"pass for original"? sounds shadey
from the pic of the underside of your hood I'd say you have a truck that's had at least one repaint, the hoods didn't get painted on the inside, just had a bit of color overspray around the sides at most, and the primer then was a satin black, like EDP, not red-oxide
no tellin if you removed any primer along with the undercoat, or if the chemical composition of the undercoat did it, but although the underfloor on most trucks didn't get much attention, it would have gotten as much primer as the grunt swinging the spray gun felt like leaning down to give it, doubt they laid on their backs, and the cabs went down the line right side up
gotta remember they were building cheap consumer goods, a 'workin' mans tool' not museum pieces, a couple minutes or pennies saved per truck added up to a profit
Bill
