- Most British Fords of the sixties and seventies had a black block. The question is satin or gloss, and the reference answers it by engine.
- The sidevalve was green. The pre-crossflow Kent may have been. The early Pinto cam cover was blue.
- Several of the records are disputed. Where they are, the article says so and names what the evidence is.
- Look under a bracket on your own engine before you strip it. An original patch beats every record here.
- Price per 100 ml is shown on the day from Amazon's figure.
Which Ford engine, which colour
The OEM colour reference covers four families: the sidevalve, the Kent in pre-crossflow and crossflow forms, the Pinto and the Essex V4 and V6. Each record names the component, the factory colour and finish, how sure we are, and the modern cans that are sold as matches.
Read the record for your engine before anything on this page. The picks are the cans those records name, ranked by how well the evidence supports them and by the makers' figures. None of the Ford records is measured yet, so every match here is the maker's name for a colour, not a reading, and the records say so.
Black is the default
The Kent crossflow of 1967 to 1983, the Pinto of 1970 to 1983 and both Essex engines were black. The reference lists the same three cans against all of them: VHT's satin black, VHT's gloss black and E-TECH's black aerosol.
The difference between the records is the finish. The Pinto record says satin. The Kent and Essex records say gloss. That is why the satin is first and the gloss fourth rather than the other way round, and why the choice between them is the reference's rather than the paint's. Both VHT cans are the same enamel, rated to 288°C intermittent, cured at 93°C for 20 minutes or by the running engine, with the same SP148 primer. The engine enamel page explains what that rating means.
The one thing to do before you choose is look. Under a mounting bracket, behind the dynamo, on the rear face against the bellhousing: wherever nothing has rubbed. Photograph what you find in daylight with a sheet of white paper in the frame. Preparing an engine for paint explains why that photograph matters more than any record, and how to send it in.
The blue and the green
Two Ford colours are not black.
The sidevalve engines of 1932 to 1962 were green, and the record is not disputed. The pre-crossflow Kent of 1959 to 1968 has two records, one green and one black, both marked disputed, because the evidence is split. Frost's Ford Green, RAL 6003, is the match the reference lists for both engines. The same RAL number is printed on Frost's BMC Green tin, which is worth knowing if you own both marques.
The Pinto cam cover of 1970 to 1976 was blue, on a disputed record, with Frost's Ford Dark Blue, RAL 5005, as the listed match. After 1975 the cover went black, in satin.
Both Frost tins are 500 ml brushing enamels rated to 170°C, with the RAL number on the label. A RAL number is not a measurement of the factory colour, but it is a defined colour, which means a tin of it can be compared with an original patch and the comparison means something. Frost says they thin up to 10% with white spirit for a spray gun.
The red question
Frost sells a Ford Red, RAL 3001, and names it for Ford engines. The reference has no record for a red British Ford block, so the can is here with a caveat rather than a recommendation. If your engine was red and you have an original patch, a RAL-numbered tin gives you something defined to hold it against. If you do not, it is a red engine enamel from a stockist that knows these cars. Either way, a dated photograph of the original is how a record gets started, and the corrections form is where it goes.
What to check before you buy
The record for your engine, first, and whether it is disputed. A disputed record is one where the sources disagree; it is not one where the colour is unknown.
The part. A block takes any of the six. An alloy head on a Pinto runs hotter than the 170°C Frost gives its tins; the VHT cans have the margin.
The finish. Satin for the Pinto block, gloss for the Kent crossflow and the Essex, by the records.
Then the price per 100 ml, which the table shows from Amazon's figure on the day. The 500 ml tins look dearer than the aerosols until the sizes are compared.