Paint engine bay body color or not

[iceblue]

Hey Guys

I have been grappling with the notion of leaving my engine bay body color on my 2.4 Spider

There some 2.0 spiders that have the interior of their engine bay body color.
I don't think I have ever seen 2.4 factory body color inside engine bay.
I have seen very few with body color engine bay and they where all fully restored cars.

In the case of my car.
The trunk will remain factory mat black.
The underbody will be partial body color covered with a weather proof black.
The fender wheels will also be weather proof black.

Every nuts and bolts have been cleaned to factory..
The engine is a splendid looking a work of art.

The issue that I have is that I find that there so so much black in the that engine back.... practically every thing.

Its takes aways from great welding seams and rivets, vin number, engine work, brake lines and curves....
Nothing pops to eye, little contrast. Everything disappear into a black black hole.

I remember my old Maserati 3500 was all painted black inside that engine back and it was cool but there was also allot more room to view the inline 6 and its gadgetry.
The down side it was non rewarding when came to keeping it clean.

If where to leave the body color, would that deter future collectors?
I intend on keeping the car for myself for a good while. But I also must remain conscious of over restoration and too much bling!

Can anyone in this forum post pictures of their engine bay. Would love to see body color engine bay~

[Guzzi]

FWIW paint the engine bay body colour, it will be easier to flash it over in black later if you need to, rather than vice versa. And, as you say, it will be far easier to keep clean .These cars were produced in small volumes by small volume makers so I would expect fair amount of batch variation. And it's your car, if you'll get greater pleasure from an engine bay with body colour, do so.

My observation of the late 2.0 Spider I'm looking after is that body colour was painted up to and including the rain gutters around the engine bay and then the engine bay itself was flashed over in satin black directly over the primer. There is some body colour overspray on the horizontal surfaces under the bonnet under the black. No photos, I've done only small sondages in discrete places