Function, easier to see where your oil or gas leak is coming from when it is splattered on a nice white surface.
function. white produces less radiant heat. so the guys with the reverse facing frog mouth scoops painted the firewall white so they got a cooler inlet charge and picked up a few tenths at the drags.
I was just pondering this would folks agree this is authentic for about '55 - '65? I've got an SAR 34 3-window body on order and plan on doing a late 60's build (at least this week that's what I'm thinking...) I also much prefer the white firewall on a '32 than a '34 ... I don't think the non-flat shape lends itself as well. Any opinions or examples? --steve
Leak checks are the best reason, but I suspect style. After all, wasn't it the 50's that gave us super stupid shit like white upholstered wheel wells and tuck n roll running boards? Gary
It's the old form follows function but also with a lot of STYLE.........basically stop worrying about what other people think and do what YOU want to with YOUR car......and then enjoy it!
it looks badass, alot of guys painted the frames white too. That not only looked good but on a drag car it was easy to see cracks in the welds.
I sure hope you meant that as a joke, cuz there ain't no way anyone could actually believe that. Could they?
Dude you must be smoking some whack shit to think those two things are Stupid... White firewalls kick ass...if nothing else they make the engine "pop" more visually...white is always good to make something look "clean" and sanitary without having to put too much into it... T. Hilton
Well, the white paint does reflect the heat, enough that I see a lot of newer school busses and repaints on railroad locomotives (the cab only usually) get painted white on the roof. Now as to gaining time at the drags that way... we'd need a special HAMB edition of Mythbusters to sort that out.
Well, 23 posts and I still haven't seen the reason I learned for white firewalls... Somewhere along the way I heard that guys in the 50's painted stuff white when they couldn't afford to chrome it. Poor man's chrome substitute. Firewalls, rims, headers, etc... Anybody else ever heard this?
Nope, I never have. If that was true, then you'd see more chrome firewalls as well. I've seen very few from 50's cars with chrome firewalls (I can think of one off hand). Plus, chrome was pretty cheap (albeit not as cheap as paint) back in the day. I always thought it was for contrast and to better show off your mill.
Just like everything else in car building, one guy did it and when it was deemed cool everyone did it so they could be cool too
I've littered the HAMB with pics of my cars here and there, I'm sure you could search and find some more, but anyway here are a few more per your request. Next to last pic was a "before" shot. Last pic was right after getting the doghouse back on. Fun with paint and detailing!
The Jalopy Journal
