1967 Shelby Underhood and under trunk lid color?

I've seen a lot of 67 shelbys, and almost all had body color underneath. Yes, there were a few exceptions. I have also seen some dealer warranty type screen applied to the underside of some hoods to stop radio static.

 

Though you will see many "restored" 67 Shelbys with nicely painted hood bottom and trunks (very popular in the 80's) original cars typically have some exterior overspray over the black gel coat and painted steel frame.

Some more.... some less

MCA currently accepts painted exterior color or the semi-gloss black

Couple of real nice examples (at least three) low mileage 67's at SAAC this year with just a little body color over spray over the expected semi-gloss black

 

My original paint '67 is black under the hood.Also the same for the trunk lid.

 

Both of my '67 GT350's had body color on the underside of the hood and trunk lid. The one I bought brand new in 1967 and the other I bought from
my friend ( original owner ) so I know they had not been played with.

Since the hoods and trunk lids were painted off of the cars, I guess the
painters took artistic license and painted both sides if the spirit moved
them to do so. Another charming aspect of Shelbys.
shlby66

 

I have been looking for the answer to this question too for quite some time now. I keep looking at the cover page of the shelby American with the #231 coming down the line and several more behind it. All of which have the body color painted on the underside of the hood.
So, steel framed hoods and trunks came painted black from the manufacture?
Randy

 

As mentioned there was likely one worker, one period or it just happened that some got carried away with the body color

Yes apparently. And yes ... here are part of the collection I've collected - 5 different cars










(Repo incorrect trunk mat

 

this Original paint 68 has same as exterior...
http://www.lazlographics.com/images/AALance/trunk.jpg

http://www.lazlographics.com/images/AALance/motor.jpg

 

Agreed .. but that is for 68. Different plant, different provider, different people building the cars.

 

Mine is black with very little overspray simular to the second picture above.

 

Hello All,

Car number 100, the first G.T. 500, was originally equipped with the metal framed hood and trunk lid. The road test article in the March 1967 issue of Sports Car Graphic shows a color picture of the engine compartment. The bottom of the entire hood is painted the red body color. The bottom of the trunk lid is also red and shows no evidence of ever having been painted black.

Just thought I would add this information to this discussion.

Eric

 

I'm thinking that maybe the early cars with steel framed hoods and trunks got painted the full body color as the steel frame area would have been different than the fiberglass skin laid on top?
This is making for some interesting info.
Randy

 

The undersides of the decklid and hood on my 67 GT 500 SAAC Survivor (#1547; early calendar year 1967 production) are black.

 

I tend to distrust "magazine cars" plenty of stories about how these cars were "played" with

Just my opinion


HI Joe... good to see you here

Jeff S

 

Jeff,

Not sure exactly what to make of your comment? Please elaborate if you will.

Eric

 

What I mean specifically (sorry for not being clear) is that after all the eye witness reports, discussion with workers and others involved these cars were regularly details, cleaned up, fixed/repaired and improved in some cases for the press and public appearances. (one extreme was the Cobra that got repainted every time Shelby did a magazine shoot in the early days - in that way it appeared that there were more built than there were). We also have stacks of copies of receipts where Shelby changed for prepping cars for shows (for Ford cars and theirs)


So because of this I look for magazine cars for support of things we find in original cars rather than taking everything we see in a magazine as the last word (kind of like the assembly manuals in restorations I work as a consultant for.

 

Jeff,

Thanks for explaining your comment.

Eric

 

Most of that "special prep work" delt with the tuning of the engines. Curved distributor advances, jetted carbs, stuff like that.

I'll bet we all agree that especially the 1967 Shelby Production year was a constant production change. IE: dropping off the installation of the scoop lights, the dropping of the chrome exhaust tip eyebrows, the metal fiberglass hood and deck to favor the all fiberglass stuff, the 3 different front grill configurations with the center high beam set up. Most all due to cost saving steps.

 

Hi all in this thread..just an outside opinion from a real simple common sense type,think of it from Shelbys angle..if you can make'em simpler,cheaper and in a shorter amount of time,you can make more money.As any mass production company does during production...they find ways to do it cheaper.And just to spin you..all cars with steel framed parts were originally suppose to be painted body color to prevent rust..they never had the real proper prep to be nicely finished on the underside.Ford has a name for this which is "show car "treatment.Shelby really had to hustle because the demand far outpaced the availability and Shelby had to get other companys to supply parts. The later all fiberglass parts are not actually painted black,you are seeing lamp black gel coat and raw resin.Also the paint overspray you typically see is from painting the edges without masking the underside or the scoop openings.And the magazine comments are very interesting..most Shelby engine compartments are not even cleaned or detailed,you can see they had no special treatment.Now for the fun part.. do you know who made the steel framed parts? I do

 

Interesting statement. Based on ?