Well, all I can say gator is you can paint it them any color you want but from all the research that the Vintage Chevrolet Club of America has done along with the experience of vendors like Jim Carter, The Filling Station, Chevs of the 40’s, National Chevy Association, Bill Hirsch, Bob Adler the restoration packs supplied by Chevrolet division of GM, and the list goes on and on of people that are expert in this field and have had years of exposure to “factory original” vehicles with documented provenance. (He takes a breath) they all agree that the Truck engines were painted gray. There may be some slight variation in agreement amongst them as to the tint but they were all gray, and every one that I’ve seen that had any ruminants of paint left on the engine were a dark charcoal gray.
If you have seen blue engines in 1953 Chevrolet trucks then what you have seen is either an engine that was re-painted or an engine that was out of a different vehicle.
The most correct shade of gray that the majority of the experts seem to agree on is supplied by The Filling Station. I’ve only seen the gray shades that a few of the vendors sell but based on all the original painted parts that I’ve seen that comes closest to the dark gray that Chevrolet used.
And Bill I’d have to disagree with you on this one. I would have to say that the paint is more charcoal gray than blue. If you have any photos of original parts with blue/gray that is more blue, I’d really like to see them and add them to my reference file.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
