Paint between lower side trim - Gravel Guard or to match exterior?

[FRITZ68]

I have a silver 1968 280SL and we are giving it a light restoration and professional paint job.  In looking at the bottom side of the car, we see the rocker panels are removable (great idea) and seem to have a dark gray or black gravel guard finish.  Directly above the rocker panels there are two stainless moldings running parallel with the bottom of the car that are about 2" or 3" apart. In looking at this area of my car, see that this area (between the stainless trim pieces) was painted silver to match the silver color of the rest of the car.  However, the silver painted finish in this lower area appears to have been painted over a gravel guard surface.  My painter said this doesn't seem right, so I told him I would see what forum members think about this. 

So my question is: Should we sand down this area, prime it and paint it smooth to match the rest of the car, or should we first apply a gravel guard finish and later paint over the gravel guard surface to match the car?   Of course on the lower rocker panel area below the stainless strips, we will repaint that area with a gravel guard finish in a very dark gray or black as it was originally.

Until we took a good look, did not realize that the area between the lower side strips had a gravel guard type surface under the paint.  It looks good, but we want to keep the car original, so want to do this right.  Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.  Attached are three pictures of the car prior to our restoration project now underway.

Thanks,  Fritz
Canfield, Ohio.

[w113dude]

all the ones I have seen were shiny finish.

[FRITZ68]

Thanks a lot for the quick reply - I appreciate it.

Fritz

[Garry]

Fritz,

Have a read here on the Body Schutz (Steinschlagschutz - gravel protection paint) that our cars came with.

http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=811.0

Garry

[Russell]

i need to pain that area myself so i looked through the pictures owners post in that section and to me there are far more painted the same as the body colour although after reading this it might well be from ignorance. i was happy to go paint it the same colour until this post popped up.
my car is a beige colour and from what was said it might benefit if done dark grey but i still dont know what grey that might be.

the fact that the reason i am painting it because it has mucky crud all over those light beige panels should be telling me something really about the direction to go but then again in matters of the heart i am sometimes a bit slow so was going to get them blown beige again. decisions, decisions.

[Garry]

The correct painting for the outer sill cover is the dark grey as quoted in the link together with the Shultz, although Ashim,  a stickler for correctness and a wealth of information, indicated that he thought that the very early 230's had a satin black.  The inner sill was the body colour but not seen once the outer was put in place.

 if it is painted body colour then it has been repainted sometime in its life but not to how it came out of the factory i believe the consensus is. Have not seen confirmation of the satin black for early cars though.

[Russell]

is there a paint colour for a 64 230sl satin black then or any old satin black will do
russell

[Garry]

I think in 64 it had already gone to the dark grey, maybe someone else can chime in if that is wrong?.

The grey can be ordered via Mercedes dealerships. Ordering code is 000 986 67 33 - 7164. The "000 986 67 33" is the part number of a one component (not catalized) paint sold by MBAG, and the "7164" is the color code for this deep dark gray. It is semi-gloss."

[Harry]

This lower rocker panel is removable?  Mine certainly has some rust and I would love to simply be able to replace it.  If replaceable, is it bolted in place or welded?

Thanks,
Harry

[Benz Dr.]

It's screwed into place with small counter sunk sheet metal screws on the inside and pan head screws on the outside of the rocker. This is not an easy job as most of them will break off or the heads will strip during removal.
We sometimes use pop rivets under the sill mat because you can't see thm anyway. The rivet will leave a little hump so I like to pund them flat so they won't show.
 In front and rear of the door opening the correct srews are chrome plated. They  sit in a recessed area just under the side body moulding.

[Harry]

I'll have a look this weekend.  That would indeed be good news.  Thanks!

[Brian in NL]

Most people assume the rocker panels were painted gray to show less road grime.  But the designers of the W113 actually did it purely for appearance reasons:  When the rocker panels are painted a dark color, it makes the car look less heavy. When the rockers are incorrecetly painted body color, the car does look a bit more bloated.

Brian