Paint or primer?

[rainbow4jd]

Doing a Concours / Museam quality level restoration on my Bird.

On the underside - I know there was just overspray on the under chassis, but it seems a lot (a lot) of restored vehicles going through the auctions with painted underbellys.

One argument is that the restoration of paint quality, fit and finish, are all far better than original so paint the undercarriage.

The other argument is that painted bottom looks SOOOOOO good and highlights the suspension, axle, and exhaust components.

So just wondering what you all think?   Remember - this is a trailer queen in the making - if you were doing a trailer queen - what do you do?

As a sidebar - at the Mopar Nats - how do they judge a restored car - paint or primer?   That might be the deciding factor.

[fy469rtse]

Trailer queen, you have to do it correct , that means replicating sloppy work on the line , poor paint coverage, line panels up by feel only , closed eyes, drink a lot before working on it to simulate lack of interest by production line workers , helps if this was a Friday or Monday built car
No do it the correct way,

[Ghoste]

At the Nats, they judge it by the way it left the assembly line, warts and all.  If my goal was to compete there I would duplicate the overspray method.

[hemi68charger]

At the Nats, they judge it by the way it left the assembly line, warts and all.  If my goal was to compete there I would duplicate the overspray method.

Yeap......... So would I, as I did on my former '68 Hemi Charger R/T..... Came out actually looking pretty good.......

Good luck with the project.....

[rickroadrunner]

I am about to paint the underside of my Superbird also.
It is a question as to how much color should be on the underside. I have seen photos of Daytonas where there is virtually no body color.
Did the Superbirds generally have more color? Could somebody please post photos of original and restored.
The photo shows body color, but after 40 odd years, it is hard to tell how much.
Also re primer, I would imagine it would be best to paint with a grey 2 pack  paint rather than a general undercoat.
The more photos the better! Thanks

[Kowal]

Doing a Concours / Museam quality level restoration on my Bird.

On the underside - I know there was just overspray on the under chassis, but it seems a lot (a lot) of restored vehicles going through the auctions with painted underbellys.

One argument is that the restoration of paint quality, fit and finish, are all far better than original so paint the undercarriage.

The other argument is that painted bottom looks SOOOOOO good and highlights the suspension, axle, and exhaust components.

So just wondering what you all think?   Remember - this is a trailer queen in the making - if you were doing a trailer queen - what do you do?

As a sidebar - at the Mopar Nats - how do they judge a restored car - paint or primer?   That might be the deciding factor.

I have owned cars with a body color bottom and with the primer/overspray.    The primer is easier to maintain, doesn't have to be wiped down as often.

[Aero426]

You have a pretty rare car in a very rare color.    I feel that as time goes on, buyers of higher end cars like this will want something done as close as possible to what the factory did.  The factory did not intend to paint the bottom of the car.  Period.

If you look at how well some OEM restorations are done, they are still very beautiful underneath, even though they are not wall to wall shiny paint.     Compared to getting all the details and finishes right,  painting the entire underbody is sort of taking the easy way out. 

[rainbow4jd]

Trailer queen, you have to do it correct , that means replicating sloppy work on the line , poor paint coverage, line panels up by feel only , closed eyes, drink a lot before working on it to simulate lack of interest by production line workers , helps if this was a Friday or Monday built car
No do it the correct way,

[maxwellwedge]

You have a pretty rare car in a very rare color.    I feel that as time goes on, buyers of higher end cars like this will want something done as close as possible to what the factory did.  The factory did not intend to paint the bottom of the car.  Period.

If you look at how well some OEM restorations are done, they are still very beautiful underneath, even though they are not wall to wall shiny paint.     Compared to getting all the details and finishes right,  painting the entire underbody is sort of taking the easy way out.  

Agree. The factory "dip" color looks great with the little body color overspray that found its way underneath. Roger Gibson sells the perfect color match to the dip....just in real paint...not primer.  Have a look at Hemigeno's Daytona resto thread....same stuff applies to the bottom on the Bird's.

[Mopar John]

I have had a Daytona go through OE at the nats and would like to give you my take on it.
First on the paint, not all cars got the same amount of coverage on the bottom!
Study original pictures of your particular car and go with the one that had the most coverage!
Primers have come a long way! So try and get one that will hold up to everything your
going to through at it for the rest!
If your going to go through the OE judging at the nats definately go with the paint/primered bottom!
They are back to raising the cars on a lift and will spend as much time looking at the bottom as the top!
MJ

[FJ5WING]

There was a little bit of poor communication on my part about NOT paint that much of the front frame rails.

[rainbow4jd]

FANTASTIC PICTURE!   Thanks.

[rickroadrunner]

Thanks also for the picture.
Does anybody have the color code, paint color description etc for the shade of primer?