factory undercoat question

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rebeldart

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If a 1970 A body came without undercoating, would it be body color underneath ? Mine has no undercoating but appears to be painted black. I know some of the other bodies came painted undersides.
 
The underside was not really painted, more so heavy overspray (depending on assy plant), the same goes for the inside of the fenders.

The undercoat went on after paint . What color is your body?
 
Well Im no expert but this is what I have seen.... It would be black with body color over spray from when the lower section of the car was painted.

Many of the so called "restored" pics are really "Over Restored" going well beyond what the factory would have done.
 
Mine is a 70 Swinger, EK2 , no undercoating , no overspray (probably touched up at some point. I'm considering painting the underside - but I guess it won't be "correct" (not that that's a big concern right now - but the car is an original 340 , 4-spd car)
 
in my opinion, there is no such thing as "over restored". the car lasted 30 plus years the way ma did it. if you are going to restore one to go to a concour event or tour the concour events for points toward a national show title, then sure. just dont ever plan on driving it. ever. if i'm going to spend the money, and put in the effort, my job on the car is going to consist of making it last at least another 30 plus years. otherwise why bother(that is why it's called restoration). i firmly believe in totally sealing the body up. by whatever means necessary. i mean full prime, paint and, undercoat all of it. like i say this is my opinion, and i've been told i'm, well, nevermind. i believe in the do it once, and do it right. it's cheaper, and costs less in the long run.
 
Over-restored is a common term... Something I have never been a big fan of.

For example.... When the flawless paint on the top of your car matches the flawless paint on the underside. Perfect paint in the trunk and under the hood.

These cars simply didn't come that way. They were full of runs and over-spray. Enamel paint. 60s/70s standards for fit and finish. One of the tail light housings on my 68 has a casting flaw that made it all the way to the costumer.

People parade around their 100 point cars saying they are exactly the way they were when they left the factory... Well really the cars are far from it.

Many 100 point show cars simply represent how they would look if they were being hand built 1 car at a time.

These things were mass produced... "Get em on all 4 and roll them out the door".
 
All of the non-undercoated cars I've run across have a primered underside with varying degrees of overspray along the edges. The undercoating was added later either at the factory or at the dealer. I do not know at what point in the assembly process undercoating was added at the factory. I would think if there's undercoating on the rear axle or the drive shaft, it's probably a dealer job.
 
well, here is what i saw. and some funny chry secrets:

1. did not care is the car made it to 15k miles, warranty ran out about 12k
2. when we made a top and it has a small pin holes in it, usually on one of the corners from dirt in the mold, we wrote V T on it. when it got to the end of the line it was placed in another rack for the vinyl top line. we did not paint them much so the glue would stick quicker and not have to wait for the paint to dry. ..really...
3. i think i invented the duster front half top single handed. also that why the landau top was used. not use to waste the whole vinyl sheet. just call it something else and put a 1ft wide strip. ... really. REALLY

4. the duster quarter panel weighs the same as the dart 2 door, the dart was thinner.
5. the doors were made at another plant cause they were too hard for us mashers and crushers press operators.
6. when we ran the metal into the die, we would hear a ping, thump. then a "special" piece would come through and make a bump, thump thud. sound and weight was about 40percent more. we wondered why and after checking, these were the "special"cars that the brass were buying, AND the ones they sent to the feds to test! REALLY!. i bet those car are still setting in a yard with no rust through. the end product weight was approx 900 lbs. more than the standard car. (they were told it was the higher options, like air, radio, light package, chrome, rally wheels, etc. *man that radio was 120 lbs i bet
7. dont try to fix one made on friday or until noon on monday. they usually the 4dr mom and pops. and dull colors. (friday to get the production number in and cut out for home, mon for all the hangovers, it was the 70's you know) we had a special lot for them to have them double checked. had a bumper fall off when pushing it from the line when it wouldn't start. not me! i was making the fenders.
8. i was on the line that usually got all the 'fun' items. i punched so many shaker hoods, wonder where they all are now. production was 300/hr for the one line i was on most of the time. thats 3 times a day, 24/7 for a year. thats a lot of shaker hoods.
9. what scraps? the parts that we cut off were used in other parts, like hood hinges, trunk supports, hood latch area, inner fenders sometimes. i spend one day cutting them out and the next day spot welding the two back together to make a piece big enough for the heater door
(that spot welder was a terrible job, for some reason that machine would break down often for hours, usually due to someone putting 3 parts thick under the die and that really made a mess. ha ha) hey, it was 125 degrees in there and the welder was so hot you had to have special shoes to keep from melting. walk a mile in my melted shoes!

