by Andy » Sun Dec 10, 2006 9:19 pm
There were at least 6 shades of green used, if you count the Mist Green machines. 5 standard shades of green. I think there were a couple on the Hart Parrs, in about 36 or 38 there was a change for the 70's, then Fleetlines had a code up until about 52, the late ones had a lighter green, which continued thru later models. My notes show 5 codes for green wheel tractors. This does not account for the few Mist Green tractors that were built. Once Bob Tallman told me not to worry so much about the shade of green, he had gotten all kinds of different shades in on new Olivers when he was a dealer. I suppose the shade could have varied some. Lyle Dumont can probably help you out with paint codes. There has always been some question surrounding paint codes. One of these days I intend to go thru the parts books, I have most of them, and see if there is a way to decypher this info using part numbers. Another long term project I have been playing with for a few years is to colorize the old photos. I have had some success with this, but need some better software. I just haven't found any that particularly suit the application. But, I have gotten close a couple of times. Remember the black and white televisions, the ones that we had to be lucky to watch, a store in town left one on until bedtime, then turned it off, we could watch it thru the store window, we knew what was supposed to be what color by the grayscale. A big problem we are facing in paint colors is with the paint manufacturers, they simply don't keep the old formulas. Add the EPA to this and you have to really be observant. For instance, I am working on a project Cletrac HG, a 1944, it should be Cletrac Orange. I bought small cans of paint from 3 different paint suppliers, each code was crossed over to the correct formula. Of the 3 only PPG was close, the other 2 crossed directly to Prarie Gold. I found this out by going back to the stores and researching the formulas, Martin Senour, and Dupont both gave the exact formula for Prarie Gold when asking for Cletrac Orange. When I took a sample to be analyzed, we got the correct shade for Cletrac Orange, and the formula was considerably different.
Have a great day!!!
Andy