The propper chassis color?

[mariodschy]

I am recreating the geniune 42 years old chassis from my 72 Sprint, it has the red oxid primer and over that the black coating. So the querstion is whats the right color, red or black?

What you can see 42 years ago was only black so black should be the original color but after a few year you also see the red oxid, means red would be also original. I saw some paint the chassis red other makes it black.
Currently I tend to black because durt is not easy to see but red would be much beautifuler but only as long as it is clean...
Whats your opinion?

[alan.barker]

i think black is best. If you paint it red maybe someone will think it's a spyder chassis and you don't want that

[rgh0]

Personally I like grey as you can see cracks and oil leaks more easily. The original Sprint appears to have had a red oxide primer and then a black top coat. So if your paranoid about originality do it that way. The earlier cars just had the red oxide primer but that alone is not original for a Sprint. Don't know when the change occurred but I am sure someone does.

cheers
Rohan

[gjz30075]

When I bought my '72 Sprint in 1978, I clearly remember seeing nothing but red oxide when inspecting it. There was some black scattered about, noticible after pulling the body but not as widespread as in your pic.

Greg Z

[types26/36]

Black over red on my 72 Sprint which I believe is the original coating.

[Grizzly]

Mine was Red oxide with silver suspension arms etc but its Lotus chassis grey now

lotus-twincam-f39/engine-chassis-colour-t23348-15.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWWzTf3q800 if you skip on to 6.22 you can see the factory chassis colour. (if you haven't watched it its one of the better Leno video's

[KevJ+2]

My 72 Sprint was also red oxide only. I remember it well because it came back from its MOT all scratched where the dipstick tester had poked and prodded it with a screwdriver probably because he couldn't beleive it was original and so good.

[Hawksfield]

Hi All

My +2 was red lead/red oxide then covered in what appeared to be black bitumastic paint.
I had great difficulty getting it down to bare steel after spending hours. I painted it with Galvafroid paint then covered it with Hammerite smooth metal.
It has been quite durable over the last 28 years apart from the area's that suffer from stones etc.

[Gordon Sauer]

1968 titled S3 DHC had since 1972 is red oxide Gordon Sauer

[nigelrbfurness]

Red lead with black bitumastic is how they came from the factory and was how all my cars in the 70s were finished. If you bought a replacement in pre-galvanised days they came in a red oxide colour with a slight sheen to it which might have been a stoved finish. I usually put a coat of red gloss over it, just my preference. I don't think the black tar provided much protection because as it dried out it fell off, except where the oil got to it. Galvanised replacements were supplied unpainted, at least all the ones I bought.

Nigel F.