anyone else wonders what went on when your car was made, let me have your question and if i was around, i will tell you what i know. bottom line, i really can't beleive what those things are selling for right now! p.s. the best, highest quality small car made during that time, was....are you ready..... the 1970 duster.. slant 6! that was the one they hung their hat on. the best i seen was, and this is a factory orginal, i know that, forget your trim plates. we made a run of dusters that were plum, black vT, black 340 stripe, white interior some buckets, some bench, and ALL of them were 6 bangers, auto, std brakes, power stearing, rally wheels. find that on your build sheets! don't know where the boss was that day, a meeting i think. but i know at least 50 ran off. that happened often. o well, just some fun facts.
 
mikess68 said:
well, here is what i saw. and some funny chry secrets:

1. did not care is the car made it to 15k miles, warranty ran out about 12k
2. when we made a top and it has a small pin holes in it, usually on one of the corners from dirt in the mold, we wrote V T on it. when it got to the end of the line it was placed in another rack for the vinyl top line. we did not paint them much so the glue would stick quicker and not have to wait for the paint to dry. ..really...
3. i think i invented the duster front half top single handed. also that why the landau top was used. not use to waste the whole vinyl sheet. just call it something else and put a 1ft wide strip. ... really. REALLY

4. the duster quarter panel weighs the same as the dart 2 door, the dart was thinner.
5. the doors were made at another plant cause they were too hard for us mashers and crushers press operators.
6. when we ran the metal into the die, we would hear a ping, thump. then a "special" piece would come through and make a bump, thump thud. sound and weight was about 40percent more. we wondered why and after checking, these were the "special"cars that the brass were buying, AND the ones they sent to the feds to test! REALLY!. i bet those car are still setting in a yard with no rust through. the end product weight was approx 900 lbs. more than the standard car. (they were told it was the higher options, like air, radio, light package, chrome, rally wheels, etc. *man that radio was 120 lbs i bet
7. dont try to fix one made on friday or until noon on monday. they usually the 4dr mom and pops. and dull colors. (friday to get the production number in and cut out for home, mon for all the hangovers, it was the 70's you know) we had a special lot for them to have them double checked. had a bumper fall off when pushing it from the line when it wouldn't start. not me! i was making the fenders.
8. i was on the line that usually got all the 'fun' items. i punched so many shaker hoods, wonder where they all are now. production was 300/hr for the one line i was on most of the time. thats 3 times a day, 24/7 for a year. thats a lot of shaker hoods.
9. what scraps? the parts that we cut off were used in other parts, like hood hinges, trunk supports, hood latch area, inner fenders sometimes. i spend one day cutting them out and the next day spot welding the two back together to make a piece big enough for the heater door
(that spot welder was a terrible job, for some reason that machine would break down often for hours, usually due to someone putting 3 parts thick under the die and that really made a mess. ha ha) hey, it was 125 degrees in there and the welder was so hot you had to have special shoes to keep from melting. walk a mile in my melted shoes!

