56 engine color?

[Dave Christensen]

A local, well know Corvette dealer just looked at my 56 and asked why I did not paint the engine the right color, chevy orange. I told him about the 56's having a unique red color and he thinks I am nuts. I told him that I would fax some documentation on it. I thought it was in Noland Adams book, but I cannot find it. Can someone help with finding something in writing that says the 56 motors are not the normal chevy orange color.

thanks

Dave Christensen

ps. The car is not for sale - I just finished it and enjoy driving it too much!

[Roy Braatz]

Re: 56 engine color?

Dave Again many things were not documented so welcome aboard! 1955 and 1956 engines were all RED. I have had many of thoses nasty original 55 and early 56 Corvettes

[Joe L.]

Re: 56 engine color?

Dave-----

I would imagine that the 1956 Corvette NCRS Judging Guide would cover that pretty well. In any event, you are definitely correct. 1956 Corvettes did use a red engine orange paint. In fact, it was called "Engine Enamel- Red". Although GM changed the color for 1957 to a slightly reddish orange and changed the color of the engine paint that they sold, they didn't change the name on the can for many years. They still called it "Engine Enamel-Red" right up into the early 90s, at least, even though the paint in the can was decidedly orange.

You can purchase the 1956 Chevrolet engine red enamel from restoration suppliers.

[Joe L.]

Addendum

As an afterthought, and not really related to the original question, I believe that the reason that the Chevrolet V-8 color changed after 1956 was due to one of several reasons that I'll mention after I get into a little bit of "background".

In the "old days", each of the GM carlines had they're own unique engines AND each of these had their own unique COLOR. Pontiac was light blue; Buick was green; Oldsmobile was red; Cadillac was dark blue; and GMC was red (I think).

Also, the Ford Y-block V-8s (239, 272, 292, 312 cid) were also painted red.

I think that Chevrolet may have settled on red for their V-8s in 1955. By late 1956 someone may have realized that this could cause some "ID problem" with Oldsmobile, GMC, or (shudder) Ford. Actually, all of the other reds were a bit different than the Chevrolet red. But, someone in high places may have figured that the Chevrolet color just wasn't unique enough. So, orange replaced the red.

Chrysler used orange, too, but I don't think that they were doing so as early as 1957. That color came along later, as I recall.

[Robert Willis]

Re: Addendum

1957 GMC trucks may very well have been red in colour. I had a 57 283 engine that was red from the factory. I didn't check the codes to see what it came out of. Bob

[Dave Christensen]

Re: Addendum

Joe,
The story that I heard on the red was the orange that they received was rejected because it did not meet their specs. The red was the closest color that they could find quickly that met their specs. So, it was used for 56. They got the orange they wanted in 57.

The TMIM&JG contains a reference to red in 56. Does anyone know of any other documentation that shows red for 56?

thanks
Dave Christensen

[Bernard M.]

Re: Addendum

Robert, Are you sure it was a 283? GM continued to produce 265's in 1957 specifically for truck applications.

[Mark S.]

Re: 56 engine color?

Dave:

Some very late 56 Corvette engines were painted orange!

[Robert Willis]

Re: Addendum

The 57 283 that I had was red similar to International Truck Engines in colour. Early 57 265s were yellow and after Nov of 56 were painted Chevy orange like the 283s.

Bob