Chevy engine red or orange?

[khier]

I started working on my Revell '69 Chevelle engine yesterday. The instructions specify orange in the American version and a mixture of red and orange in the German version. Both descriptions, and also internet photos, have nothing to do with my bottle of Model Master chevy engine red that has been lying on the shelf for years now. Did Cheverolet change the engine colour shades over the year? I know they used to have blue engine (straight six?), but I am talking about their red engines.

[Ace-Garageguy]

There are a couple of Chevy engine red and orange colors, and even the real-car paint suppliers don't always agree on what's "correct" for what.

I believe Snake45 is something of an authority on this.

[espo]

The Chevrolet V8 engine was usually, there are always exceptions it seems, a medium shade of Red until sometime around the 1960 to 1961 production runs when they started using a Red with more of a slight Orange tinge to it. The Blue colored V8 engines were used in the 1970's and later became almost exclusively Black in color when they became referred to as the "Corporate Engines" since they were used on most of the other GM vehicles. The Red/Orange color would be considered normal for a 1969 Chevelle. Chevrolets that I have owned in the past from that era were a '66 Impala SS, with a396 engine, a'67 El Camino, also a 396 engine. A '68 Full size Chevrolet Bel Air with the 427 engine and a '74 Chevrolet C-10 Pickup with the 454 engine. And '77 Camaro with the 350 engine. All of these cars had the Orange shade of Red as their factory color. I bought a used '69 Camaro with the base 307 V8 from the original owner and it also shared the same engine color. 

[ctruss53]

I just mix a little red into some orange to make a red-orange color. This color I mix varies a little every time. Just like the real color. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Not that it has anything to do with the OP's question...but later in a car's career, an engine could have been painted just about any color.

For instance, Jasper used a light green on just about everything they rebuilt in the mid-late '70s IIRC (I put one of their 327/ 365horse SB Chebbies in a Stag in about '77).

Many local rebuilders just painted everything black, many engines got painted light colors to make leak spotting easier, etc.

Just a thought, in case you're building a non-creampuff.  

[Ace-Garageguy]

7 minutes ago, ctruss53 said:

I just mix a little red into some orange to make a red-orange color. This color I mix varies a little every time. Just like the real color. 

Yeah...and another thing, once an engine has been through a bunch of heating and cooling cycles, it's may not be all that close to what the factory painted it anyway, especially the heads around the exhaust ports.  

[1972coronet]

2 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Jasper used a light green on just about everything they rebuilt in the mid-late '70s IIRC

I've been playing with the idea of building a kit (maybe a Duster) with a Jaspar (or similar) 'rebuilt' engine under the bonnet. Thanks for the reminder !