Poll ......Painting quality

I try to go as orginal as possible also, but sometimes I get tripped up. Plug wires, starters, ect do not get painted orange, although I think most were from the factory. I messed up on the cream on my D19 Wheels, I matched it incorrectly at the paint store, I use Dupont Nason

I painted my WD with Persian #1 and did the best job I could to do everything like original but then I also will use and have used the tractor just like the first owner did and that WD will earn every nick and scratch and I don't feel too bad about it. To me it wasn't meant to sit and get stared at. That's just me though.

  Hello Ken!!    For the last several years I believe that PPG # 60080 has been accepted as PO#1.   I don't have the PO#2 part # at hand.  And the fact of the time and cost, we don't need paint to fade on a customer's tractor.   PS Is it spring there yet???  Allen

DaveKamp, great post.

Edited by Don(MI) - 27 Feb 2011 at 4:58pm

I'll add that yes, I know my '58 D17 is supposed to be P.O. 1, but I too prefer P.O. 2 as well.

If you want the restoration to look original shouldn't it be repainted in the same manner as it was originally? Runs, imperfections and all?

I suppose that if you want to be a true restoration 'purist', you must not only use the absolute correct paint shade and type for the restoration, but also the exact same technique... AND you must know WHY they used a particular paint, and when it changed, WHY they changed it.

I don't recall the specific tractor brand off the top of my head... may have been Twin City/M-M, or the like, but during the 'teens, one company that also manufactured agricultural equipment, had a government contract for production of machinery going to the Newport News shipyards.

They had geared up for substantial production due to WW1, however, the armistice included an agreement with Germany to stop all production of certain types of surface warships.  This left the contractors in a world-of-hurt... immediately putting thousands of shipyard workers and contractors in the soup-line. 

Well, the contracting company was left sitting on thousands of gallons of Navy ship grey paint.

So they used it as the 'new' tractor color... and continued buying up surplus NG paint from other contractors as they used their stores.  The unfortunate part, was that the shelf-life of the paint wasn't quite as good as what we have now, so they added thinners and mixed it to make it workable.  As a result, the shade varied as the paint was used up, so much that one could tell what month the tractor was made, due to the shade of grey.

For the Farmall crew, I can tell 'ya this much-  I've got a dozen local buddies who retired from the IH Farmall Rock Island works, and every one of 'em agrees that when a guy blocks up, removes tires, bead-blasts his M down to bare metal, masks it all off, applies primer, then paint, then clearcoat... that he did at least six times more than they ever did at the factory... they weren't concerned with overspray... because they frequently exhibited cases of UNDERSPRAY...

IMO, there's plenty of documentation out there of what these machines SHOULD have looked like when they came out of the factory, so I'm not gonna nitpick a guy for anything aside from being righteous.  For the most part, the paint formulations and techniques we use nowdays, is so much better than what they had then... and a guy working in his shop has no pressure to keep the assembly line rolling. 

I think old paint is cool.  I think farm-applied repaint... responding to agricultural necessity... is cool.  I think battle scars are cool, and leaks are there to let you know that it still has oil.  I think hand-starting an electric-start engine 'cause you don't have an extra battery (or the battery is dead) is cool.  I like seeing a tractor come down the road with one headlight pointed down... if the farmer wanted it up, he would'a turned it that way, he probably had it down for a reason.

I'm impressed by a guy who loves machines, and shows his appreciation to others by interacting with those who see, but don't understand.  In my opinion, the essence of 'carrying the flame'... is not just to carry and walk, but to share it- pass a little bit on to others, so that they can build their own.

Allen Dilg,

I like PO 2 and the previous owners of my WCs and WD did too because that is what they painted them. I repainted my WD45 PO 2 back in 1983 with Allis paint and I can touch it up with a spray can from AGCO and it still matches.

If you want correct PO 1 buy it from AGCO, everything else seems to vary but AGCO paint doesn't fade and has always been the same in quarts, gallons or spray cans.

 

I'm going to paint my early and my bar grill D17's this year, they will be PO 1 with the correct decals. I've never restored a tractor, but I have fixed up and repainted a few. I'm never going to worry about the correct police, it's my tractor and I'm the only one I have to please.

 

My hats off to those of you that have the skill, time and the money for an every bolt is correct restoration and I appreciate them. I also like to see nice original tractors 

 

Why does it seem like there's 5 different shades of PO 1? I've noticed that too.

For the stuff I do, I like the generator, cap and plug wires to be black. I also prefer to mask of the tags on the genny and the starter. Especially on the black generator, the silver tag contrasts nicely. The way I see it, if somebody puts sufficient effort to make it look nice and somewhat close to factory, it's a pretty decent makeover. A lot of people (like me) don't have the time to do a complete restoration in which case I think a fairly decent repaint is fine. I don't care for the ones that just brush paint over the original. Not criticizing those that do, just my personal preference. I walk around the shows and not every tractor looks the same, but the way I see it, at least somebody cared enough to try. If every tractor was restored, I don't think that many people would be interested. Just personal opinion.

Ken I am old enough to remember when a brand new Allis B was delivered to our farm to replace a team of horses and I also remember when I saw the first D series with PO 2 paint and thought wow they should have all been that color and mine are.:)  

Before PO#2 and Corporate Orange there was PO#1. If your old enough to remember when all the Allis in the fields were PO#1 your old enough to know what the word "RESTORATION" means. Sorry folks, but the first thing I see is the shade of AC restoration orange chosen by the restorer. If the AC shade of Orange don't fit the vintage period of the unit its painted on it does not qualify as a acurate restoration even if everything else is top notch. 

All very valid discussion.  I guess I am not trying to put off anyone, I am sure there are lots of variations on what factory orriginal really is; that's the reason I joined this forum, is to get your input, as I don't know.  What I am reffering to, are things like: overspray on things of a different color, some things painted, while others left undone, etc.  I know this is a hobby, and many don't have the time or money to "finish" everything by show deadline, doesn't mean you can't be proud of it, but when I see someone display or parade a tractor that is cleary not done right, as if it were, I just shake my head.  It is important to note that I am not saying anything in those pics is done that way, I didn't talk to the owners, don't know their intent, and more importantly I wasn't there.  It just reminded me of other shows I have been to, and this kind of thing happens.

Edited by Orange Blood - 26 Feb 2011 at 11:45am

My thoughts on this is I'm only trying to please myself and I'm the most important.  I'm in the process of restoring a Ferguson F40 and the origional paint looks like the color of baby crap.  It's going to get a bath in Massy Ferguson red and everything will be based on what I think looks good and not the factory.  There was a reason that they changed the colors in 1957 to red.