally still.
On that note, what about A-bodies in '70-'71? Same thing?
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Mine isn't a RR but a 68 GTX. There was no body color anywhere underneath that car. Thick black undercoating yes. I was always thankful for that because even tho I purchased in late 1971 there was already a couple of small rust spots bubbLing behind the wheel on the driver side quarter. After college in late 1980 she went in to storage for a very very long time. Gravel rock flooring. When I finally pulled her for restoration the only area that had deteriorated with rust was the trunk pan - because there was no undercoating between the gas tank and the pan. That pan was completely gone. The whole rest of the floor pan was perfect after all those years - due to salvation from that undercoating. I suppose nowadays no one undercoats our old iron because they're treated like the kings of the road they are with inside storage, no winter driving etc.
Unless you're planning on your bird being a queen - some kind of appropriate black sealing paint seems like it would be just fine. Mine was a Lynch Rd car - and when purchased by me in Minnesota had PA plates on it - thus the beginning rust on the quarter. The undercoating was probably factory.
Unless you're planning on your bird being a queen - some kind of appropriate black sealing paint seems like it would be just fine. Mine was a Lynch Rd car - and when purchased by me in Minnesota had PA plates on it - thus the beginning rust on the quarter. The undercoating was probably factory.
No queen, just a driver. And exactly like you said, stored indoors, no winter driving...or rain for that matter either.
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The Lynch Road built Demonstrator had the J55 undercoating back in the day, and was stated in previous posts, gray primer with red over spray. Nasty stuff. Same with my survivor '69 I owned in the 90s. Not pretty, but that's what the factory did. The real problem with the '69 B bodies is they are prone to rusting from the inside out because of water leaks, especially from the rear window. The non porous factory trunk mat compounds the problem. Baby Blue had perfectly preserved floor pans and trunk floor because my friend Bob fanatically sealed all the factory leak points, and ditched the factory floor mat.
When the Demonstrator was restored, the previous owner was amazed at the condition of the underside, that nasty J55 stuff had done the job. I mentioned earlier that the car had extensive sheet metal replacement. It was washed daily during its years as a daily driver, which preserved the underside to an amazing degree for a winter driven PA car. But all that water laying in between the trunk inners and lower quarter panels led to inside out rusting that had already bubbled through in 1971, when my dad took the vintage photos. Same thing happened around the headlight buckets, and between the inner braces and outer sheet metal on the front fenders.
Ironically, because of the premature rusting, the car got NOS sheet metal in the early 80s, when such stuff just didn't happen. Today the car has a black painted underside, no undercoating. Looks like it did back in the day, and obviously isn't trying to hide anything. I was prepared not to buy the car if it had any issues with the undercarriage, and turned out it had the cleanest frame rails of my seven GTXs.
When the Demonstrator was restored, the previous owner was amazed at the condition of the underside, that nasty J55 stuff had done the job. I mentioned earlier that the car had extensive sheet metal replacement. It was washed daily during its years as a daily driver, which preserved the underside to an amazing degree for a winter driven PA car. But all that water laying in between the trunk inners and lower quarter panels led to inside out rusting that had already bubbled through in 1971, when my dad took the vintage photos. Same thing happened around the headlight buckets, and between the inner braces and outer sheet metal on the front fenders.
Ironically, because of the premature rusting, the car got NOS sheet metal in the early 80s, when such stuff just didn't happen. Today the car has a black painted underside, no undercoating. Looks like it did back in the day, and obviously isn't trying to hide anything. I was prepared not to buy the car if it had any issues with the undercarriage, and turned out it had the cleanest frame rails of my seven GTXs.
Adam, is Demonstrator a name for another car of yours?
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It’s the current one. It was a Y13 build code, car not from the sales bank, or ordered by a private customer. Meant for test drives to lure undecided customers, thus the “dealer demonstrator” designation. In a GTX, rarer than a Hemi.
topside
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Dodges & Plymouths built on the same lines would be treated the same for rust-proofing dip, primers, prep & painting.
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Grey primer with a greenish ting.. the cars were dipped part way up the sides... as you can see in this shot if you look close you can see the dip line 1/2 way up.
And this shot shows the primer nubs still hanging off the bottom of my '66.
All new metal for a floor in my Bee, you bet your *** I made George paint it! His helper just loved sanding the sealer/primer before paint! LOL
And this shot shows the primer nubs still hanging off the bottom of my '66.
All new metal for a floor in my Bee, you bet your *** I made George paint it! His helper just loved sanding the sealer/primer before paint! LOL
I do see the dip line you’re referring to. Interesting.
I see you painted the underneath. Does that match your car body color?
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Ok, at least I’m in good company lol.
Here are a few pics taken a couple years ago when I first went to look at my RR before buying it. A fellow out of state Mopar friend had me take pics of every square inch of the car for his review before I pulled the trigger on it. Underneath sprayed same color as body.
I painted the bottom of two of my cars body color & the one I'm currently building is done with urethane faux dip primer with overspray...
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Factory undercoat cars also had hood silencer pad as part of the package.
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And IMO it looks better than factory original.
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