Engine color change from '68 to '69

[Jade_69 10]

Hi 'Stangers,

 

I was wondering if anyone can confirm that there was a color change for the engine paint (air cleaner, etc) between the 1968 and 1969 model years. I see numerous references to dark Ford blue for '69, but my car was an early build from September 1968 and my 302 2v is the lighter shade of blue.

 

Is it possible that the lighter color was from engines "left over" from the '68 model year and that it is indeed the correct color for my car?

 

Any help is appreciated. As are references you can point me to!

 

Thanks!

[StephenC 10]

I believe they were are all Ford Blue. Yours just might of been dulled out over the years. Ive had a 68 and a 69 and they were both Ford Blue

[66stang 11]

Ford had a dark and a light blue

[Burn 14]

1969 motors should be Ford Corporate Blue (Dark Ford Blue).

 

Here's a nice article on Mustang Monthly's website called "How to Paint Your Engine and Choose the Correct Color"

 

http://www.mustangmonthly.com/howto/173_0308_paints_engines/index2.html

[Handegard 10]

My '69 had Dark Blue... I kind of like the lighter blue, looks nice.

[tony 63C 14]

There seems to be a wide range in the shades of Ford “Corporate Blueâ€. In the Mustang Monthly pictures you can see a dark navy blue shown on one engine along with a much lighter / brighter shade of blue on others. Yet the article states they are all correct. Was there really this much of a range in the factory applied blue? I’ve seen this same disparity over the years on restored cars.

The engine pictured below is taken from the Mustang Monthly article on that amazing original ’69 Mach 1 with only 52 miles. I guess it depends on your computer screen’s color resolution, but the blue is definitely not toward the darker end of the spectrum.

Regards,

T.

[Pakrat 1,043]

I would tend to trust a 52 mile original car for the most accurate, I have seen darker and I think mine is even darker (I went with the VHT brand ford corporate blue) but it is also not as light as Jade's engine. Jade, regardless of your build date unless you car is untouched original then it is whatever the previous owner chose to paint it and it looks like the earlier blue to me. Just the fact that your power steering pump is the same blue is a good indication it has all been repainted at the same time. The correct color is a Pontiac looking greenish blue color.

 

I think bottom line is unless it is mixed in a batch of sprayable paint according to the Ford codes it is never going to be an exact Ford Corporate blue. Any rattle can with the same exact color name is going to vary some in shade by brand. My new dark blue came out different than what the previous onwers dark blue was so I ended up doing everything over even things that didn't need it like the voltage regulator just so it would all match. The old color looked correct, the new color looks correct so any dark blue is going to look correct and you only notice the variance in a side by side comparison. The light blue looks correct to those not in the hobby but park it at a show next to all dark blue engines and even if they vary on every single car the light blue sticks out as clearly not the correct one. That said, I sure has hell wouldn't let that make me repaint it until it damn well needed it or I had absolutely run out of other things to do.

 

On a side note I'm just noticing that the 52mile car seems to have a replacement style power steering pump with the black finish and not the correct greenish blue color either, weird as I would have thought it would be all original in that state or correctly refinished if it had to be replaced.

[Pakrat 1,043]

Just as a reference (or to further confuse things) here is a picture of a concourse gold winning restored engine bay. This blue looks pretty close to the color of the 52 mile car to me, certainly not as dark looking as mine or as light as Jade's. Note the correct power steering pump color though.

 

[Pakrat 1,043]

This is a partial shade pic shot in mid day but look how much darker my VHT Ford Corporate Blue came out. I'm only going for the stock at a glance look though anyway so it didn't matter to me and I know it is a quality high temp paint that will have some life span.

 

[tony 63C 14]

Pak, agreed with all your points. Although it remains difficult to accept the wide swings in the blues in the Mustang Monthly article to be correct. They are drastically different, not just a shade apart.

Re that 52 mile Mach, I too noticed the black power steering pump – and was very happy as mine just happens to be black. It was on the short list to get pulled for paint as I have been toiling in the garage all winter long to bring things back to a factory stock look. But after seeing that 52-miler I’m kind of OK with it black. My objective is not gunning for show points but only to get it factory correct on a budget without going concourse crazy. And those pics in that article have been a godsend. Wish there were more.

Cheers,

Tony

[Pakrat 1,043]

I personally think it looks better black, never could understand why ford would paint it the greenish blue color to begin with, it just looks like a poor color match to the block. It's not a blingy item that is pretty to look at so at least in black it doesn't stick out and get noticed.

[tony 63C 14]

I suppose that by virtue of the story behind the 52-mile Mach it's safe to assume that at least one black one was installed by Ford. And that's good enough for me to keep mine as is.

 

Anyway, back to engine paint - here's a pic of my engine bay from two weeks ago. A previous owner had painted the air cleaner lid a Ford blue different than the cleaner base and the block. I looked high and low to find a match in an off-the-shelf rattle can, and it was through this process that I learned that all of the Ford Blue's out there are different. In the end had to get a custom mix to get a match, which cost me over 30 bucks. Current record holder as my most expensive spray bomb.

 

Regards,

Tony

[66stang 11]

This is the blue I used

[Pakrat 1,043]

I'm seriously thinking of sending a letter in to the pony express department of MM about the pump color and see what I can dig up, could be a good way to give the site a little free publicity as well.

[malcoll 10]

So what color is that PS pump supposed to be? Black, Pontiac blue-green, or either?

[tim42 13]

My guess on the pump color is that was the color it was from the supplier.