OEM Tractor Paint

Found an interesting item on "TractorForum". The OEM paint spec for Ford tractors in the 50's and early 60's was brush applied machinery enamel. The 2 page ad touts a new factory fresh look by steam cleaning and a fresh coat of paint. The ad shows a Ford worker with paint can and brush in hand. So, if you want your restore to be authentic for the older tractors, do you use the OEM paint system or the new urethane spray system?

I think that is getting awful picky to brush paint a tractor just because it may have been born that way. I mean maybe only a museum would want it done the same as the factory did it. A sprayed finish looks
nicer. Anyway if you work fast you could brush urethane. Mix small enough batches you could brush it out before it thickens.

(quoted from post at 19:38:25 06/02/20) I think that is getting awful picky to brush paint a tractor just because it may have been born that way. I mean maybe only a museum would want it done the same as the factory did it. A sprayed finish looks
nicer. Anyway if you work fast you could brush urethane. Mix small enough batches you could brush it out before it thickens.

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rew, that ad that you refer to has been posted here a few times. There are two different procedures that you refer to. The fellow squatting at the rear of the tractor with bucket and brush is simply doing recommended end of season touch up. This is something that is in tens of thousands of owner's manuals for tens of thousands of different machines. The steam cleaning and fresh paint refers to a factory advertised service that dealers would perform on used red Fords to upgrade them to new blue. This was done to many old Fords. There are many ways to verify that factory paint was sprayed on. Recently a member here who worked for Ford described the process in detail. When you remove a starter from an old Ford you are likely to find very little paint on the back of it, and a "shadow area" on the block that was shielded by the starter and didn't get the spray. In answer to your ending question. many owners or shops still use OEM enamel. Restorers who want it to last will probably use the 2K urethane.

I was a little surprised by the ad. I thought all tractors were sprayed. I didn't know the ad was for touch up. Thanks for the clarification.

What do you think of the blue/white NAA. Sill a little disturbing to me, but I am starting to like it. Dad was in the Ford tractor business for 25 years until times got bad in the late 60's. He will probably haunt me for the color change.

Years ago my grandfather restored a JD B.
I sprayed the hood for him. The rest was
brushed. It didn't look half bad.

(quoted from post at 09:25:45 06/03/20)
I was a little surprised by the ad. I thought all tractors were sprayed. I didn't know the ad was for touch up. Thanks for the clarification.

What do you think of the blue/white NAA. Sill a little disturbing to me, but I am starting to like it. Dad was in the Ford tractor business for 25 years until times got bad in the late 60's. He will probably haunt me for the color change.

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rew, t doesn't bother me either way. I have a neighbor who has an autobody shop. A year ago last winter he had a Ford 861 in there for a repaint. I helped him with paint codes because he was having trouble sourcing the paint because it had been repainted blue and white. It had been blue and white since I first saw it in the mid 1970s.

The red and gray are a little tough. When I did the original restore in 1974, I bought the paint from the local Ford/ NH dealer. It was pretty pricey at the time as I remember. When I was done it looked pretty good, but Dad jumped all over me for messing up the colors. He said the red was OK, but the gray was the wrong color. He told me the gray I used was for 40's models of 8n's. It was a little darker and had a touch of green tint. The NAA's were painted with the new gray which was a lighter gray and no tint. If the dealer didn't know, how was I supposed to know there was a difference? I have heard that the same paint code from different manufacturers also varies in color. Why is tractor paint so different than automotive paint in getting the right color.

(quoted from post at 16:40:03 06/07/20)
The red and gray are a little tough. When I did the original restore in 1974, I bought the paint from the local Ford/ NH dealer. It was pretty pricey at the time as I remember. When I was done it looked pretty good, but Dad jumped all over me for messing up the colors. He said the red was OK, but the gray was the wrong color. He told me the gray I used was for 40's models of 8n's. It was a little darker and had a touch of green tint. The NAA's were painted with the new gray which was a lighter gray and no tint. If the dealer didn't know, how was I supposed to know there was a difference? I have heard that the same paint code from different manufacturers also varies in color. Why is tractor paint so different than automotive paint in getting the right color.

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If you buy any type of paint in a carton of say quarts or gallons you always "box" the cans. This is the process of mixing them all together so that they are all exactly the same shade. The way paint is tinted at the stores is one gallon at a time following the same formula. However, some of the tints are much stronger than others and just a few drops difference can be visible on the side of a car or house. It is far from just tractors.