Top of Cowel - Paint Color

[70challengersix]

I have a question -

I have seen in restoration guides where some 1970 challengers have the top of the cowel painted flat black, but others are painted the body color -

Which is Correct?

[Alaskan_TA]

It depends on the car. If it was a T/A or AAR, black is correct.

On other cars, it seems to be a "hit or miss" type thing. Some cars had it blacked out and some did not. So.......

If you found body color there as the original color, restore it that way.

If you found black there as the original color, then restore it that way.

If you are not interested in restoring the car, then just do what you like. 

Barry

[cudabuyer]

from my research i have seen almost all cowls painted the car color except the t/a is black always

my t/a clone has a black cowl and the inner fender under the hood black, now the t/a hood & fenders are yellow we left the cowl black

looks good

[ShelbyDogg]

Galen said that it was based on the manufacturing date of your '70.  I can't remember what date that was though. You'll have to contact him.  Most of the time, there were NO SET RULES on anything at the plants.

[70Cuda]

I heard the same thing from Galen that it was date based for regular Cudas.  Mine is an April 30th car (Ralley Red but I don't think that matters) and it is not blacked out.  Galen did however tell me to black out the inside under the glass since the red would show through in various places when looking down towards the VIN tag.

[BIGSHCLUNK]

Mine's black but I can't say if it's original paint.

[70challengersix]

Thanks for all your input.

The build date of my 70 R/T challenger is November 1969.  The pics I have of the car before the restoration shows the cowel to be in body color - but - since there was an engine fire, some of the engine bay was re-sprayed.  I am pretty sure that the cowel was body color and will probably advise my bodyshop - (who has already painted it black based on other challengers they have worked on) to get it back to body color. 
 
The "Original Challengerand Barracuda 1970-1974" restorers guide show two six pack challenger cars with the top of the cowel painted black, and another in body color - reference pages 46 and 47.

[ShelbyDogg]

My R/T was built in August '69.   The cowl was body color.

[Robb]

LA built Sept '69 car,  survivor.       top of my cowl is black

[hotrod98]

Nov 69 date built car should have had cowl blacked out, but like everyone says, there's no way to know for sure. The way that it was explained to me was Chrysler originally thought that sunlight might reflect off of the top of the cowl with the new hidden wiper arm setup, but figured out early on that it was a non-issue.

[TreeFrog]

I am going to paint the area inside of the rubber seal black at a min...it will keep thwe plastic grills in "visual check"

[Robert1050]

My EV2 R/T was built on 10 23 1969 at Los Angeles, the engine compartment is original & my cowl is blacked-out.
Robert