I have noticed that there were several discussions on paint in the past year. I was the Chairman of the Minneapolis Moline Collectors paint committee 10 years ago when a lot of research was done on paint colors and applications. We started out by trying to determine what manufacturer had paint colors for MM tractors that were closest to the original colors. We had dozens of samples of what several people thought were the "best match"; we then compared them to samples which were sprayed from cans of paint that MM sold through their dealers back in the 40's 50's 60's and 70's. Bottom line, we really didn't find any that were a good match to the original colors or even to another paint supplier's color. We then decided we needed to set a "standard" for what we felt the color should be. I went to many manufacturers and industry experts, and they generaly agreed that aged paint even if not exposed to sunlight would change over time once sprayed. The general consensus was that the best solution was to get samples of paint in the original cans and use that as a baseline standard. We then got, in most cases, several cans of each color of paint from the collections of MM enthusiasts. The age of the cans was determined by the logos on the cans. MM used different logos in different time periods, and we used that to age the samples. MM sold these cans of paint in those periods to serve as repair parts for their products, therefore, were considered to be the best source for accurate colors. As far as Prairie Gold goes, PG1, PG2 and PG3 were not color names that were ever used by MM. These names were something I personally came up with to help differentiate between the different shades used in different time periods. I know there have been names such as Power yellow and Energy yellow published in some books and articles, but evidence suggests that MM did not consistently used these names in marketing. PG1 was identified as the original color used by MM in the early years. This color is NOT what we see painted on most restored tractors of this era. This color has kind of a greenish brown tint, and a lot of people really don't like the color. Dozens of original tractors were inspected and it was fairly clear that this color was used until after WWII. We found a can of Prairie Gold paint with a label which was used in the early 40's, mixed it up, and sprayed samples. This is what we used for the standard for this color. It was generally in the ballpark of what we saw on numerous samples of original paint from that era, although no two samples of the aged paint were alike. PG2 was used after the war until about 1959; this color is what most MM people consider to be Prairie Gold and is what most paint suppliers tried to duplicate. PG3 was developed with the introduction of the two tone GVI, M5 and 4 stars; the shade changed again to a little darker shade. I believe this was done because it complimented the Bronze Metallic color better. In approximately 1962, the two tone colors changed from Bronze Metallic to Dyna Brown. This is about the time that the gold changed to the yellow that was used until the end of production.

The paint committee went to the major paint manufacturers, asked them to match our standard colors, and assign them a code which could be used to mix the colors in any store. Each manufacturer declined. I then located a supplier who was willing to match our colors and ship paint to anywhere in the US. This supplier is a Sherwin Williams distributor in Arizona; the phone is 623 931 2421 or 602 269 5624 www.equipmentcolor.com. I have sample sheets of the color standards and take them to most MM national shows if anyone would like to see them. If anyone knows of another supplier willing to match these samples and ship nationally, please let me know. Also, PPG has a PG1 and PG2 color, Please dont't try to associate this with our PG1 and PPG2, they are generally between the two in shade. I would also caution against trying to determine a shade on a computor screen. Have you ever gone to a TV store and noticed the color differences from screen to screen?

The statements I have made are in many cases the opinion of myself and the paint committee after much research and are always open to discussion. MM did a lot of unusual things with paint and I am sure there are many exceptions to these general observations.
 
Thank you for taking the time to post that information. I have painted many MM tractors for people over the years. And yes it seems like each company has a diffrent shade of Prairie gold paint. I always let the customer choose where to purchase their paint.
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Thanks to the Paint Committee for your dedicated research. A am sure the MM community appreciate all your hard and committed work. It never crossed my mind that PG1, PG2 etc was really recent terminology. It appears the original colors from day to day or year to year was not exactly the same so I guess all our different shades today are not so bad after all. So where do you feel MM went to PG2 after the war? 1946? 1947?
 
Thanks to you and all involved for putting forth the hours of work to try and get uniform paint colors for all the fine M-M collectors out there. I have been collecting M-M's for over 30 years now, and have spent a lot of time myself researching the colors. I have been particularly interested in PG#1 recently, as I have a 1938 ZTU(1st one made for the year) and a 1940 RTS to restore. I have seen, and have many samples, including NOS parts. I have hand polished un-faded spots of paint on several early prairie gold tractors, and am here to tell you that the colors just for PG#1 alone are all over the place. There was apparently not much quality control when it came to paint uniformity. It does seem to me that the early Z's had a lighter shade of yellow than the later tractors. I polished a protected area of my RTS gas tank, and it has slightly more orange tint in it than the ZTU. I have a NOS starter hole cover with nice shiny paint that actually matches the RTS very closely. I have been working with my local paint supplier to get a good match, and we are very close. I will use this color on both, as I want them to be uniform.

When it comes to the old red, I see some people using a very dark red on their wheels. I have personally never found anything like that. I have come across some nice samples on wheels(including a 1939 Z we removed the tire from that had like new paint on the inside of the rim) and NOS grill screens. The red paint I have come across looks more like IH 2150 red(Farmall Red) than anything. Oliver and Massey reds are too bright.

The PG#2 paint seems like it was a little more uniform in color from about 1950 on. Maybe they stuck with the same supplier from that point on. I do, however, have a 1951 U and 1951 M-96 windrower that have distinctly different shades of paint. The U has a very orange shade of PG#2, while the windrower looks like one of the later shades of PG#1.

These are just my observations, but I think we can all agree that the paint shades for each of the M-M colors varied greatly over the years. I'm sure other manufacturers had the same issue at times. It is commendable that the paint committee was formed to bring some uniformity in paint colors. Thanks again for your hard work!

David, has the paint committee seriously thought about making a standard color for PG#1 available through the supplier? I have noticed that more and more people over the last several years are painting their early Prairie Gold tractors with some shade of PG#1(probably matched up as closely as possible at their local paint supplier). I realize that the first question will be: which shade do we go with? But maybe we could come up with a color that would be a good representation of PG#1. Just a thought...
 
Yes, as with the other colors, we found a can of paint from the early 40's and used that as the standard. And yes, it is available from the paint supplier. Keep in mind, it is from a can of wet paint, it has not faded, and therefore, is darker than most samples which have faded to a more yellow color on tractors.
 

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