anyone else wonders what went on when your car was made, let me have your question and if i was around, i will tell you what i know. bottom line, i really can't beleive what those things are selling for right now! p.s. the best, highest quality small car made during that time, was....are you ready..... the 1970 duster.. slant 6! that was the one they hung their hat on. the best i seen was, and this is a factory orginal, i know that, forget your trim plates. we made a run of dusters that were plum, black vT, black 340 stripe, white interior some buckets, some bench, and ALL of them were 6 bangers, auto, std brakes, power stearing, rally wheels. find that on your build sheets! don't know where the boss was that day, a meeting i think. but i know at least 50 ran off. that happened often. o well, just some fun facts.
Click to expand...
I have a 70 Duster that I bought new. Now trying to restore it, I find all kinds of factory bondo, alot down on the under-side of the rockers. Normal?
 
ive seen that caulking that sets up used where the seams were too far apart after welding. that might be what you see. the rocker panel where it meets the 1/4 panel is usually where the weld was a too much gap. its like what you find in the trunk. gray/tan color.
 
My 340 Swinger was built 1/22/1970. Code J55 on build sheet, undercoat and hood pad. I removed a small piece of undercoating clear in by the driveshaft tunnel. It was same as body color FY1, under the black floor saving substance. I firmly believe that is why my floor is in such good shape.I've got 2 '69 340 Darts neither undercoated both Barney Rubble models,, the floors are gone.
 
ha ha, guess i helped someone! i think thats why they are so generous with that stuff. they used it for everthing. wish i had a 5gal bucket today so when i get through screwing up my 72 welds, i can hide them again! it came out of a hose that looked like the overhead oil hose at walmarts oil change pit. they also had some in a caulking tube bigger than the ones we buy today. this was about 3inches in diam and ran by air preasure. i only see it used in trunk and floor. but it must have been cheap cause they used a LOT of it. :)
 
I'm scared to drive my car now, but thanks for the interesting info. I really enjoyed reading that.
 
actually after looking over my 68 camaro ss350, and looking at the dart, ....i sold the camaro, that pile of junk was scary, the frames don't even hook up front to back. the floor board is the frame i guess. really a let down from my 68 chevelle.. i know how the dart was built so, im sticking with it! that should say something. Ill try to keep it positive, lots of panels kicked back, just more fun talking about the exceptions. some things that were fun was the forklift we hid behind some dies and we started adding panels to it when we were waiting for production to resume. it looked like a dart/duster/cuda with shaker hood scoop with a roll cage and sitting high up. they found it before we could paint it and got a kick out of it. of course no one could imagin how that happened! the fun thing was each shift was working on it without even talking to the eariler shift. everyone just knew and what ever production part we were running, thats what it got that day. if we just had a couple of bumpers and some lights and the doors, we could have had a new model. o well thats another story ill give it a rest for a few... tks guys.
 
I'm still trying to find the wise *** that shipped us a Chrysler with no front bushing in the right spring. It made for a loud 'thunk' everytime you hit a bump.
 
by the way, when the build sheet does not match what you have, that is not the final word. ex.
when getting close to the end of a run, the 'material handler' otherwide known as the fork lift etc. driver and the grunt, who was to keep the line full of parts but not over full, instead of taking it back (back is an area that is at least 1 mile, and im not kidding those plants were hudge! and id walk a mile from where i parked to where i got my gear and then another 1/4 mile at least to the line) they would try to let it go on a car if it was not too strange. your sheet could show a light kit, but not on the car or vise/versa. that went for one type of hood if they could get away with it, like scoops on a plain jane. or plain hood on a hot rod. radio antena, trim package such as delux wheel, reg, etc. you can get a floor shift with a console that was not suppose to have a console etc. so don't hold too much to the build sheet. like i said eariler even the motor can get changed, but they would change the paperwork, but not the build sheet. usually someone got fired, but the line would not stop and the car rolled out the doors. the dealers were told (one of my cousin worked there too) to say "someone ordered it that way, their loss your gain" and there goes a 340 trim package on a 6 slt. just fyi. :)
 
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