Radiator & core support blackout controversy

[Kern Dog]

We have seen this at every car show. A freshly painted car sits there with the aluminum radiator clearly visible through the grille.
Its the dreaded LACK of the factory blackout. 
Mopar Action magazine points it out in every instance on cars that they feature. It looks worse in pictures with flash photography than in person.
I was guilty of this when I first restored my 70 Charger. At the very least, the 68-74 Chargers had a lot of space between the grille and radiator so the lack of blackout isn't as obvious as it is on an A body.
I know what MY reasoning was... I liked the look of the fresh paint everywhere on the car. I must have been fortunate because nobody ever criticized me for it to my face. A few years back I went ahead and painted behind the grille and I will admit that it does look better the factory way.

[John_Kunkel]

The only time the blackout or lack thereof becomes an issue is if the car has a "restored to original" theme. Anything else is up to the owner's taste.

[charge69]

I, generally, agree with Mr. Kunkel on this issue and, even though my Charger is not what I would call, a restored to original themed car, I did not consider leaving the radiator frame and their parts the R6 the rest of the Charger was painted.  It just would not have looked right in my eyes.

I used my original restored radiator and transmission cooler and they were also given another coat of flat black to match the rest.  If I had an aftermarket aluminum radiator, I probably would have painted it black also.  Just me.

[Mike DC]

 

If you care more about how the engine bay looks than the exterior, then leave off the blackout.

[fy469rtse]

Left to the owners taste,
Mine has a alloy radiator , was conscious of seeing that through grill , have blacked out radiator support
but fixed because putting my a/c in, just ordered black ac condenser, covers radiator up nicely

[ws23rt]

I agree that it's a matter of taste. Those that chose to not black out and have a alum. radiator show through the grill can see what it looks like as we all do.

My taste is with dodge on this. I like the clean black look of the grill.

I'm not up to speed with a "controversy" on this unless it's about some factory cars with body color showing through the grill.  Did that happen?
Is it about the body color?  Light color vs dark?

I'm thinking about 2nd gen chargers.

[TUFCAT]

Chrysler applied blackout on all colors except black as required by the design office.  Chrysler styling department mandated all cars were to have a uniform front end appearance....any absence of blackout would cause a distraction of color showing behind the grille or front end treatment.  

On this subject, all front sway bars were painted black. No exceptions. This was done for the same reason.  They were never silver, cast gray, cosmoline, bare metal, or dipped in chocolate. They were always black.

Such a highly visible metal bar hanging below the front bumper would never be approved by the styling department to be anything but black.   The idea was for them "not" to stand out...even though some people have restored cars with silver or gray sway bars.

If you look at any press photo or magazine article from back in the day the front bar is always black.....same for the rear.  

[hemi-hampton]

Chrysler applied blackout on all colors except black.

Or the very dark blue B9. BUT, I restored a Black 70 T/A Challenger that was original & unrestored when I got it & even though black exterior the core support was still blacked out LEON.

[TUFCAT]

LEON, I agree that could have happened for consistency and for the fact black is glossy.... gloss would stand out and be noticeable behind the grille. The flat black treatment on a black car would also eliminate the shine and glare seen from behind the grille so maybe they all got it.  It would make sense.  

[hemi-hampton]

If I had to guess, Even if not Mandatory on certain very dark colors like Black & Dark Blue & Dark Green as I've heard or read, These colors probably came both ways with or with out black out like some other Instances on Chrysler cars. LEON.

[charge69]

When restored, my radiator support and the sway bar were painted black but, what are those silver lines that stand out prominently if you get down and look?  Ha !   Those were left natural without being painted !

[TUFCAT]

Yessir!  ....that's the factory look

[ws23rt]

When restored, my radiator support and the sway bar were painted black but, what are those silver lines that stand out prominently if you get down and look?  Ha !   Those were left natural without being painted !

OOps are those lines hanging too low?

[ws23rt]

I kinda thought the black out was factory and for a good reason.

It may be for another thread but did the factory undercoat most cars?  This also covered up shiny paint that I see on the bottom of many restored cars.

