No problem Denny, glad to be of help. I actually find things like this quite interesting. None of the other sheet metal on my engine had any kind of primer or e coat, just the valve cover.
Matter of fact, all the other sheet metal is bare steel with no trace of any paint whatsoever. I do think the vc was primed before it went on the engine. Maybe different plants had different practices. My '52 was built in Baltimore.
Okay,
here is another specimen for you.
It's a 216 valve cover off a '50 Chevy car. Notice this has a primer/e coat as well. Also, in the last two pix my '52 truck vc is behind it. The car vc is much darker!
