Early 348 engine color

[4d9r]

Heard that there was a chevy red before chevy orange. What was the correct color for the early 348 motors?
thanks,
Terry

 

[MK IISS]

Chevy Orange

All the 348s (except trucks engines) from 1958-1961 were Chevy Orange. I have seen, however, some Chevy orange engines that turned sorta red in color with age/heat. For some reason the 1956 model year Chevrolet had red V8s. Another exception was the early 1957 265 cubic inch V8s which were a wierd chartreuse (yellowish green) color. I know some will not agree with this.

 

[MRHP]

20 years ago I read an article on the early small block and it stated for a few months the engines were yellow. The article had a picture. Looked yellow to me! They must have had a hard time finding orange paint! Now someone has to disagree with BOTH of us. Brian

 

[MK IISS]

It was only the 1957 base 2-bbl 8-cyl engine with a man. transmisiion, which was 265 cubic inches, that was painted the strange chartreuse color. All the other '57 V8s were 283s, including the base 2-bbl engine with an automatic. All the '57 283s were the traditional orange color. The chartreuse engine was changed to orange during the mid-year model run.