What color is the front of the radiator support

[ekbeanctr]

I am getting ready to paint the doghouse on my 69 GTS and I know the engine compartment and outside of the wheel wells are the body color, BUT what is the color of the front of the radiator support (behind where the grill goes)??  Is that black or the same color as the rest of the car?

Thanks
Ernie

[jet-taz]

they should be painted /then a spray of undercoating. to be correct. i would paint them semi-gloss black

[Bakaruda]

Body color. There anit no undercoating on any car I have seen. In front of the radiator support.

[LO23]

core was painted car color,than spray bombed black behind griil area(so when you looked through the grill you didnt see car color you saw low gloss black).mostly light colors but i have seen alot of dark color mopars like this.

[Bakaruda]

Well like most subjects, this one is no different. I just looked at several resto shops pics of A body's. I found nothing different than what I thought. From the factory the cars showed body color behind the grills and lights. I did see alot of cars that people painted flat black. The best thing I could tell you is to slowly take your car apart. The car will tell you what you need to know. Strip the paint with a light sanding to see what your car had. The one thing that you can count on is they are different from plant to plant. As well as shift to shift. I am no expert but these things are out there for you to see. Good luck.

[mopartranman]

core was painted car color,than spray bombed black behind griil area(so when you looked through the grill you didnt see car color you saw low gloss black).mostly light colors but i have seen alot of dark color mopars like this.

   Most cars i have seen and done are like he said.

[b569rr]

I checked my '67 and I appears that the factory painted flat black over the body color on the front and back on the core support and wall.

My B body manual says on '69 models the core was painted flat black, body color or both. Although maybe not correct, I would go flat or semi flat over body color in this area.

Tom

[6469mopar]

I PAINTED MINE FLAT BLACK  BUT IN THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT IS BODY COLOR

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[Ed]

This is a great question and maybe Jim will jump in.  My '68 barracuda, never repainted, has flat black behind the grills, with body paint splatter mixed in over the black.  I'll have to take a better look tomorrow.  I've never seen the upper rad support be anything but body color.  I think the older mopar's are just body color, no black.   

[fourspeed]

My '72 Duster (all original paint, but not for long) had flat black sprayed over the body color. IMO it looks better that way - especially with a black radiator.

If you want to be "correct", that could be tough. There was a lot of inconsistency back then.

[azz7772]

I am getting ready to paint the doghouse on my 69 GTS and I know the engine compartment and outside of the wheel wells are the body color, BUT what is the color of the front of the radiator support (behind where the grill goes)??  Is that black or the same color as the rest of the car?

Thanks
Ernie

its the same color as the rest of the car only when the car is painted black 

[mrspeeddemon]

unless your doing a 100 point resto- just dooing a nice street car I say do it how you like it- I've seen it both ways and heard from "experts" on the only corect way, but theres so many differences in the world of mopars- Just decide if you want to see color or black behind your grill- after all its your car!

[A13Dart]

All of the B bodies I have owned or seen that were original  had the core support painted flat black on the grill side and behind the head light buckets too. The engine compartments were body color and the area inside the front fenders were body color with a black undercoat sprayed in a pattern around the upper control arm area. I have seen A bodies with and without the same blackout treatment, so it makes me wonder if it was done both ways on the A's If it was me I would paint the core support and the area behind the head light buckets, and the area inside the front fenders ( the undercoat pattern ) semi gloss or flat black.

[83imp]

Same here.  Both of my B-bodies had black behind the grilles.  Both were original paint when I purchased them.  My '67 was black behind the headlight buckets, but the '73 was fogged out to the buckets with a little over spray behind them but not fully covered.

[azz7772]

mine was the color of the car red

[Jim_Lusk]

I have always heard black, but my GTS had been repainted in the front when I got it, but if I remember correctly Jeff's Dart had black in the area you could see behind the grille.

[72Dart_400]

All 3 of my A-bodies with original paint have black behind the grille.

[Ryan (Strange246)]

I bought my Demon from the original owner, it was black behind the grill...Car was gold...

[churdmo]

I read some thing some where (mopar muscle ,mopar action) they painted behind the grill black on all cars exept black cars and dark blue cars.

[Darren]

You are right churdmo, It was a article about the ten most common restoration mistakes. And one of them was painting the rad support the same color as the car. Unless it was a black or navy blue car.  Darren

[demon340v]

mine is black but  behind that is the green paint as well

[BIG DOG]

I agree black over body color .I read somewhere that that was also correct from the factory