[charge69]

To Tufcat: Thank you for noticing!  My engine compartment is not and does not look factory stock but, from the outside, my Charger looks and is restored pretty much to factory stock! It looks in pictures and, even in person, like a base coat/clear coat paint job but it is, assuredly, a single-stage acrylic paint with some serious wet-sanding and Turtle Wax "ICE" applied.  the "ICE" product really brings out the shine!

To ws23rt: before the restoration, the old lines hung down almost exactly as these new ones sit. I believe, with a transmission cooler, the lines were visible on all of them equipped with a cooler. Realize, this picture is from on-the-ground perspective. From standing up and even a number of feet in front of the Charger, the lines were not visible.

I, accidently bent the old lines using a tow-strap on it when I had the Charger just a few months! Luckily, I did not flatten either line or the valence pan and got them back reasonably close to where they were but, new ones were mandatory for the restoration!

[charge69]

I can only speak for my Charger as to undercoating.  My Charger had factory undercoating in the wheel wells only.  Saying that, I found one of my build sheets, covered in factory undercoating, under the carpet in the passenger side foot well on my car! The undercoating wasn't heavy there. It looked like they might have been just cleaning out the spray gun and tossed the build sheet in there on top of it before the carpet was installed! Over the years, it pretty much soaked the build sheet. It took about an hour of soaking it in a parts cleaner with running solution and a soft brush to make it legible.

[ws23rt]

To Tufcat: Thank you for noticing!  My engine compartment is not and does not look factory stock but, from the outside, my Charger looks and is restored pretty much to factory stock! It looks in pictures and, even in person, like a base coat/clear coat paint job but it is, assuredly, a single-stage acrylic paint with some serious wet-sanding and Turtle Wax "ICE" applied.  the "ICE" product really brings out the shine!

To ws23rt: before the restoration, the old lines hung down almost exactly as these new ones sit. I believe, with a transmission cooler, the lines were visible on all of them equipped with a cooler. Realize, this picture is from on-the-ground perspective. From standing up and even a number of feet in front of the Charger, the lines were not visible.

I, accidently bent the old lines using a tow-strap on it when I had the Charger just a few months! Luckily, I did not flatten either line or the valence pan and got them back reasonably close to where they were but, new ones were mandatory for the restoration!

I was jesting a bit.  The cooling lines hung down like that on my 68RR (hemi) with the aux. cooler. And on a 70 charger rt 440 I used to have.
But on my C500 which is very close to stock they are above the lower radiator support  

[bill440rt]

Just touching back to the sway bar reference about being black. What is also interesting is that the straps were left natural steel, NOT painted black, at least on '70 cars. In '68/'69 the straps were welded around the bar and bushings so the whole shebang was painted black: bar, straps, and bushings.  

[charge69]

Thanks for the info, bill440rt.  Nice to know I got it right on mine.  Gotta tell you it was just luck I did, though!  

[ws23rt]

I also thank you bill.  I always wondered why I had to cut and reweld the sway bar brkts. on my 69s for a bushing change.   Cause that's how it's done?
Thought it was a short cut for a trick I didn't know about.

[1974dodgecharger]

I always thought black radiators cooled the car better....hence all factory radiators are black?

[ws23rt]

I always thought black radiators cooled the car better....hence all factory radiators are black?

It's true black radiators do cool better and do it by radiation.  One that is shiny radiates poorly and may as well be called a convector.

[Ghoste]

Convect, conduct dispel,, I just think the black looks a helluva lot tougher. 

[A383Wing]

If I had to guess, Even if not Mandatory on certain very dark colors like Black & Dark Blue & Dark Green as I've heard or read, These colors probably came both ways with or with out black out like some other Instances on Chrysler cars. LEON.

my factory dark green 66 Dart had blacked out front rad support also

[BrianShaughnessy]

Mopar Action magazine points it out in every instance on cars that they feature.

I wish I had a $1 for every time I've heard Rick bust somebodies balls over the blackout paint.  Sinnamon would have been fully funded 

Yes... he does it on purpose.. because he can.    And he busted my balls over having an unpainted aluminum radiator in Betty.  I did put a black bug screen in front of the rad so it doesn't look as obvious anymore... so he more or less stopped hassling me.