Case colors

This is a question for all the Case history buffs. Why did Case make so many color changes over the years? From black steamers to green then gray then flambeau, the desert sunset, white then red. Just wondering..... Bill

Just an observation on the Flambeau and Desert Sunset, and the styling of the 100b's and the 30 series that comes to me. Prior to 1950 two tone cars were few, and then they became the rage starting around 1954. The chrome and headlights with "eyebrows" also were also the new style at the time. This continued until about 1960 when again styles changed.

They used the Green and Red as that was a very std color then,, there was not a whole lot of choices in the 1800's and early 1900's,, Grey was meant to set the new models apart from the older ones, this is a educated guess though, when Flambeau came they wanted their tractors to stand out from the rest of the crowd and I will add the grey color did not last like they wanted,, Flambeau was named after a torch flame color,, Desert Sunset was added with the New Generation tractors the Racine Four-Hundred and Rock Island three hundred and a bit later the three-fifty was the first to carry it along with the new Bold round nosed styling, again to make folks takes notice and set them apart from the older models, Power Red came in 1969 with the New 70 series,, although very close to Flambeau the change was done as Flambeau faded quicker and had lead in it,, so the formula was modified for longer color life and required less issues in manufacturing, the next change on AG products was in Jan 1974, when Power White replaced Desert Sunset. This was done to give a Bold New Look and to show the blending of the CASE and recently acquired David Brown Company line,, both the blend the two product lines and two to give a Bold New Look the CE line color change occurred the next year, it has been modified over the years some since then

So does the Flambeau you buy today fade? I know they can not put lead in it anymore. Personally I can not tell the difference between Flambeau Red and Power red, so if one of the modern formulations fade faster, I will use the other. What are your thoughts?

Adding hardner to flambeau or power red will keep it looking new longer.

Somewhere in these posts is the number for Flambeau by dupont and other makers. This paint is superior to the old color as far as fading. I have been told to stay away from the cheaper paint farm stores have. I used the Dupont. Seems to be holding, but only 3 years out.

My brother paints a lot of tractors and he says the factory paint from case/ih is good stuff, but I think you have to take power red as they don't do the other.

I think most tractors in the early years were either green or grey. They bought surplus paint from the military. The Flambeau paint was to promote the new line of models came out in 39. The sunset again was for the new 300 and 400 models. Why Case changed the 70 series from sunset to power white. I don't know.

Bill,
I think Case easily wins the prize for the most color changes/combinations in the industry. All of which could probably be justified in one way or another, but my personal opinion is that it really hurt marketing efforts at building brand loyalty. When asked what color are Case tractors, you need to respond with, "Do you have an hour for me to explain?" That is unsuccessful branding. Don

Henry Ford was the master of cheap. The 9n ended up being the size it was because Ford new he could put x number on a train car without waste. Since his first tractors were gray it would indicate gray was to be had at a bargain price. Maybe Navy surplus. Just guessing, but Ford had a reason for everything and it usually was about money.

Don,, I guess I look at it a bit different from a old dealers point of view, maybe you did not see the excitement in customers when they first laid eyes on the new color changes,, we had guys trading in two year old 70 Series for Power White ones, for us it sold equipment,, of course some really did not care but many did, same way when the CE colors changed,, I am guessing where you are at shows and trying to tell people who have no clue about the changes I am sure it gets old to say it over and over,, I do not think it hurt sales any though as we sure never seen it here,, I can even count how many guys who ran a small dirt/roustabout service here when they first seen the new CE colors in 1975 who said,, well I see the 580B has xxx hours now so to keep our service looking like we are using the newest and best equipment we need to work on trading, we had farm customers who would see their neighbor "Bob" had got a brand new shiny 1070 or 2670 and they would come in and say lets figure a trade for them as they had to have a New different looking tractor too,, happened here often,, I look at it more like when Henry Ford would not make a model T in any color other than Black,, that cost him sales, I seen it as the future and change I guess,, please do not take this wrong as I know a few guys who feel just as you do,, ones Dad had ordered a new 870,, when the truck came in with a load of them to the dealership they got a call to come down,, they had a choice of either a DS or a Power White one as both were on the truck load, the man I know chose the DS one as he personally did not like the new colors, me I would have Jumped on the PW, as for me I liked the old colors but LOVED the new ones,, I guess what i mean is I seen all of them as Progress and not being stale as I consider JD green and yellow and puke red ,, a long time friend of mine here bought new pickups and a car for his wife every two years,, every year for 40 years I know of he order both the car and pickup in metallic maroon,,, he loved it I thought it was boring lol, I wasted all the time typing this in case you had not heard this side of the dealers feelings I know we was not the only dealer by far who liked the changes we seen

I agree with you Don. Even city kids four generations removed from the farm know what a John Deere looks like. Or atleast what colors they are. Bill