In Reply to: 8N red belly engine paint posted by Keith(CA) on September 11, 2012 at 12:34:20:
Hi Keith-
First, I'd like to commend you for doing all that research, but there are a few flaws in your theories. You don't need a special hi-temp paint for the engine. The tractors were all painted entirely with the same paint. Ford had a paint factory in Mt. Clemens, MI that produced all their paint. Not sure, but it may have been Ditzler. The plant is huge, still exists, and is now owned and operated by DuPont and supply to many customers. Next, most red paint will fade over time, exposer to direct sunlight and UV rays is the culprit. Also, most red paint will look orangey in certain lighting conditions. Graphics on computers will alter the true color as well, so you cannot judge off of scans and pictures on the Internet. About ten years ago I rsetored my '48 8N and used TISCO IH RED becuase it came close to original - at the time of application - more so than the TISCO FORD RED, TISCO VERMILLION, TISCO NH RED, etc. as it was not the dark red that IH tractors are. However, after time, it does get darker and resembles the IH RED afterall. I will agree about the new brand TSC sells,the MAJIK stuff sucks. I did a mini paint test and painted some parts with different brands. The MAJIK looked so-so going on but after a day outside it completely changed and got dull and darker. Rustoleum Regal Red is much closer to the original -in my opinion, than the Sunrise Red. The DuPpnt GM Centarri Red John Smith used is good. I had batch made up and used it on a plow. I also have seen his 8Ns up close and they do look great. The bset red paint I have found thus far is PPG MTK OMNI Bright Red. A friend painted a tractor with this because it was lying on his shelf and he wanted to use it up. That was about 4 years ago and the tractor stil holds up perfectly. See the attached LINK to our HISTORY forum to get more details on the paint codes. Finally, you said:
"There is school indicating that Ford tractors built between 1940 to 1957 were blood red similiar to IH red while Ford tractor built between 1958 to 1962 were orange red."
Ford Tractors were NOT painted Vermillion Red and Medium Grey until July 1947 with the introduction of the 8N tractor. From the Fordson on up to the 9N and 2N tractors, Ford painted them dark grey.
I think the argument will go on forever on correct Ford colors. The saying goes, "...you can paint it any colour you like, it's your tractor...". Also, the beauty of us tractor collectors and restorers is that we don't have judging at shows and points demoted for incorrect this and wrong that. Thanks for your research and input.
Tim Daley(MI)
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