Greeting all. I'm a plastic modeler, building airplanes all my life, but now feeling the strong tug of cars. Currently have a '51 Fleetline in the works and the instructions call for the engine, including the oil pan, to be orange. That seems ludicrous to me, but I've never peered under the hood of a '51 Fleetline. I know this is the arcane kind of thing that probably only a model nerd would care about, but does anyone have any insight here? Also, was there ever any rule of thumb for Chevrolet engine colors in general? My dad owned a couple Chevelle wagons, and all I remember was that the engines were dark. Soot and grime color.

Thanks for any info!

Yes believe it or not, under that coating of grime & grease was probably an orange engine block. Pretty standard engine colour for chevys. Ford's engines are usually blue I believe. Hope that helps.

The color of most all of the Chevy engines was actually called 'Chevrolet Orange'. Not sure how early they started using this color, but I know it was usedwith the 265 V8 in '55. Not sure when they stopped using it. I know it was still being used way up into the 70`s or 80`s. I did however own an L-88 427 that was factory black.