engine colors

My first car was a 49 ford convertible and engine was BLUE. purchased in October of 49. Had to order and wait for delivery, took about 6 weeks.
 
These threads are always so strange to me. My grandpa bought my F1 brand new in '51. Well actually it was an F2 but we made it into an F1 because you can't buy the long box beds.
Anyway, we pulled the 8BA for a rebuild, and it was red. Like dark red, not even orange-ish. He had never pulled the engine since new, and it only had 40,000miles on it. I painted it red again, and have had multiple people tell me it's the wrong color...LOL
 
The pickups & trucks with the 239 were red from 1948 up through 1951 at least. They went green in 52. The 52 & 53 Ford cars went to the tangerine (kind of an orange color). The red color for the trucks was same as used on Ford tractors of the late 40s & 50s. My Pop had a 52 F3 and it had the green color when new. It's a very close color to the 49 thru 51 Mercury green.
 
In Canada the 48-52 trucks were delivered with a beige engine colour. I have tried to find out what the exact colour is, but that information appears to be lost in time.
I contacted Ford heritage Canada but they were unable to find any record of the actual colour used.

In Canada only the V8s were sold. Ford supplied the Canadian military and part of the military spec was that only V8s could be supplied.
Its my belief the beige colour was actually a desert tan camouflage colour matching the military spec at the time.

Today it's typical to use Cummins beige if you are rebuilding a Canadian flathead from that era.

Kirk
 
For that beige color, I would suggest checking into the beige color that was used on the Ford tractors in the mid to late 50s and possibly the 8N too. Some folks use light gray or off white but many were actually a beige color with the red belly & running gear. The correct color for them is available from some of the 8N, NAA, & hundred series tractor parts vendors. Tisco TP245SP is the rattle can color. They call it Ford gray and in some cases it is referred to as brownish gray but it is beige in my book.
 
Is this the correct "bronze" color? Engine is 53 8BA.
 

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rotowrench,


I've looked at that Ford tractor color in the past. Its an odd grey that can sometimes look almost green under different lighting. I don't believe its what was used on the Canadian V8s from 48-52.


Attached is a picture I made up showing the largest sample of original paint beige that I have. Its been cleaned with soap and water only. Next to it is a cummins beige paint cap for comparison.




Kirk
 
Canadian V8 engine color with Cummins Beige Reference
 

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I find the same problem with the lighter green color used on 49/51 Mercury & Some of the Lincoln engines. I need to try the Bill Hirsch Lincoln/Mercury light green. The stuff the others sell is not quite the same as the old original color that was still on my engines originally. It seems a tad bit more blue and a point of shade lighter. Grease coatings can discolor it some since it tends to yellow it a bit but the non-coated OEM paint is generally faded pretty bad so it's somewhere in between. I've seen that beige color on the Canadian engines/transmissions. The transmission stays in the shade but it gets a lot more oil/dirt residue just due to where it is. It seems like the best examples are from the paint remaining on the top rear of the engine where the crud isn't as bad but you never know.

I wanted to add this link: https://www.sheltonclassics.com/vehicles/23/1952-ford-8n-tractor
It's a good Tisco TP245SP brownish light gray color representation. Colors do vary though. Even back when the tractors were new, they would vary slightly from one model year to another.
 
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Here are some shots of the '53-'54 Flathead I am working on at the moment . Being an Australian delivery the engine is Canadian sourced. The colour on the block and the sump and pictures attached appears similar to that in pictures above in this thread. It does appear to be more white than beige. Any further thoughts on the Canadian paint spec?
PBleQS.jpg

3xL5vN.jpg
 
1949 8BA passenger car was blue (so was the bell housing)

The color was changed to that bronze, gold, copper whatever, for 1950. I don't kn0w what they did for the bellhousing.

Bronze for 49 is a geezer memory without documentation.

'41 Geezer
 
I don't know anything about other years or models, just my '49. That was bad enough.

My Grand niece Moved to Sidney from Seattle. She loves Australia and Australians. Me too.
 
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