VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 !938 paint question

I saw a post where it said the under side of a 38 coupe hood should be gray and not painted to match the color of the car. If and when I get around to letting someone paint my old car, I wonder if the underside of the trunk lid is surposed to be gray or match the color of the car. Mine is painted to match the car now. It's a fair paint job at best. It's painted with Enamel instead of the modern clear coat method. Just thinking about what to do.

The under side of the trunk lid amatched the car color. In the case of the original lacquer the paint was very dull because it did not (could not) get "rubbed out" as the exterior of the car did. That makes some colors look a little different from the exterior color.
My '39 has the original dull lid color and gray under hood paint.

Not sure this is accurate for 41, but based on Gene's response the underside of my trunk lid may be "original" paint {?}.

More Columbo work here: The underside of the Trunk has some "sound proof" material in the cavities. Was this material painted car color at the factory ?

Interesting!
Michael41

The underside of the deck lid on my 38 had a material resembling tar paper used a sound deadener I assume. I tried to replicate it using tar paper (roofing felt) but couldn't get it to stick. The adhesive kept lifting the paint. I ended up using spray undercoating in those areas.

It was not painted. How they got it in there after the fact has always been a mystery to me. (It ubder the inner supports)

I have also had a problem with the sound deadening on several decades of Chevys. I have always found that the area under the sound deadening was not painted just an adhesive and the material. It is also hard to believe that the pads were not installed when the trunk lids were fabricated and assembled. It is so much easier to install the pads to the sheet metal and then place and secure the structural part. I have to believe that is the way it was done. The "bean counters" would have insisted on that! So the question is how did they paint the inside of the trunk lids without getting paint on the sound deadening material. Actually there is another question that should be answered first. Why would they care if a little paint got on the material? Of course it would look better but also cost more to keep the paint off. (Guess the "bean counters" didn't win that one.) Now back to the paint on material problem. The only practical answer I can come up with is a mask that would be placed over the material prior to painting the inside of the lid. That is what I have done on each case, mask off the material and then paint the lid. Logical? Comments?

After we out of the deep freeze I will have to look under the pads. I had thought of the masking also but looks too perfect for that. My '50 and '39 are both good original examples.

I have never found any evidence of paint on the sound deadening material except for those that had likely been repainted. I will be looking for a reply in about six months. Seems that y'all sent too much of that cold weather down here. We don't want to be complainers but next time keep it up North!