Does anyone have any idea if the belly ( underside of floor pans) on a 56 olds 88 is supposed to the body color or black?

Hi laurie, are you restoring a '56 olds? I suppose that might be a stupid question but anyways,it will be nice to have someone to compare notes with that is interested.I've noticed that most of the suspension is a dull black but the body makes me think a bit.Seems I remember that in the old days they weren't too particular about the underneath but I'm not exactly sure.Maybe in the general forum you might get a better answer.I do know that when cleaning the carrier of the rear end,I discovered the color red(my car is red and white) and also,the shields in back of the rear tires were also red.Now that I think some more,when chunks of the factory undercoating fell off,I do remember seeing well preserved black.I would be a little picky about painting a color that wasn't there originally.Good luck!

Hello Laurie, frames were always black, but the underbody should usually be red oxide primer. Bodies were primed in this reddish brown primer and the outer body was painted but the underside was left in primer. Now, there were over 20 Fisher plants and some are said to have used black, so black is possible, but generally red oxide is the color. Todd

I am also restoring a 56 olds 88 4door post and the body is painted back to original turquoise with alcan white top. my question is what color should inside the wheel wells be painted, black or color of the body?

From the cars I've researched (in junk yards) the wheel wells were body color. Here in the NorthEast most cars were undercoated, including the wells. I don't think you would lose points for black wells. At least I don't think I have. It's a good question for judges. I'll ask it in the AACA judging forum............Bob