Flathead block color

So Flatheads were the dark green color right up until the early 40's. What i would really like to know is what did the guys do back then when they hot rodded their cars/rebuilt their engines did they repaint them or were they all running with the dark green color?

 

I'd like to know the answer to that also....

 

Isky painted his red:


(From http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106577)

I guess if they were building a hot rod, then as long as the original paint was OK they left it alone? If the paint was gone, or they stripped it right down and had time on their hands they might have "prettied it up" a little with whatever paint was handy?

 

my uncle is doing a period '32 five window. he painted his flat motor gold. looked a little funny at first. but the more i see it the more i like it. he is convinced he saw a lot of gold ones back than.

 

Bronze was popular as well but it's 2012 paint it the color you want

 

In Al Drakes book he mentions painting a couple of different flatheads he had red. This would've been in the early-mid fifties. I have some older friends and they remember some being gold, and blue as well as red. Some painted them to match other accents on the car. I would think that if you took the time to build a mill for your hot rod you would paint it in color that stood out against the boring original dark green.
Matt

 

I have a 53 EBA, I think I might go with the stock Tangerine color... It stands out pretty good...

 

Im part Portagee most of mine over the years have been Red even on green cars........

 

Whatever you do avoid gloss black. I went absolutely nuts trying to find a tiny oil leak, it was invisible. Flat white and die the oil red for the next one.

 

AS for painting a Hot Rodded Ford V-8, I guess Ford's Red was popular ,then too so was Gold . I sure wouldn't want one of the later 8- B A Green ones . They wern't peticulary attractive even new . scrubba

 

I know what the year is but I'm building a traditional themed (40's) '32 so I really want to know what most guys did back in the day...

That's a good tip, black was on the short list for a while. It's definately not going to be red...I'm probably going to paint the car black, so any suggestions (with pics ) would be great.

I'm with you on that !!!

 

I remember reading at one time that one of the major engine rebuilders ( Sears?) painted their engines a gold color. I guess if i was building a car at that time and it came already cleaned up and painted, I may just go with that color.

-Mitch

 

Delux,
Here is Mac VanPelt's Website. The engine color varied over the years.

http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/flathead_specs-90to125late.htm

 

OK...lets say you're at Bonneville in 1946, and a guy rolls in, open's the hood on his '32 roadster, what color would the block most likely have been ? That's my question ! I know what the stock colours were throughout the years, but what I really want to know is did they leave it that color or did they repaint them ??? Particularly on black cars....

 

Red or yellow black and white.......................

 

burnt umber

 

I also have a 53 8BA in my new 30 build, it recently got a coat of Bill Hirch orange engine enamel. Looks really nice.

 

Any pics of the orange one?

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

Here's some '50s Hot Rod magazines. One looks gold the other's red.

 

I'm finding these answers pretty entertaining. I don't think this group as a whole has a clue as to how poor everybody was right after WWII.

A few high-end guys in SoCal might have been painting blocks but I submit that most blue collar people who put an original 'hotrod' together was lucky to have an engine at all. Paint was an extravagance few could afford.

Nothing then was like today. No shops to order re-pop parts. No NAPA or Autozone, no DC or Drake. If it was broken you made your own or borrowed it from another car, or better yet you took it off unless it was essential to running the car.

Paint, ha! Left-over house or barn paint maybe......

 

Here are some pics ...

Ford Dark Green: A's, B's, V8's up to 41-42



Ford Dark Blue: 41-42 up to 48



Ford Bronze: 49-51 and some 52-53

 

This is probably the most accurate thus far...If anyone has any photo's to prove otherwise, (nothing from 50's onwards) we'll assume the most likely color was the stock color.

 

I have a car built in the late 40's and the block and tranny case were painted black.

 

Old photo's from that era are usually black & white, which is why I posted the covers of the hot rod magazines.

 

Perhaps not germane to the original question, I read an interview with Bobby Meeks many years ago and he stated that all of the engines that came out of the Edelbrock shop were painted red, I assume, to match the Edelbrock logo.

 

Deluxe32: Your probably feeling like you didn't get a clear answer, or maybe you did, but, you are doing the same thing a guy in the 40's likely did. Asking himself "what color should I paint this thing" I understand what mtflat is saying but we have to assume that some of them guys could paint their engine. Thinking back to what I saw in the 60's and 70's and in old hotrod mags some of the engines I remember the most were either yellow or white. There were a lot of red ones also. You cars going to be fresh so its hard to duplicate the wear, tear and grime of a driven or raced hotrod. Whatever color you use will be clean and fresh. I seriously don't think you get too far off the reservation in color selection, no matter what you choose.. Hope this helps..Tim

 

My old 32 sedan has a yellow 59AB...



and I went with green fo the engine in my RPU...



I would say red was pretty typical though...

Neal

 

I just built a 41 flathead for a customer,it was a factory reman from michagin so the rebuild tag said,the engine was ford blue.

 

I saw one in pearl white at a car show. Very nice...

 

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