1929-1962 Dark Grey Engine Paint
We have had many customers question us about the dark shade of our engine grey paint. Here is a detailed explanation of why we sell our paint proudly.
The question of the correct color on Chevrolet engines has been an ongoing discussion with many "experts" for more years than I can remember. I can only tell you what I know from my 32+ years of experience in selling parts for, and restoring, Chevrolets.
TRUTH: Chevrolet did not mix one big batch of paint with exacting specifications to use on all six cylinder engines from 1929 through the early 1960's.
Engine paint was mixed in many different locations, by different companies and at different times. Because of this, there are differences in paint lots and shades. When I was restoring my 1931 Sport Coupe in 1980, I found a company that had original paint chips for the body color on my car. In fact, this store had three different paint chip books from three different companies. Yep, all three color chips were different! These were well known manufacturers - Dupont, PPG & Martin-Senour. My point here is that there is no way to have an exact match to paint that was done 70+ years ago.
With that said, I will tell you how we came up with the color we sell. I have a good friend named Dick Bertolucci. I met Dick in 1977 when we both belonged to the Sacramento Valley Region of the Vintage Chevrolet Club. He is a body and paint man that has done show restorations for over 50 years. Dick does some of the finest body & paint work in the country. He has several national show winning Chevrolets. In other words, this guy knows his business - paint & body. He owns and operates the largest, most successful body shop in Sacramento. CA. At one time, he owned nearly 50 vintage Chevrolets, from low mileage originals down to parts cars.
Dick is the one that mixed our original paint sample. He took (from his extensive collection of Chevys) samples from several engines and color matched them himself. Over the years, we have compared this color to NOS parts. Yes, we have found slight differences in the shade from ours to some of these. However, you must remember that these parts were manufactured 30-40 years after the engines to which he matched the paint samples. The paint batch color differences must also be considered as well.
Bottom line to all of this is that we have done everything possible to sell the correct engine paint to our customers. We firmly believe that our paint is the most accurate match to original color that is available anywhere. We guarantee our products to be to your satisfaction.