I recently posted a message about original paint on '46 models that faded to a kinda orange-red or yellow-red-orange color down below. I remembered that many were repainted in the '50's. There were several "funny colored" H's & M's in our part of SD when I was a kid. I believe they were all late '45 or '46 models. My uncle got a new '46 under "veteran preference" regulations when he was discharged from the Navy after WWII. He, my dad & grandpa (Uncles dad) farmed together for a couple of years after the war. My Dad had gotten a '44 H in '45 because he & grandpa were farming with horses & an F-12 during WWII. Dad had to get on a list to be able to buy a tractor. He got on the list in '43, right after I was born, but his name didn't come up to the top of the list until early 1945. (He got a '44 model by the serial #, but he always said it was a '45.) My uncle's new '46 H faded to a different color than my dad's '44 H did. I still have my Dad's '44 H & my cousin still has his Dad's 46 H. Cousin had his dads repainted a few years ago, it was still the faded orange-red color. I told him he should of not had it repainted, as the faded color was unique & I didn't think there were many still around that color. Saw a "W-9" in a salvage yard in Neb. on the way home from Colorado just a few weeks age. Does anyone have one of those "funny colored" '46 models out there or were they all repainted in the '50's?(My $0.02 worth. jal-SD)

I have heard the war year tractors had no lead in the paint. Causing the paint to fade a yellowish color.

War years paint faded that way, cause well it was the war and pigmentations were not a priority .

They bought whatever paint was the cheapest(just like everyone else) Our JD 70 had three coats of paint on it when Dad bought it in 1963.

i have my grandfather's 1946 B. it was always a faded orange color but now is red. Good old tractor. When grandpa quit driving his car he drove the B to town for groceries.

I posted about my 46 m showing a lot of yellow. I wondered if it was some sort of primer that IH used or if that old paint faded to that color! I remember in the fifty’s our neighbors H was faded to a maroon or dark red. That old paint was probably made by more than one mfg. and faded differently.

I have a 47 h that turned to pinkgood red pigment was not aviable during the war that made them turn color. I re painted mine in 1953 and it is still nice red

Haven't seen hide nor hair of the Cowman in quite a while, his own board is no longer working either. Don't know any more than that.

As for the red/orange paint, my Dad got on the list and was able to buy a BN when he got home from the Pacific. I only have black and white photos of it, but my Mom remembered it as having a distinct orange hue. Paints in general were not nearly as good as today's paints are, plus there were shortages of pigments after the war, at least partly due to strikes. Manufacturers made do with what they had.

My memories of that tractor are from the late '50's/early '60's. At that point it was badly faded and the paint was chalking. It was a very rusty, orange-red color, at least where there was still some paint on it.

In the middle to late 50's riding the school bus as a kid, i can remember the neighbors had IHC combines and they just faded to a rust colored red, looked pretty bad, they must of been made in the middle 40's, when they were built, don't remember them as being orange tinted !

I do not think he ison the board any more (years) there were issues. Jim