Radiator support black-out

Does anyone know when on the assembly line the radiator support received the black-out paint? Was it applied right out of the paint shop or was the car partially assembled and then got painted.
I'm mostly concerned with what might/would have been on the radiator support when the black-out was applied. Thanks,John.

Common consensus is it was painted right out of the paint shop by a guy standing in a pit; pattern was inconsistent with lots of overspray. Dark colored cars didn't get the blackout.

The pit part is a myth.

Lots of the cars have the lower top surface of the radiator support flange with black paint on them.

If there was a pit, the dude was either on a ladder or had VERY long arms.

The darker paint cars did not have to have the blackout, but I have seen factory black out on factory TX9, EF8 & EB7 cars.

Did it matter what kind of car it was?

Ah. So you worked the line? Tell us how it was done.

If from a pit, would you have used a ladder or super long arms to do this?

Maybe a pogo stick? (That would be fun)


From the low mile T/A;

In the previous web version of Moparts, there was a long thread & it was beat to death.

Several members had photos of original paint cars with blackout on the top of that lower radiator support flange.

The conclusion - no pit involved with this process.

With undercoating - yes.

But not for this.

Here are a couple of pics of the black out on my survivor 69 Dart. The car is B7 Blue. You would have to had to have been the "top man" to spray the black out in this area.

The pit side of the argument sure seems to agree with the half-dozen unrestored, unmolested, original '68-'69 B-bodies I've owned, insofar as the blackout was on undersides of the rad supports but not the upwards-facing areas.
If it wasn't a pit, perhaps the sprayer just reached in from the front and happened to angle the gun upwards, like if the hood was closed. But I don't recall ever seeing black overspray on the underside of the hoods.
It seems logical that the sprayer wouldn't be far away, for the sake of coating efficiency.
Either way, I'm not losing sleep over it; but I'd sure like to see an assembly-line photo so the question/debate can be settled.

Here is a photo of another original paint T/A.

Notice body color on the underside of this area & the back of the bolt head & washer.

The blackout was sprayed from in front & a little above on it too.

Since nobody answered my question, I have a yellow 69 B body that doesn't have any blackout.

There was a B/W photo in Mopar Action about 10 years ago of a guy in a PIT spraying a 68 or 69 body. Anyone remember that??

It should have blackout

Friend has a 97 A12 Runner that didn't have black out either.

I just looked at a '68 st louis automatic equipped. The spray appears to been applied by shooting upwards as the various bends in metal facing upward lack black-out paint. There is paint on the engine side of the radiator flange and there is no paint on wiring grommets, bolt threads, wiring or cooler/lines that are mounted to the grille side. I did not look to see if the front valence was fitted can check if needed.
Perhaps the treatment was applied from the grille opening with an open hood?

Yep, and the text supporting it was from E-booger hisself.

Something going on here. Could this blackout procedure differ at different plants? So far we have E-bodys sprayed from above and B-bodies sprayed from below.

I have an original paint 70 B-body from St Louis sprayed from below.

The Dart Rarefish posted is intriguing; I've owned 3 Darts ('69-'73) & 4 Barracudas from '67-'70, (1 of each year) and none had the upper panel blacked out like that. Blacked out from front or below, pretty consistent with my B bodies.
Were some missed? Some incorrectly applied by new-hires or in the factory offline repair areas or at dealerships? Modified due to collision repair or past owners? I'd say all are likely.
FWIW, my cars were from St Louis, Hamtramck, 1 from L.A. and 1 Lynch Rd.
For the record, I'm not in this discussion as a "swordfight" or a contest of any kind; but the various exceptions to the "rule" interest me. I'd REALLY like to see a photo of the blackout process on the line, or at least one of E-berg's Engineering diagrams.

This is why I asked does it matter what body style, or trim level the body gets? Mine is a 440 trim level 4 door, yellow and no black out.

I have 4 1970 4-doors here from 3 different plants.

They all have blackout, including the EF8 one which was an allowable exclusion.

What is EF8?

Dark green

E = 1969, 1st model year used
F = Green
8 = relative darkness/deepness of color

(Example: B3, B5 & B7 blues get darker as the numerical digit increases)

Model year 1965 is A.

It's the paint code for Dark green that was used in 69 and 70. It is one of the darker colors that were exempted from the blackout.

If your car was yellow it should have the blackout

Maybe it should, but it doesn't. Strange combo to, yellow with dark green top, and interior.

Oddly enough, my F8 '69 Road Runner did get the blackout. St Louis car, later production as it had the Spring Special stuff.

Rocker panel pinch seams got the black out treatment on light colored cars too, correct? Seems like bending down and spraying those over and over would wear you out in a hurry. I can see those being done from down low. Maybe the line had a guy up top and another guy town below spraying at the same time as the cars past by?

I everybody assuming that the car is on the ground and not either hanging from a rack or on an elevated stand?

70 Challenger FK5

this shot make sit look like it came from directly in front

Could have been painted in the air at first to get the bottom of the rockers and the rad support. Then when it was on the ground someone could have sprayed the rad support straight on to finish the task???

Here's my 68 Dart convert. I've got a closeup picture on my home computer. These are the only one I have access to right now that show the blackout on the upper rad support. Just to the left of the horn on the inner fender you can see a lot of black over spray.

That is what I am used to seeing on my Darts too. No blackout on the bottom of the lower radiator core support. Have seen some with paint on top of the hood latch plate too. I am more of the opinion that it was shot straight on.

I'm pretty sure there used to be some at the bottom...and in the middle. It's just worn away from road debris. The lower rad hangs down below the bumper and the center is what you can see through the grill.