[Pershing]

I went to a Pontiac car show on Saturday and I saw two different ways to paint the firewall (engine compartment side.) Some cars had it body color and others had it black like the inner fenders, radiator support etc. the split was about 50/50%. Which is the way these cars came from the factory? Body color or black?
Thanks.

[bdk1976]

Black from factory, but some people insist on painting them like Mopars for some reason.

[400 4spd.]

Originally Posted by bdk1976

Black from factory, but some people insist on painting them like Mopars for some reason.

That, and the underside of the hood in body color.

[400 4spd.]

Originally Posted by bdk1976

Black from factory, but some people insist on painting them like Mopars for some reason.

That, and the underside of the hood in body color.

[242177P]

Are we only talking about the entire firewall, or just a
couple of inches? Pontiac plant builds retained some
body color, with black ending around the body seam

[Goatboyjohnny]

I really looked into this and it seems different plants did it different ways, and no two were ever the same.. that being said, most Pontiac MI. built cars I saw were fairly close to this.. sorry about all the sideways pics. My car is by no means a concourse restoration, but I like to try to emulate a very stock appearance, and nerd out over these little details, like my grease pencil markings on the firewall signifying to fisher body the "Interior color change" from black to red, you know because I special ordered it that way in 2022 lol.

[Mister Pontiac]

About 10 years ago, I redid my 67 from the firewall forward. Mine is a Pontiac plant car as well.

As I was stripping the old rattle can paint off of the firewall, I found the factory paint and grease pencil markings underneath. The paint was some sort of undercoating type of material as the chemical stripper would not touch it while it peeled off the rattle can paint with ease. Mine was factory matte black (60%?) from the cowl ledge down.

Here's a picture of it when I was done stripping and cleaning the firewall. Like you, I 'refreshed' the grease pencil markings, but I did it directly over the original marks.

Hope that helps.

[Pershing]

That is what I thought too. So thanks for the verification. Some of the body colored firewalls had the heater boxes body color and some had them black, so really there were a few variations.

[younggto]

Here is a pic of my 67 GTO, PONT built (09A build, Signet Gold) upon disassembly back in 1999.

[400 4spd.]

The black sprayed on the firewall of those cars was done after body paint as a black-out treatment, and it was a flatter shade than the black used on the heater box, inner fenders and radiator support. It's not that the Pontiac plant sprayed body color further down on the firewall, they just did not go as high with the black-out as some other factories. So the black overlaps the body color, not visa versa.

[Goatboyjohnny]

Right you are 400 4 speed, and that's how I did mine, probably should have specified. I painted body color on the top of the firewall, stopping about halfway down. Then blacked out the entire underside of the body and firewall blending or fading to the top. I used flat black rustoleum with an accelerator and hardener.

[400 4spd.]

Johnny, that’s some fine looking work. Even the firewall seam sealer looks dead-on.

[Goatboyjohnny]

Thank you sir!

[MUSLCAH]

Here’s my unrestored firewall . Pontiac Michigan built. 1967 GTO

[Goatboyjohnny]

Great pic!

[Longs]

My unrestored '67 GTO firewall, Pontiac plant, June 1967 build.

[Goatboyjohnny]

So many variations. Great pics.