Heavy undercoating was it factory or dealer applied?

[VINCE Z28]

Was the tar like undercoating on my 69 L. A. built camaro done at the factory or the dealer?

[69Z28-RS]

The 'heavy undercoating' over the full undercarriage was done by delivery dealerships (or their contractors), OR later in life..  after road salts had accumulated..  which generally caused the metal to rust away leaving an 'undercoating only' floor.. 

[sdkar]

That looks like the same stuff on the underside of my 69 pace car.  It was dealer installed and they charged the owner $35 for it.

[69Z28]

Have the same stuff on my Z, originally from Maryland. Maybe an Atlantic coast deal? The 69 Impala survivor I have is loaded with it too, built at Terrytown, NY and shipped to Mystic, Conn.

[Kelley W King]

I remember dealers here in NC pushing in the 70,s when you bought a new car. I even had a 76 Blazer I bought used where they drilled holes in door jambs and other places and pushed a wand in to spray the inside places. It rusted anyway.

[miket1]

undercoating was Dealer applied

[69Z28]

Wasn't it called Zebart or something like that? When I lived in Houston for the summer of 83 I worked for this company off Katy Freeway that did the LP gas conversions for fleet vehicles and was contracted to work out of Port Arthur to rust proof and undercoat a fleet of trucks, vans and whatever those road vehicles that can run on rail tracks like the trains. That was a nasty job. There was 5 of us fighting over who would be the one to climb under those vehicles to spray that heavy black stuff. One guy did them all, IIRC about 100 vehicles had to be done. One person removed the lights and other items, one drilled holes and put the plugs in afterwards, one sprayed the gunk in the holes, hood, trunk lid, rockers and anywhere you can't see, I did that, and it was all put back together. Took about a week and it was messy an tough to get out of your hair.

[janobyte]

uggg....don't want to be reminded, had many hours removing that gunk from underneath. The front wheel tubs were the worst, set up like concrete underneath. If Al paid $35 to have it done, he got his money's worth

I believe the factory shot under the rear wheel wells and half (or so) the fronts. Not positive.

Your right Gary, road signs and undercoating "fixed" many a beaters Ohio floor.

[69Z28-RS]

....
I believe the factory shot under the rear wheel wells and half (or so) the fronts. Not positive.
...

You are right on the factory undercoating in the wheelwells; in mine, the undercoating in the wheel wells is 'the same very concise pattern' on both sides; they seem to have used some kind of mask or template for applying it (late 09C car).

Gary

[jdv69z]

Had a friend who had his 84 Camaro Zee Barted when new. Guaranteed not to rust. So when it started rusting under the hood, he took it to them and they "fixed" it. They wire brushed to rust off and sprayed more Zee Bart. What a joke!. Oh, and by the way, the Zee Bart job voided his factory rust warranty. So he got it from both ends. Are those Zee Bart guys still around?

[69Z28-RS]

Had a friend who had his 84 Camaro Zee Barted when new. Guaranteed not to rust. So when it started rusting under the hood, he took it to them and they "fixed" it. They wire brushed to rust off and sprayed more Zee Bart. What a joke!. Oh, and by the way, the Zee Bart job voided his factory rust warranty. So he got it from both ends. Are those Zee Bart guys still around?

Late last year, I assessed and appraised a one-owner '71 LS6 Corvette..  car had never left a southern state and was very low miles... and when I put it on the lift..  what did I see?  (Ziebart).. when I asked the owner said his 'wife' told him he should do it... when the car was 10 yrs or so old.   One of my points to him was that the car would be more valuable IF he could remove it... but I have no idea how to go about that on an 'unrestored' car, without resulting in a restored undercarriage...

[lakeholme]

I remember dealers here in NC pushing in the 70,s when you bought a new car. I even had a 76 Blazer I bought used where they drilled holes in door jambs and other places and pushed a wand in to spray the inside places. It rusted anyway.

Virtually all profit and a another way to keep everyone busy in the service department...  I wonder if drilling holes voided the warranty???

[Kelley W King]

Mine had white plastic push plugs in the holes. Kind of like the ones at the Help rack at Auto Zone. The were in the doors, quarters, even the tailgate. But like I said it still rusted.

[JoeC]

I think some of the dealers just spray canned the undercoat in their own service areas
that spray can black tar like paint has been around a long time

some may have sent the cars to Ziebart or Rusty Jones or other undercoating company  if there was one in the area

I have seen some original cars with a coating variance form thin/light coating to thick/heavy coating

and some have the press in plastic caps where holes were drilled to apply the coating in hidden areas like rocker panels

[69Z28-RS]

....
I believe the factory shot under the rear wheel wells and half (or so) the fronts. Not positive.
...

You are right on the factory undercoating in the wheelwells; in mine, the undercoating in the wheel wells is 'the same very concise pattern' on both sides; they seem to have used some kind of mask or template for applying it (late 09C car).

Gary

I dug out a couple of photos which show the very 'regularly' applied undercoating in the front inner fenders which was factory applied.  The regular pattern is what makes me believe they used a mask of some sort..  the same pattern on both inner fenders, and a similar pattern in the rear wheel wells.   I have reapplied the 'reconditioning back' under the inner fenders, but I retained the originally applied factory undercoating.