Battleship gray paint...

[Bob Ritter]

I am curious about the reason why the factory painted inside trunk and hood battleship gray. Does anyone know the reason for it?

[desoto1939]

Is your car exterior also battleship gray or another color?  My 39 Desoto was painted Streamliner Gray or Battleship gray on the exterior surfaces. The truck lid and also the interior door frames and the floors were also painted the same color.

 

But the inside of the hood and side panels were painted a very dark black green color and it looked as if it was a special interior paint. I think this was their primer color for these two sections onthe car.

 

Rich Hartung

[Bob Ritter]

The exterior was a factory light green, but had an ugly Earl Shibe light green painted over it, I changed the color to a maroon. The car I am working is a convertible and there are area's in the trunk where you can see the factory battleshim gray and I also have a 1948 Plymouth 4-dr. parts car that has the battleship gray in the trunk and the bottom of the hood is also gray. I believe that this standard on all the 1948 models.

[Plymouthy Adams]

this under color is normal, it is called ecosheen and can be greenish to a grayish color depending on year and place of assembly.....

[Bob Ritter]

Life by the yard is hard, but by the inch it's a cinch...

[Sniper]

War surplus paint, lol

[Dan Hiebert]

"Paint Details" under your car model in the "Resources" tab above lists what was painted that gray color.  As for the reason, my understanding is that with the painting process back in the day, it was less expensive to paint all the non-exterior / non-visible parts of all the cars one color.  That much of one standard color is far cheaper than the exterior color coats.  The savings, of course, were intended to be passed on to the consumer.