Building a 31 highboy coupe with a 327, have a build thread going. Far away from completion but chugging along and motor is almost rebuilt so has me thinking of what color to paint it. body will be 17’ jeep anvil grey, interior will be a brown distressed leather. Engine will have a chrome intake, valve covers, dual quad. color ideas so far are: Black - safest but don’t love the idea it tends to disappear. Maroon - contrast will look good but won’t jive with the brown distressed leather so I feel like I’d have to go more of a maroon interior color. Not sold on that Early Ford Green - I’ve seen shades that are a bit blue-green-grey and would compliment the anvil and brown interior nicely. But I’ve also seem Por15 in this color and it almost looked like a dark hunter green, that wouldn’t go well. Gold - love a gold flake engine but fear that’ll hardcore clash with the interior open to opinions and please share any photos you have. Attached are a few I’ve stolen off here and around the web for inspiration
Here’s a photo from the grey thread in here. Anvil grey shell with a black engine. Tried and true, looks good but it just disappears. Last car I built I painted it black and had a fun time finding an oil leak.
Some of your sample photos have painted wheels. Are yours painted or chrome/polished? I lean toward the maroon to contrast with the grey.
Hugger orange I paint 'em black most of the time. So this is more of a nostalgic look at my life. If I was building a hot rod in the'60s and it was not a "show rod" an SBC would have been painted orange. I think that the color most used was called hugger orange.
candy pagan gold over gold metalflake base, then make all the colors (paint, upholstery) way flashier... just my opinion but grey cars tend to blend in to the crowd as opposed to standing out. Just a suggestion it is not my car....
Don’t have wheels and tires yet but will likely go with 2 sets. Chrome steelies and then big/littles with cheater slicks and mags look.
There is nothing wrong with black and it won’t disappear. If your idea with the dual quads is to look like a 245/270 hp 283, the Chevrolet Orange would be the best and no chrome..natural aluminum is best..
I have to agree with Beaner and the others and say CHEVY ORANGE. Be loud, Be proud and rejoice in the Small Block Chevy!!! But I've always been partial to orange....Mitch
I’ve used bill hirsh paint on several motors. His paint is steered towards the restoration end but there are some kool colors. You could go to his web site and see what paint he has. The bad part is they don’t have color chips. The last motor I did I painted 30s Buick grey, I ended up googling Buick’s of the 30s and found all sorts of images. I had contact bill hirsh and told them if they had color chips they could sell a lot more paint to the hotrod crowd.
I used POR15 engine enamel on my last 2 engines. Ford red on the SBC in my 36 Ford and CHEVY ORANGE on the 250 inline in my 36 Chevy. Flowed out real nice and seems virtually bullet proof. Mitch.
I would shy away from ANY factory engine color. You build a well thought out, detailed hot rod...why would you want stick in an orange engine that looks like it just came out of some stupid Camero? A matching or complimenting color is always best...looks more like it was planned.
Yes to Lloyd's paint & glass, post #23..... and maybe instead of chrome engine bits, flat, satin or wrinkle finish black. Natural, as cast aluminum on the intake. It certainly wouldn't be flashy, but it would be what I'd call "understated classy". Just like a pretty lady in a simple black dress with a pearl necklace. Yeah, baby! Normally I don't give opinions on questions like this and maybe many will be relieved by that? Lynn
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