VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 Hood underside paint

The hood paint topic reminded me of another comment and some questions. When I got the hood top half from Walt D, I noticed that the bottom of this original hood was not painted the exterior color, but rather was a satin finish battleship gray (a medium gray with a hint of blue). Walt recalled that the bottom sides of the hoods were only primed. I checked this wiht ChevNut who agreed and said one of his cars has an original hood with the same gray primer on the bottom side of the hood. Thus I plan to reproduce that paint color on the bottom of the hood of the 35 Master Coach i am restoring. Since most folks are painting the bottom of the hood the same as the outside finish, will this cause upset by current judges? Mike?

:confused:

Not if they know the facts -or the correct info. is available---sorry--just couldn't pass on that one :rolleyes:

Typically, the primer on the bodies was red-oxide. So, when did the gray primer come into service?? :confused:

The color described sounds somewhat like engine color. Maybe all hoods were painted that color as primer doesn't weather very well?

The engine color was a dark-blue gray. They are apparently describing a medium gray primer (?). Didn't know that gray primer was in service then.

I know that we are talking about the underside of the hood on a 1935 here, but out of curiosity, I checked the underside of the hood on my 1932 Special Sedan. I am second owner of my '32 (bought it from the original owner way back in 1972) and this car is untouched by human hands. Still has the original factory nitrocellulose paint, original upholstery and the original grease here and there. Dudes use this car as a research project for their restorations. At any rate, under the hood of this car is painted body color (Manganese Blue) and under the body color is red oxide primer. Again, this is for 1932, not 1935. So, now the question arises as to a possible change in this area in later years (like 1935), or did different factories use different finishes under the hoods?

Also, I remember that years ago when I was having a discussion about primers with my PPG rep. he indicated that gray primer is more of a modern primer and was not used back in the early 1930's and that GM used red oxide primer on all of their sheet metal for many years. With that said, is it possible that the gray color under the hood on the 1935 discussed above is not primer but actually a gray paint instead?

This "under the hood" question might be a good subject to check to see if we can nail down the different types of finishes used under the hoods on various models of various years.

I purchased our 31 in 1961. I am the second owner of this car. The under side of the hood had very little paint on it and what was there looked like it got there by passing through the louvers. The badk side of the dash only had over spray on it.

See you down the Back Roads.

The Fisher Body plants used red oxide.The hoods would have gray primer exposed when the paint was rubbed thru.Later years had black primer for the hood -top side that is.Also were painted black underneath as well.My guess would be from about 1940 and up.
My 1939 has the original gray under the hood.It isn't a sandable primer - almost like an semi-gloss.It looks to be the same gray that the under body is painted with.
Also I know of a 1939-very original car in Michigan..car was assembeled in Janesville and has the radiator core support painted the same gray.Even has the selling dealer decal on the core support.The only one I have ever seen with the support painted gray.Its about the same gray used on the Town & Country horns in 1939.Its lighter than the engine paint but darker then the B.H. engine enamel.

Were all plants using the same underhood paint color????

"The Fisher Body plants used red oxide.The hoods would have gray primer exposed when the paint was rubbed thru."

I'm confused on this one a little. If the Fisher Body plants used red oxide primer, then how could gray primer be exposed when the paint was rubbed through? Wouldn't it be red oxide primer that was exposed instead?

Also, when was gray primer first used? My '51 Chevy still has the original red oxide primer under the paint on the body.

Hoods (and fenders) were not painted or primed by Fisher Body.The body primer on my '34 was red oxide.The hood had a gray primer (on top surface)-my fathers '34 was the same as when I rubbed all the paint off the hood from frequent polishing gray was exposed.Red also came thru on the body surfaces.Tomorrow I'll go out and look at the underside of the '34 hood.When I painted it years ago I did it in black as it was mostly rust.May be a sample under something or in a corner.

The '39 has red body primer.(not hood or fenders)

My '50 has some of the original body paint peeling and has red (dark) primer.

Cool! Thanks for the update! I just came back in from checking the hood and fenders on my original '32. On the hood and on the fenders where the original factory paint is rubbed through there are traces of red oxide primer, no gray primer. The mystery continues!

JYD, you probably have one of those odd-ball '32 Chevrolets built by elves in the Oakland Ca. plant! during the late night shift on a Friday the 13th! Arf! Arf!

Could it be that replacement parts (installed after a wreck) came from the factory in grey prime? That would make sense and show up on some cars and not others.
I have some factory photos showing the engine of a 32 and 36. The photos were published in the G&D back in the 70's. You can see that the inside of both hoods are black.

New factory replacement parts had a black coating.

I have the same black and white factory photos of the 1932 engine. The car featured in the photos could have been a black car therefore, under the hood would be black. Or, the car in the photos could be painted Manganese Blue, which is a dark blue, and in the black and white photos it would appear black under the hood.

This doesn't answer the question of under hood sheet metal paint, but it does say that both gray & red oxide primers were used in 1934 & 35 trucks. I have a body print of all the primers, sealers and components that are applied to the the body prior to painting. The entire exterior body was primed in p/n 119444 DuPont #54 - lead free Dark Oxide metal primer except the roof panel. The exterior of the roof was primed in p/n 466931 DuPont 7665 primer surfacer. All exposed inside wood parts primed in p/n 466903 DuPont #2400 gray primer. The body metal inside primed in DuPont #54 dark oxide. Entire Cab inside painted p/n 466926 DuuPont #93 inside green paint. Panel & canopy bodies the top of inside floor platform painted p/n 118500 DuPont #163 black wheel finish enamel. All the GM Proving Ground new car photo's I have of the 1934 & 35 Chevrolet Cars show a dark paint on the under surfaces of the hood & appears to match the exterior of the car. The paint is much darker than the engine gray. I have worked at the proving ground since the early 1960's and got the photo's from some of the original photographers. Pinkie Randall, Mr. 1932, should know the answer to the original question. Since all the truck bodies came out of the same plant a least they should be all the same; don't know about cars?

Up to this point the discussion has been about passenger cars.

Cars were finished in lacquer and trucks in enamel , possible that the Chevrolet Plant used a different primer than the Fisher Body plant also???

35 pickup man may have something...how many car hoods are interchangeable with a pickup? Enamel can go over lacque, but lacque can not go over enamel.
Could some factories have used pickup hoods on cars?

No - completely different.

There is the left half of a NOS 35 Master hood,in primer for sale on eBay. The color (outside and underside) is similar to the medium gray with blue tint that is on teh bottom of the original hood part I have. By-the-way, the outside of my hood part is black. The eBay number is 4519173764. It should still be for sale today.
Take a look if you want to see the color that Chev Nut, Walt D and I have been discussing.

:rolleyes:

Great find Jim.....Wipe off the dust and thats the color under the hood of my '39.The center support for the hinges is also that color.