Factory Engine Color???

[Jay Don]

1979 C10 Chevy Sport Truck with a 454--what was the factory engine color? I know they went to black sometime around 80 or 81 but was a 79 big block blue or orange?????

 

[bucket]

GM Corporate Blue.

'76 was the last year for orange. Black came along in '83-ish.

 

[idahovette]

All my Chevy sbc and bbc stuff is Chevy orange..............nothing newer than 75.......except Kooper's S10 and it's gotta 1963 327 block.

 

[Bullet94]

I have a 1986 C10 that I bought from the original owner. My C10 has a 305 V8 and it’s Chevrolet Orange.

 

[Ricko1966]

I have a 1986 C10 that I bought from the original owner. My C10 has a 305 V8 and it’s Chevrolet Orange.

The engine has been replaced or repainted.

 

[Turbo4whl]

GM Corporate Blue. '76 was the last year for orange. Black came along in '83-ish.

So GM did not have enough smog ready engines in the late 1970's. The small block 350 Chevy engine found it's way into other GM car lines. Customers complained, "I got this expensive Buick with a Chevy engine" So GM painted all the engines black. Most customers didn't know one engine from another, except the color.

 

[Hilllbilly]

corporate blue --- YUK

 

[Ricko1966]

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[wingman50]

Black 350 SBC in 1981 C10. Originally a Diesel. Engine was replaced with the black painted block.

 

[Ricko1966]

1979 C10 Chevy Sport Truck with a 454--what was the factory engine color? I know they went to black sometime around 80 or 81 but was a 79 big block blue or orange?????

I guess no one answered this. Should be blue. Orange>76blue>81/82 Black there after. Edit NM I guess it got answered a bunch of times. Sleep deprivation dammit

 

[Turbo4whl]

Sleep deprivation dammit

@bucket answered it in post 2. You even marked with a "like" Get some sleep buddy!

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

So GM did not have enough smog ready engines in the late 1970's. The small block 350 Chevy engine found it's way into other GM car lines. Customers complained, "I got this expensive Buick with a Chevy engine" So GM painted all the engines black. Most customers didn't know one engine from another, except the color.

Yes I remember when the "corporate engine" shenanigans started about 77-78.... We used to have a favorite restaurant in SW Houston that was next door to Frank Gillman Pontiac/GMC, and every year when the new models were dropping, we'd go check em out after supper. This may have been around the time we bought the parts store and were looking for a new shop truck, which would be May/June '78....
Anyway, Dad was looking at several of the Pontiacs on display, and knowing the differences between the various GM engines, he starts asking the heretofore very helpful salesman questions like "I see this new Bonneville has a Buick engine in it, could you give me a little information on that?" That salesman about turned green and purple, he had strange looks on his face, and he went to the office and we never saw him again that evening. None of his coworkers would talk to us either....
But then this is the same dealership that couldn't figure out what color of metallic brown to paint the eight foot long rear fender on the '81 Sierra that we bought, that allegedly "got scratched being unloaded from the transporter" and didn't know that the front fender/wheel well trim on an '81 were different than the '80s.... several months into the model year. And remember GM was really pushing that new front clip, aerodynamic to compete with the Phords.....
Anybody in the greater Houston area that bought a vehicle from them, or knew someone who did, has a Frank Gillman story or two....
They were legendary here, and mostly not for good reasons.

 

[bucket]

So did the corporate blue paint start WHEN the brand sharing started, or AFTER the brand sharing started?

I ask because some people say that the corporate blue started because of customer complaints, rather than preventing customer complaints.

 

[Craig Nedrow]

I like black, though blue is stock. !st pic old 454, 2nd new 489, same block. Some say black is a more "thermally efficient" color,

 

[82Diesel]

GM Corporate Blue.

Dupli-color makes a PERFECT Match DE-1608.