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Why did/do people paint the firewalls black?

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Crowbarman55

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I see quite a few firewalls painted black on tri fives. I wasn't around before 1976, so maybe it was popular at some point to paint the firewalls black?
Anybody know why they did or still do paint the firewalls black? My guess is to hide dirt and oil and such? Or to match the inner fender?
I know at some point GM stated making firewalls all black was it in the 60's?
Todd
 
#2 ·
Crowbarman55 said:
I see quite a few firewalls painted black on tri fives. I wasn't around before 1976, so maybe it was popular at some point to paint the firewalls black?
Anybody know why they did or still do paint the firewalls black? My guess is to hide dirt and oil and such? Or to match the inner fender?
I know at some point GM stated making firewalls all black was it in the 60's?
Todd
Click to expand...
Chevrolet switched from body color to low gloss black firewalls during the 1963 model run. The factories started switching to black in mid January of '63 and most plants made the switch by early March. Prior to this the firewalls were body color...
Same is true with the Delco batteries, the fill caps were yellow until mid January '63, about this time the caps were changed to black.
 
#3 ·
Don't know why they do that...But, it looks ugly, IMHO....Just one of the reasons why I decided to restore mine.

Image
 
#6 ·
Crowbarman55 said:
I see quite a few firewalls painted black on tri fives. I wasn't around before 1976, so maybe it was popular at some point to paint the firewalls black?
Anybody know why they did or still do paint the firewalls black? My guess is to hide dirt and oil and such? Or to match the inner fender?
I know at some point GM stated making firewalls all black was it in the 60's?
Todd
Click to expand...
The firewall of my Sierra Gold '58 Impala is painted black too by a PO. :mad: Original paint is very presentable too with no rust on the body. I tried removing the black paint from the firewall, but what a painstaking, arduous process while trying to preserve the original paint. The '70s/'80s....
 
#18 ·
davidc said:
Black in a spray can was really cheap then. Also it was for the same reason a lot of interiors were black, you could paint the exterior of the car several different colors and it would match.
Click to expand...
When you were 16-18 years old and not a lot of money, you are changing the engine a couple of black spray cans is a cheap way to freshen up under the hood. Always did it. My firewall matches the car color now!
 
#19 ·
Figure a lot of these cars were painted on a budget 30 or 40 years ago. They wouldn’t have blown the car apart for this. So the guy grabbed a rattle can and went to town under hood. It wouldn’t have seemed odd since all the cars a few years older came that way.
I’m quite sure that’s how mine ended up that way.
 
#20 ·
You could also ask why most all frames were/are painted black. On a firewall it's a basic color, that matches every other color. Plus, it's the proper hotrod thing to do. You have to remember that all the way up into the 80's there weren't many with their head on straight that would 100% restore a trifive back to original with a 6cyl and PG. It was all about bigger and bigger engines and 4 speeds. Black firewalls were the norm.

It just looks natural, and makes the engine be the focus.

Image
 
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Crowbarman55
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