Unusual Engine Colors

-
dartfreak75 said:
A backstop for a 50bmg?? Lol
Click to expand...

Back in the late 80’s early 90’s when I worked for GM- a Target motor was a replacement warranty engine. I install lots of them. All came in one color- black only. Mostly 305, 307 and 350s.
 
Target motor? Chrysler A57 multi-bank 30 cylinder tank motor...because you could paint a target on this motor and hit it with a tank round and still have it get you home. It had 5 carbs, 5 distributors and a helluva carb linkage.
 
Syleng1 said:
Back in the late 80’s early 90’s when I worked for GM- a Target motor was a replacement warranty engine. I install lots of them. All came in one color- black only. Mostly 305, 307 and 350s.
Click to expand...
I bet there was lots and lots of them warranty engines then after all it's a Chevy lol
 
I kinda like Internal red.

20190803_132043.jpg


20190706_101437.jpg
 
harrisonm said:
When I restored my 69 Barracuda a few years ago for the second time (had it almost 30 years). I painted the engine Gloss black and used stainless steel bolts everywhere. I never did like the 69 turquoise in an F8 green engine bay.
View attachment 1715377526 View attachment 1715377527
Click to expand...

SSG_Karg said:
Black is beautiful.

View attachment 1715377631
Click to expand...

Usually when I think of a black engine, I think if the dirty and oily ones I see in the junkyard. You guys make it look nice!
 
Dodge72 said:
Usually when I think of a black engine, I think if the dirty and oily ones I see in the junkyard. You guys make it look nice!
Click to expand...

Gm painted their engines black because it DID hide all the oil leaks. Lol! Funny but true.
 
Not really unusual but definitely not "correct" I painted my 5.9 Magnum block and aluminum heads Mopar Turquoise and its in a 1970 Duster.

I'm thinking about painting my next engine the metallic gold color Chrysler used on the early big-blocks.

20190305_191425.jpg


20190305_191433.jpg
 
I just painted mine good old blue...........

20121116_118.JPG


20121116_126.JPG


20121125_56.JPG

Chevy blue that is.........
I liked it a lot better than the turquoisy blue that Chrysler products had in the '70s.
Sox & Martin painted all of their Hemis Ford blue BTW.
 
The black color came about as a way to have the engines run cooler. Same as a rad, that’s why their black. All dodge V8s since 1980 have been black. Kim
 
I read through all of the posts. I didn't find the answer to the on-going question at shows. Why did Chrysler paint some engines orange and some blue? Some people say it was where the car was built. Some say it was, as someone noted, the engine block/displacement. Having grown up during those years and having ordered a '69 Dart GTS with a 383 from the factory (engine was orange), and remembering that some cars with 383s had a blue engine, the question remains unanswered. Of course, the next question, which has no answer I could find, is whether or not the VIN has that coded like nearly everything else?
 
No, engine color will not be found in the VIN, or on the fender tag. And "make" (C-P-D) of the car almost never determined the color. The answer is, the engine colors were standardized at one time. Then the mid-'60s came along with so many options, and with various plants making engines, it all got confused. Like in 1966 all the big-block high-performance stuff was supposed to be Street Hemi Orange. But if it wasn't a hi-po big block it was turquoise. And the small blocks were "always" red. But in '69 the hi-po 340 small block came out. Originally they got painted red, some were painted blue for no obvious reason, and finally they were all orange. There are countless other examples.

I'm pretty sure that the 383 installed in your '69 Dart was the same as the 383 Super Bee/Road Runner engine. So the Dart 383 was Street Hemi Orange just like the others. But there were many, many non-high performance 383 2bbl (and 4bbl) engines that were painted turquoise.
 
Last edited:
69_340_GTS said:
No, engine color will not be found in the VIN, or on the fender tag. And "make" (C-P-D) of the car almost never determined the color. The answer is, the engine colors were standardized at one time. Then the mid-'60s came along with so many options, and with various plants making engines, it all got confused. Like in 1966 all the big-block high-performance stuff was supposed to be Street Hemi Orange. But if it wasn't a hi-po big block it was turquoise. And the small blocks were "always" red. But in '69 the hi-po 340 small block came out. Originally they got painted red, some were painted blue for no obvious reason, and finally they were all orange. There are countless other examples.

I'm pretty sure that the 383 installed in your '69 Dart was the same as the 383 Super Bee/Road Runner engine. So the Dart 383 was Street Hemi Orange just like the others. But there were many, many non-high performance 383 2bbl (and 4bbl) engines that were painted turquoise.
Click to expand...
It also depended on the time of year that the car was manufactured.
For example, in '69, some 340 engines were turquoise, and some were orange, it seems that the engines in the cars built late in the model year were orange, and the earlier ones were turquoise.
I know for a fact that in '69, 318s were red until march or so and then the factory started to paint them blue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top