The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 1956 235 factory engine color

My father in-law has a 1956 1300 that his brother purchased brand new in 1956. It has been on the same farm ever since. After 27 years in the bush, literally, I talked him into pulling it out, and we got it running with little more than clean fuel and a battery.
We are currently doing a complete ground up restoration, all to factory specs. The engine has been professionally rebuilt, but they didn't know the exact engine color, so I had them leave it in bare metal until I could get the exact color match. Can anyone tell me what that should be?

Should be gray unless Canadian truck engines were different than U.S.

Thanks. If I go to an autobody supply store they should have the correct tint for that engine?

the color has been discussed no end here, the "correct" gray has been lost in the mists of time - go to your local auto supply and get a rattle can of GM engine gray

Bill

Thanks, Bill. I have several Fords (please, no jokes about being dropped on my head as a child, Mom didn't mean to do it) and I know very little about Chevrolet, so please pardon the simple questions.

no problem, I've had Fords myself

Bill

the only rattle can greay I have been able to find is Duplicolor, which is a medium grey, and it's called "FORD Grey", now Bill Hirsch has the other grey at his website. sold in quarts or spray cans.

Mike

Plasti Kote has a rattle can Universal Gray engine enamel.

Did you find any documents to help you bring it back to OEM spec??

Before, there is no documentation of OEM spec for the exact color for any year

Bill

Darn!!

was taking a chance with an old thread...

I used Rustoleum engine enamel "Ford Gray".

A buddy of mine is working on a 56 3/4 ton barn find that has been kept inside for 30 plus years. It is in factory paint inside and out. The engine paint is preserved under 1/8 inch of oily dirt. I will let you know what we find once the grime is carefully removed. There is some of the yellow lettering on the valve cover showing through the oily dirt.
Carl

let us know Carl, just what shade of gray it is

Bill

Will do. On an off-topic side note, this truck shows precisely where the parting line is between the interior and exterior colors.
Carl

I see none of the old timers here are going to step into this pile
again. I should know better, but....I really do feel confident
that what I've found is about as close to correct as you can get.

Here's a comparison of Bill Hirsch's gray, Rustoleum, and The
Filling Station. The original samples of paint that I found on the
engine in my 1950, 216 were very dark and very close to The
Filling station gray. The lighter grays, Ford gray included,
were way lighter than the original color:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/116496103

It's clear from the original gray on this engine that it was not a
light smoke, or battle ship gray. Also the original Logo is
visible in this photo:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/120528627
And this was after the restoration and rebuild:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/113643937


DG

I'll step in it, since you have, Denny (the cow-patties, that is). Here is one sermon on this topic.

No one knows the original shade of grey/gray (as if one shade was used for 25 years, through 3 generations of stove bolt engines). Do what you like.

The original poster is asking about 1956 3100, some one correct me if I am wrong but should not that engine be blue?

BTW, I have a collection of NOS parts and none of the greys/grays match.

Tims sermon pretty well covers it [for pre-55 anyway ], but I'll add more worms to the can - I've studied these 1959 assembly line photos a number of times, which appear to show 2 different shades of gray on 6 cylinder engines and only the 'common' orange on all the V8s, whereas Hensels list shows the 59 passenger car 6's as blue, truck V8s as gray or green, and 261 as green - the plant pictured [Tarrytown] appears to have had 3 lines to assemble cars and 1 for trucks, surely among the trucks assembled during the photo-shoot period there would have been a few trucks getting the optional V8 or 261 .... note also it looks like the engines are first shown in a 'receiving' area, offloaded from train cars - how many engine producing plants were there? did they all [if more than 1] source paint from the same supplier? would GM have bothered changing the engine color formulas purposely at particular times, or were year variations dependent on the vagaries of suppliers, and "just in time" dictates? we'll never know, it's not called out in the assembly manuals .... and to the OPs question, what was the situation for Canadian production?

Denny has come close to matching one particular truck as he found it, from one particular year, from one particular plant, 50+ years later .... was that engine produced the same year as the truck? did that plant get engines from the same engine plant as other assembly plants? was all the engine paint that year produced at the same time in the same place? how does it relate to other years? no documentation = nobody knows what color a particular year engine was/is/"should" be

Bill

Dave, the OP is actually asking about a 1300, Canadian truck - and for the US, from Hensels list, the car 235 was blue, truck 235 either green ["Thriftmaster"] or gray ["Thriftmaster Special"] for 56 - I'd expect different configurations [solids/hydraulic] to be different colors

Bill

In the USA, the blue 235 was a color only used in cars.

I think that Tonawanda, NY and Flint, MI were the two engine plants in the USA?

My opinion, which cannot easily be proved or disproved, is that the shade of gray for truck engines changed when the 235 changed from low-pressure to high-pressure (in 1954).

Blue gray truck 235s from 1960 onwards were reported in that VCCA member's article on paint colors, and a green 235 in 1957 was reported.

I have seen nothing about Canadian 235s, except they usually spell gray/grey differently from us southerners.

I think the blue-gray [or blued-gray/grayed-blue] has confused the color issue, some seem to think earlier engine gray was 'bluish', might have been a paint transition period or a cue for assembly line workers

gray/grey is a matter of choice in any English speaking place, I had to tell my spell check dictionary to accept either because as a geographic transplant it's hard to be consistent

Bill

My Dyslexia again, 1300-3100 what is the difference

Chevrolet has two US engine plants...Flint (since the begining) and Tonowanda (since 1938).

My thoughts on the engine gray and a little background on me...I started my Chevrolet research in 1975 and have been a VCCA Tech Advisor since 1978 (for the 1935 Master cars). That said, I'm still a student learning all the time. I think Tim's sermon really does sum it up. I agree that the correct gray engine color at least for the pre war engine is closer to the color The Filling Station sells than the Light Gray color Bill Hirsh sells. Back in the 1970's there was no internet and information was hard to get, so when restorers needing paint saw Bill Hirsh had "Chevrolet Engine Gray" they just assumed he had it right. Now 40-50 years later people still think the light color he sold is correct because so many trophy winning and museum cars are painted with his paint. We now know better, but after so many years of being told light gray was correct, it's hard to turn the ship around.

The exact paint color code was never put in print and sent to the dealers because there was no reason for them to ever need touch-up paint.

Mike B

Dave, not much difference, both the 1/2T, except one was made in Canada and we don't know where those engines were produced

Bill

St. Catharines, Ontario

GM Canada iron foundry and engine plant?

not before 1954, maybe not before the 60's, maybe in Windsor [or Walkerville], which I can't find info about, or a plant in London, Ont

Bill