Possible Red JD M

I have an issue I'd like help with. I have a JD M and as the obvious repaint at some point of green has flaked off I am seeing what appears to be a red tractor underneath. I have seen lots of repaints where someone used whatever color that suited them but they usually don't take the time to get it in some of the harder to reach spots and it is usually subject to many drips runs etc. This is looking like a smooth uniform paint job. Two Cylinder says the records burned for JD M. I'd like to restore this tractor and if it left the factory painted red then I want to restore that way but I don't want to create something that did not exist. Also if the serial tag was an MI I'd have an explanation but it is just marked M. Does anybody have any info or thoughts?
 
JD was like any other company. If you pay extra you can buy a tractor any color you want. So it could of been special ordered red. Without any factory records to back it up no sense getting worked up about it. Even if it was a special job number paint it likely would not resell any better than the normal green and yellow.
Paint it any color you like.
I do not know if a factory red one would of been painted underside of sheet metal or not ? Maybe as you tear it down you can find more evidence.
 
As far as resell that is not an issue. I learned a long time ago you'll likely never get out of any of these what you can have in them. It would be nice though to paint it back red if it was ordered that way and be able to tell folks at a show why. I just thought maybe somebody would know that some agency had bought some red and who that might have been and why. Another interesting point is it has 13.6-26 rear wheels instead of the 11.2-24's like my other M's. I have only seen those wider tires on the Industrials.
 

Many John Deere Ms were sold to highway departments and equipped with belly mount, sickle bar mowers. Painted highway orange at the factory.
 
If you want to go further.....drop a ote to Green Magazine. Think the guy you need is Mr answer or the question guy or such. He has answered some crazy questions.
 
This 40U left the factory Orange. I bet your M did also, look in the hard to reach places for your red color.. Usually ordered by a city or municipality in a different color.
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the old John Deere dealer we used when I was a kid told us that various federal government agencies had color specifications and if a tractor was ordered for that service it was painted their color. He also admitted to using "John Deere Red" to paint Farmalls he took in in trade, claimed it was so darn close it wasn't worth the hassle to by something else
 

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