Was everything originally body-paint colored?

[Hodgepodge 138]

I see a lot of images of 2002s with many different paint jobs and many different areas that have been painted black.   A lof of car manufacturers do use black in some places, but I'm thinkning maybe BMW didn't besides the subframe and suspension components. Dealers may have painted underbodies black to charge for "rustproofing".  Ok, got that.  Later, people probably painted areas prone to get really dirty black.  OK.  Makes sense.   

 

Here's the question.  Were 2002s painted black anyplace from the factory?    Underbody, wheel wells, driveline, anyplace?   What about the area between the grill and the radiator?     

 

Or was the whole car body colored?   

 

I have a '75 and want to make the paint look as original as practical.  

 

Thanks!

 

Scott

 

[Son of Marty 324]

Square light cars were black body shatz (sp) from the lower chrome strip along the rocker panel. Lighter colored cars were painted black by hand behind the grill. the bottom of the car was primer with the body color visible as overspray only.

 

P.S. the body shatz also extended behind the rear wheel but was painted body color.

Edited March 7, 2018 by Son of Marty

[Conserv 2,425]

Yes, sort of.  The question comes up at least once a year.  I don't know a great search string but here's a typical "underside paint" thread:

 

 

Here are two good photos that illustrate the factory's work. The first is an Agave car, the second a Malaga car. Mostly overspray reached the undersides of the cars, so drivetrain tunnels tend to be mostly primer and floors are mostly primer near the tunnel, transitioning to "almost body color" near the rockers.  Because the undersides (and most of the cars' interiors) did not receive multiple full coats of paint, the original colors often look odd in those locations, Malaga, for instance, sometimes appearing pink or purple.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited March 7, 2018 by Conserv

[Hodgepodge 138]

OK, that all makes sense.  My '74 tii was black below the lower trim strip but body color everywhere else.  It was 1978 so I can't recall the colors anywhere else.  My current '75 Polaris is black below the trim strips, Polaris everywhere else, with yellowed clearcoat in some places in the engine compartment and the underbody is just crud colored because of all the oil sludge.  (BMW had some major clearcoat issues with some colors in '74-76).  The owner of my car missed the paint recall window and literally took the car to Maaco.  That's the paint that is on the car now....for a few more months anyway. 

 

[Russell74Fjord 71]

my check on re-paints is usually to look inside the air box for the heater, those insulation/sound dampening panels (on the vertical plane, towards the front of the car) are not painted body color, but applied after, so if they are painted, the car has had a re-paint sometime in its life.  And of course if the wiper motor is painted, that is a dead give away.

[Hodgepodge 138]

R74F, good point.   Of course, I'm doing a full repaint but I want the result to be as correct as possible.  Those pads inside the air box are already covered with overspray and they are warped and as stiff as cardboard.  Guess I'll need to remove and replace them.  

[BoBlack 50]

Conserv,

Is the pictured Malaga - square or round light?

tii or carb?

Thanks

[Conserv 2,425]

4 hours ago, BoBlack said:

Conserv,

Is the pictured Malaga - square or round light?

tii or carb?

Thanks

 

I don’t know, and it shouldn’t make a difference.

 

Regards,

 

Steve