The excitement is almost contagious.
No offense to anyone searching for the holy grail: finding
the one and true engine color. Many of us have read "depositions" from people who have found
the one and true 216/235 truck engine color. They state that they found their
one and true engine color on an unmolested engine (some found that color many years ago, when the color would have been much less distorted by the age of another 20 years).
Only a few of those people have recognized the most likely truth: there is not a
one and true 216/235 truck engine number. There were probably many shades of gray/blue and gray:
- There is a possibility (speculation?) that the new high-pressure truck 235 was honored/differentiated with a different shade of gray (the new high-pressure Blue Fame Six 235 was differentiated from earlier low-pressure car 235s).
- There is also the common-sense and expert knowledge that the engine plants would most likely not be exceptionally careful regarding the mixing of engine paint (
see the italicized paragraph by this person/expert who had observed engine paint colors on many unmolested engines in collector-vehicles).
So, a new paint-color belief may arise from the observation of a 62 year old engine. This is fine, but it will become boring seeing/reading this one revelation being used as proof of the the existence of a
one and true 216/235 truck engine color - a color that people will then argue was used methodically, if not religiously, on all 1937-1953 216 engines and on all 1941-1953 low-pressure truck 235 engines and on all 1954-1963 high-pressure 235 truck engines.
Yes, seeing is believing. But, the belief derived from this sight should be that this engine was painted this color (and probably, other 216 and older 235 engines engines were painted that color, at least that day, and perhaps over a longer period).
Take a sample of the color of this engine and send it to Chevs of the 40s, Bill Hirsch, Jim Carter, and Robert Hensel, and tell them you have have found the correct
one and true 216/235 stove-bolt truck-engine gray. Please report back with what replies you receive.
