1936 Dodge... question about original colors & usage of two tone

[Guest Rob1960]

I had my 1936 Dodge out today, and had an interesting conversation at a shopping center with a very elderly fellow, probably in his late 80's, but seemingly quit alert. He was facinated by my car and said the first car he ever bought was a new 1936 Dodge, 2-door touring sedan, exactly like mine. He said he paid $619. But the curious thing he said was that his had a green body and black fenders. My car is solid Avon green [an olive tone], and he felt the body of his car was that same shade of green. My question is this: Did Dodge use this sort of two tone color scheme in the 1930s? We all see lots of antique cars today, at shows and in magazines, with black fenders on a lighter color body. But I always assumed this was a modern day deference to modern style.

[jpage]

Hi Rob: To the best of my knowledge Dodge did not use a two tone color scheme in 1936 but that does'nt mean a car was painted at the dealer. Perhaps a special order or repaint. Now, 1936 Plymouth cars,are another story. Info shows that all 1936 Ply's had black painted fenders from the factory regardless of body color. Most of the ones you see now have been repainted or are black. You could order single color options at a higher cost. Memories fade after 70 yrs.,so who knows! We can only go by authentic literature. Take care Jim

[Guest DodgeKCL]

I own a '33 Plymouth which was originally all one color of green,I believe from what I can find behind the door panels ,it was Bahama Green, pretty much the same shade of green as your '36 Dodge. It was built in Oct. 1932 for the '33 model year and would of normally had black fenders and splash aprons but some one paid the extra $30 and had it done in the over all one color scheme. This would have been special order with paint job done at the factory level. About 40 years ago, I'm told by the previous owners, the original laquer was dying and they decided to repaint but for some reason they changed the fenders (running gear)to black! It remains like that to this day. I do not know how long this 'special order' paint thing went on but I do know of a local '35 Plymouth that has been restored to it's original paint and it has black fenders with a 'Plymouth radio blue' body. Another friend who had a '35 Plymouth for many years having bought when he was in high school in the late 40s tells me it was also same color scheme, black fenders and dark blue body. It may just be that the 'normal' paint job until 1935 was black fenders and a body color of choice and the body color could be extended over the running gear for the extra cost.

[Guest toybox99615]

HUM! My 36 Dodge panel definitely OEM paint and it is grey body with black front and rear fenders.