factory paint
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factory paint



From what I know about the assembly line procedures, a vehicle will make only one trip through the spray booth.  At that time, it'll be a bare shell with the doors, deck lid, hood, and related sheet metal attached to the body shell.  By that time, the vehicle order is "nailed down" so things happen accordingly.  Not to say that someone might have keyed the wrong code in and the vehicle came out a different color, so they ran it through as a two-tone vehicle might have been, where there would be no additional primer between the additional color coats.  All of that would happen prior to the final bake session, I suspect.  Once past the baking oven, the vehicle heads on down the line for the progressive final assembly.  From that point on, no additional paint work will be done unless there's some damage or the quality control check at the final assembly check point dictates otherwise (which can result in an "off line" repair situation).  In other words, there are no "stock" bodies hanging around already painted waiting for orders for their colors at that point in time.
 
Where a full repaint might have happened, to satisfy a dealer's order requirement would have been with Chrysler's famous "sales bank" vehicles.  These were vehicles that were built to keep the line running during times of decreased orders or suspected downtime (for whatever reason).  When finished, they went into a sales bank from which dealers could pull from for their requirements (stock or customer sales).  If, per chance, they had a blue car in the sales bank and needed a black car with the same equipment and interior color, they might have repainted it, made the necessary alterations to the data plate (as the vehicle was still fully Chrysler's property), and shipped it to the dealer.  But the repaint would have been done outside of the factory assembly line area.  A possible scenario, but probably did not happen that much.
 
As I understand it, when times got close and the sales bank was bulging, Chrysler would contact dealers and wheel and deal on those cars.  Some serious deals were cut to move the cars into the dealer's hands.  In times like that, recoloring a car could well be an option if blue cars weren't selling and black ones were.
 
Digging out the broadcast sheet (usually under the individual seats, front and back--IF they put the correct sheet with the correct vehicle!) could further prove the scenario AND also note if it was a Sales Bank vehicle when produced.  Lots of neat information and production codes on those broadcast sheets!  In the 1970s, they went to a multi-color form and then later put all of the production codes on the back of the sheet so you could decode it.  Many more codes and such than the underhood data plate too.
 
I know of a '68 or '69 Road Runner with a data plate that indicates a red color, yet the vehicle is white and all other information on the plate is correct.  The car was bought new by the then-current owner's father and was not repainted.  In looking in many of the places where a quick repaint might be detected, we found no evidence of that ever happening.  In that case, they probably just let things roll as they were.  If it'd been a special order vehicle, it might have been different or they'd built another one to match the original order.
 
In those earlier times, all of the paint would have been sprayed by humans, unlike modern times where only the basic "cut-in" paint work is done by humans (if at all).  No doubt, mistakes and some indiscretions did happen.  In some cases, "unexplained" situations happened too.
 
Not sure why the Ram door color situation might have happened, unless they are still doing the cut-in spary work by hand and that painter grabbed the wrong color spray gun.  Green's green, isn't it?  "Whoops!  Wrong one!"  Line's not going to stop, so what happened happened.  Only those that were there would know for sure, and they're probably not talking, I suspect.
 
The one other scenario might have been "in plant damage" as the vehicle went down the assembly line.  In rare situations, those things happen where a cart or other wheeled device might get loose and damage a vehicle during assembly.  If, per chance, they had a blue car that was not useable for whatever reason and they could use some parts from it, they probably would pull the damaged vehicle off line and repair it, then put the original back into the production schedule at that point.
 
Several possibilities, but at this point in time, proving any of them beyond a shadow of a doubt might not be possible.  Trying to unravel some of these mysteries can be fun, time consuming, and make for good bench racing discussions.
 
Just some thoughts,
W Bell   


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