Correct Paint Color Undercarriage 1969 Shelby

[shelbydoug]

The paint inside my, 68-01107 bellhouse covering is pink. 68-00202 is also.

The back of the car it's almost indescribable. It's encrusted with almost a dipped galvanized color and texture?

There is red oxide on it here and there but it is almost Rustoleum redish brown.

So the point is, duplicating those original paints is very, very difficult and many just give up and shoot the entire thing in red oxide which does really look nice but calling it "original" to me is taking poetic license.

[Dennis Y]

I plan on uncovering mine when the weather breaks to start on my retirement project. It was built 2 days after Dan's so it will be interesting to see what I find.
Jeff, I take it the January pic is Dan's car?

[J_Speegle]

I plan on uncovering mine when the weather breaks to start on my retirement project. It was built 2 days after Dan's so it will be interesting to see what I find.
Jeff, I take it the January pic is Dan's car?

No don't believe so. If its the Dan I think your referring to that was a later car (April)

[nightmist67]

We are in the process of refinishing the engine bay of my car, which was built in late December 1968.  It is slop gray (dark charcoal with a blue tint) with what appears to be traces of red iron oxide underneath the slop gray in some locations.

[shelbymann1970]

The paint inside my, 68-01107 bellhouse covering is pink. 68-00202 is also.

The back of the car it's almost indescribable. It's encrusted with almost a dipped galvanized color and texture?

There is red oxide on it here and there but it is almost Rustoleum redish brown.

So the point is, duplicating those original paints is very, very difficult and many just give up and shoot the entire thing in red oxide which does really look nice but calling it "original" to me is taking poetic license.

On my car at least 1 sprayer was clogged so I painted the whole underside Candy apple red single stage in my garage. I can always shoot some custom "batch paint" on it in the future. I'd like to see anyone actually duplicate the paint on the underside of their cars exactly.

[J_Speegle]

On my car at least 1 sprayer was clogged so I painted the whole underside Candy apple red single stage in my garage. I can always shoot some custom "batch paint" on it in the future. I'd like to see anyone actually duplicate the paint on the underside of their cars exactly.

If you start with a really nice unrestored car some are cleaning and scuffing the original coat on the undersides then just top coating a matching color over the original so that you retain the original drips, bubbles and runs. Have been able to do this on a few cars

Of course this can't be done on many cars after all these years so many just try their best

[Bob Gaines]

The paint inside my, 68-01107 bellhouse covering is pink. 68-00202 is also.

The back of the car it's almost indescribable. It's encrusted with almost a dipped galvanized color and texture?

There is red oxide on it here and there but it is almost Rustoleum redish brown.

So the point is, duplicating those original paints is very, very difficult and many just give up and shoot the entire thing in red oxide which does really look nice but calling it "original" to me is taking poetic license.

On my car at least 1 sprayer was clogged so I painted the whole underside Candy apple red single stage in my garage. I can always shoot some custom "batch paint" on it in the future. I'd like to see anyone actually duplicate the paint on the underside of their cars exactly.

In the case of the later cars that were painted with batch paint ,unless you match the underside paint to your individual car the term "exactly " may not be relevant. More like "what is expected " would be a better usage in this context. The mixture of the paint changed from one batch to another with no two batch's exactly the same .There is a wide range of possibilities in the case of the batch paint used when redoing a 69/70 Shelby underside . You probably already know this now as your detail knowledge increased but for those others that may read this now and in the future the convertible tunnel crossmember seen in the example picture is also a batch paint typically different then the shade used on the floors. It is not black in this Shelby context as it appears in the picture.  There is no cut line between the engine compartment black and the underside . It faded from black to the underside color. When the assemblyline paint man sprayed he only did it as far as he could reach into the tunnel and underside with no concern other then blacking out what you could see from the top side looking in. Gary restored his cars many years (a couple decades?) ago .

[shelbymann1970]

The paint inside my, 68-01107 bellhouse covering is pink. 68-00202 is also.

The back of the car it's almost indescribable. It's encrusted with almost a dipped galvanized color and texture?

There is red oxide on it here and there but it is almost Rustoleum redish brown.

So the point is, duplicating those original paints is very, very difficult and many just give up and shoot the entire thing in red oxide which does really look nice but calling it "original" to me is taking poetic license.

On my car at least 1 sprayer was clogged so I painted the whole underside Candy apple red single stage in my garage. I can always shoot some custom "batch paint" on it in the future. I'd like to see anyone actually duplicate the paint on the underside of their cars exactly.

In the case of the later cars that were painted with batch paint ,unless you match the underside paint to your individual car the term "exactly " may not be relevant. More like "what is expected " would be a better usage in this context. The mixture of the paint changed from one batch to another with no two batch's exactly the same .There is a wide range of possibilities in the case of the batch paint used when redoing a 69/70 Shelby underside . You probably already know this now as your detail knowledge increased but for those others that may read this now and in the future the convertible tunnel crossmember seen in the example picture is also a batch paint typically different then the shade used on the floors. It is not black in this Shelby context as it appears in the picture.  There is no cut line between the engine compartment black and the underside . It faded from black to the underside color. When the assemblyline paint man sprayed he only did it as far as he could reach into the tunnel and underside with no concern other then blacking out what you could see from the top side looking in. Gary restored his cars many years (a couple decades?) ago .

I learned a lot since I restored my car but my pics above was the batched sprayed met charcoal black hue on May 6 1969 Dearborn assy. I think you know my good friend Seraphim's April built 69 Boss 429 is a great learning point for me on the dearborn assy line build. His car came out a mauve/gray(depending on the lighting). I have not seen 2 colors alike(chances are slim to find 2 cars still having that built togather) on all the original paint undersides I have found. My rust free indian fire red SJ 69 May 13 1969 R-code Mach1  looked to have indian fire red underside when I stripped the sound deadner off the floors early 90s(real close and metallic to boot so I thought the underside was painted IF red). Since I don't think I'll ever sell my vert red was my preference. Looks GREAT and I can always take the points deduction like with the white stripes on it. Gary
Pics below Dearborn car April 1969.