[volvo164]

Does anyone know until which year were the engine bay painted flat black? I noticed in pictures on eBay and such, that later cars had body colored engine bays, and earlier ones are black. Mine is black - but I so far assumed it was painted black, when the car was repainted red (from orange) in '92. I assumed the people were too lazy to paint the engine bay red. Also, was the flat back painted on top of the exterior color? On mine, the orange is showing through in a few areas.

 

[Fotografa]

As far as I'm aware, and I'll put my usual disclaimer that I may be wrong, they were always painted body colour (minus the clearcoat).

Mine is a 73 and is body colour.

 

[bluefang]

pretty sure Fotografa is right, we have a 73' SL and a 74' SLC in the family and both had body colored engine bays.

 

[smack]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Mine is a relatively early '73 and it is black...with no signs of a repaint. As far as I know the engine was never out of the car so you would be able to see missed spots on a repaint of the compartment.

 

[lfedje]

Mine is VIN....7057 73 450SL. 735 body color - Engine bay 735 with no top coat.

How early was yours, smack?

 

[rowdie]

My '72 (#2913) and '73 (#8098) 450s are both original body color.

 

[tork'd]

73 450sl ditto on the color match to outside

 

[smack]

Mine is VIN....7057 73 450SL. 735 body color - Engine bay 735 with no top coat.

How early was yours, smack?

05940

 

[JDR280SL]

My 1977 280SL (Euro) is also same as outside body color.

 

[POS]

My engine bay is black, but then again so is the car! Actually, I thought that they all had body colored inner fenders/firewalls - no flat black on any year.

 

[volvo164]

Hmm - well there were definitely a couple I saw that were flat black, like the trunk. There's an early 450SLC on eBay, that's been restored to concourse standards, with flat black engine bay. Anyway, given the response so far, it's obvious that mine was body color as well (since the orange is showing through here and there) and was painted black instead of a red when re-sprayed. This will now certainly annoy me, until a I strip everything out to complete the job.

 

[Fotografa]

There's an early 450SLC on eBay, that's been restored to concourse standards, with flat black engine bay.

What, a seller on ebay that doesn't know what they are on about? How unlikely!