Getting ready to pull this engine today or tomorrow. The last person painted this engine Ford blue. Any idea as to what color it may have been OEM? I saw a lot of all black engines for this era. Thanks!
JW, they came primarily unpainted and sometimes Black. Military Jeeps were usually painted Olive Drab Green. There may be other Military colors, gmwillys might know. There are a few discussions on the forum and internet about the colors used. There is discussion that the "Red" was an undercoating, or that it was used to identify "Factory Rebuilds". Some have found Red under the Black. Some have found just Black and many have found rusty with no paint.
I have recently thought of a simple rule. The greatest car ever produced, is the one that makes the owner happy.
If you want it to be factory correct. Do the research find vintage articles. Whatever it takes. Or if you want to paint it purple. Go for it! It's your jeep, make it how you want it. And that's the glory of classic cars. Build it to be what you like.
I think Bmorgil is right about colors. I'll try to do some research, if I find anything I'll post it. Or someone else might know. Black seems to be a common color. For old engines.
So, I just remembered seeing a 1948 cj2a at a swap meet this past summer. It was a very nice original example. With original paint, basically untouched. And it had what appeared to be bare cast iron on the engine.
But this brings us back to the same thing. In the 6 years difference. Willys could have, and probably did change it. Theres a good chance they changed every month.
The economy of the era was such, that the Willys company marketed its vehicles as an economical alternative for work/utility vehicles. All models were fairly expensive for what you received. Consequently a lot of thought was put into making them "Economical". Many Wagons Trucks and Jeeps left the factory with nothing painted but the body.
I agree with all and thanks! Not doing a full restore to original and I like the olive green. I guess my main reason for knowing was why they chose the Ford blue for just gee wiz and was Ford ever involved in any of the production on engines.
I just looked at the pictures you have attached and I realized that the plate shown below is a plate on the side of the blue engine.
I'm not going to say "never", but engines in vehicles seldom got the "Jeep Industrial Engine" nameplate on the side. It is possible (?%) that your engine was originally in an air compressor, welder of other industrial use - but then it might not have been.
More mystery.....
Rule 3H: "Never say Willys-Overland would never have put an industrial engine in a Jeep vehicle".
(Oh, by the way - I went a gloss black on the reftofitted F-134 in the '48)
"If you want it to be factory correct. Do the research find vintage articles."
On occasion I go to the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Festival at Auburn, Indiana (about 25-minutes up the road). One year I watched a couple of guys "discuss" what color tracer should be in a particular wire insulation cover in a Cord wiring harness.
They almost came to blows over "yellow vs. white".
I like Jeeps - what you see is what you have (Rule 1).
There will never be a Concord restoration judging for a Willys product. There is not sufficient information to what is factory correct or not, day for day, Monday through Friday. As LarrBeard alluded to, your engine is an industrial engine that came out of a generator, welder, air compressor, or any other host of applications.
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