Factory black paint on rockers?

[hkollan]

Hi all,

I am currently restoring a 1971 280 SL, and just re-finished the underside of the body with new undercoating primer and paint.
I noticed that the lower part of the rockers where painted black,
including a section of the rockers that are covered by the black rocker panels. This lead me to believe that this black paint was applied at the factory before that black separately painted rocker panels where installed.  Has anyone else has seen this, or could comment on this?

Regards,

Hans Kollandsrud

[Benz Dr.]

I always thought that area should be painted body colour. You can see it from the side when viewed from a distance.

Dan Caron's
 SL Barn
benzbarn@ebtech.net
 slbarn.mbz.org
  1 877 661 6061

[thelews]

On my '67 250 SL my untouched original attached rocker pieces are dark grey and the painted portion underneath them is black.

John
1967 Early 250 SL Red/Caviar, Manual

[hauser]

Nice job of cleaning the underside!  Looks great!

1969 280sl 5 spd
Gainesville, Fl.

[Raymond]

I can't find the copy of the article, but there was at least one reporter at the Geneva auto show where Mercedes introduced the '63 that chided them for trying to make the car appear "slim" through the illusion of black paint under the lower trim.  

By the way, a couple of folks who grew up in the Phillipines told me the cars there were known as "Slims" rather than Pagodas.

Ray
'68 280SL 4-spd Coupe

[psmith]

I think Hans is asking about the color of the actual rockers behind the black rocker covers.  I thought the chassis was dip painted, but I'm not an expert.

Pete S.

[hkollan]

Hi,

Right Pete, that's exactly what I was looking for.
On this car there's definitively black paint on the actual rockers, car under the black panels. I do  find it hard to believe that someone actually took off the black panels, and sprayed the rockers before installing the panels again. But one can of course never be sure when it comes to a car that's almost 37 years old.
I realized a bit late that I probably made a mistake when I painted the underside of the car in the to be exterior color. I believe it's only a slight over spray of the exterior paint that found it's way to the edges of the floor pans etc. AT least the mid-section is correct in Grey primer, although I freshened it up a bit.
This car was light beige(181), a color that looks a lot like the color of the factory undercoating, so that's what led me to believe it was painted that way. The reinforcement under the drive shaft is uncovered(no undercoating or paint) and shows the Grey factory primer.
The picture below shows it after it was painted, but the rockers still needs to be painted black, that is if my assumptions are correct.

In my opinion it makes sense that if they decided to paint the rocker panels black to give the car a slimmer appearance, they would not then leave a small stripe under the rocker panels in the exterior color, which could be viewed from the side. Thanks for all the comments.
If anyone has good picture and could post it here, of this area from an original unrestored clean car, that would be interesting.
Preferably not a black car. ;-)

Regards,

Hans Kollandsrud

[bpossel]

Hello Hans,

Your underside looks great!  A couple of years ago, I removed my rockers to clean underneath and to also have them repainted.  Here is a pic I took with the rockers removed.  It shows black paint sprayed on, starting about at the jack hole level and ending just at the lower edge of the side (lower area still visable when looking at the side of the car.  The direct underside is body color...)



As I am in the process of having my 113 repainted, I have debated on whether or not to recreate the center underside area in the primer color, as you did.  In my case, I decided to have the entire underside redone in primer, undercoating, then body color. So my center will look the same as the rest of the underside.  Of course, the rocker areas black, as original.  

Can anyone speak to why MB would have left the trans tunnel area and driveshaft area in primer vs undercoat and paint when it went down the line?

Thanks,
Bob

bpossel  (Memphis, TN.)
'71 280SL  /  '97 E320

[hkollan]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the picture that shows the black rocker areas, it looks exactly like on my car.
My guess regarding the unpainted tunnel area is that it was not deemed necessary to undercoat and paint it, due to the minimal exposure to the elements that this area has to endure, also to paint the underside  could have been skipped for production and or cost reasons.
Here's a picture after most of the paint was removed(not something I look forward to do again) on the car. It looks like
we're at the approximately same stage in the process, although I suspect looking at the progress you are making according to your restoration report, that I will soon be far behind if not already.

Regards,



Hans Kollandsrud

[glcg123]

What is the paint code for the black on the rocker panels?

George 1965 230SL

[717-113]

Hey, What process did you use to strip the paint? Thanks

[Naj ✝︎]

quote:Originally posted by glcg123

What is the paint code for the black on the rocker panels?

George 1965 230SL

have a look here:

http://www.sl113.org/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=DataCard.PaintCodes

naj

68 280SL

[glcg123]

Thank you naj.

George

[hkollan]

quote:Originally posted by 717-113

Hey, What process did you use to strip the paint? Thanks

Hi,

Paint was removed mostly mechanically by using a grinder(Festool) w/ 100p/80p. Some areas I used a hot air pistol and a spatula to remove the outer layers of paint/primer before grinding the rest to the metal. And some minor oxidized spots(around the clip/screw holes) where sandblasted with a spot blaster. Inside of hood was chemically stripped w a paint remover.

Hans

[Longtooth]

fwiw, the 230SL intro at Geneva had the rockers and rocker cover's  painted black specifically to give the profile a sleaker (more streamlined) look.  My source for this is G. Engelen's book Mercedez Benz 190SL - 280SL Vom Barok zur Pagode, p. 139, in which the item (flat black rockers and covers) are discussed with respect to the appearance changes made for premier presentation at the Geneva show.  The other item they did with the cars at the show was to load the passenger and trunk compartments with lead plates to give the car a lower than normal appearance. The black rockers and rocker covers were specifically done for the express purpose of making the car appear sleaker ("more stretched") in it's profile appearance than it actually was. Prior to the premier at Geneva the rockers and rocker cover's were painted a medium grey (as shown in development models from as early as '61) with some painted body color, whether or not the body color was light or dark.  

Also,  my early '67 250SL has black rockers and black rocker covers.... rocker cover's had never been removed.

Longtooth
67 250SL US #113-043-10-002163
'02 SL500 Sport

[thelews]

quote:Originally posted by Longtooth
Also,  my early '67 250SL has black rockers and black rocker covers.... rocker cover's had never been removed.

My early (march, 1543) '67 250 SL has never touched original rocker covers that are dark grey.

John
1967 Early 250 SL Red/Caviar, Manual

[psmith]

It's interesting that the rockers under the covers are not body color.  Like Hans I assumed they would be the color the car was dipped in.  Maybe it was a form of additional rust protection.

Pete S.

[114015]

No Pete,

Only the first primer (kathodische Tauchgrundierung) was dipped.
Everything else was sprayed on.

I don't know what color was original underneath the rocker panel.
My car had a darkish grey (or weathered black) underneath the totally rotten panels before it was dismantled ...

Best,

Achim
(Magdeburg, Germany)

[psmith]

Thanks Achim, you have an amazing wealth of information on our cars.  Where do you find all this stuff?

Pete S.