Colour??

[Fixersteve]

Soooo can anyone tell me what colour my 1963 NP Super major should be?? Should it be Blue with white wheels, Grills and wings? If so which blue? Or should it be Blue with orange wheels and grills??

Cheers
Steve

[AdrianNPMajor]

Blue except for wheels, mudguards and radiator grills, which should be grey.

That's where my knowledge (which isn't much! ) runs out. I'm not sure which shade of blue (I don't think it's the same as Diesel, Power and Supers, though I may be wrong) and I'm pretty confused over the shade of grey as well - the grey most commonly used doesn't match the traces of grey to be found on my tractor. The insides of the headlamps haven't seen the light of day too often, so they ought to be an accurate indication, and it's a brownish shade of grey (not very attractive to be honest!).

I've painted my wheel rims to preserve them, but I'm pretty sure I used the wrong colour. Really looking forward to seeing the answers to this question.

Best

Adrian

[fnoller]

it is not empire blue but ford blue, the new performance was painted

Their selling fordson grey at agralines and the empire blue but i dont know how the grey looks like

The empire blue they have is nearly identical with the color on my 55' major

But dont know where to get the prober ford blue... is that the same as new holland is driving with today

[Dextrous]

Try here
this is the analysis I did when I tried to get paint for my NP super dexta which is the same colour scheme as the NP Super major.
here's a picture too

I looked into this in great detail and although many said that the paint used on NP Fordsons was slighly lighter in colour that Empire Blue, in reality I haven't found anything else other than empire blue for this. Colour differed quite a lot between batches and manufacturers. It wasn't until the tractors lost their Fordson label before the paint changed signifcantly and had a different name.

If you want it as close as identical to the original, find an area of your tractor hidden from light and cut it back to reveal fresh paint then get it colour matched at your local paint dealer - will be more expensive.

I haven't looked into the grey yet - there wasn't much left on my dexta

Cheers
Andy

[Mjg1705]

hi- regards to the blue- ford 4000 blue seems to be correct - and the wheels/wings/grills are not white - they are a greyish white the best solution I found was the new holland "white" < not actually white ! that they use for the wheels- this is a good colour combination in my mind but I'm sure there are other opinions

[super6954]

hi- regards to the blue- ford 4000 blue seems to be correct - and the wheels/wings/grills are not white - they are a greyish white the best solution I found was the new holland "white" < not actually white ! that they use for the wheels- this is a good colour combination in my mind but I'm sure there are other opinions

I seem to remember reading about ford white never being actually white like you say, I think I read that when the 000 series was a few years old guys would buy the paint to touch in the wheels and fenders. Then go back to ford and say it didn't match. apparently it used to fade white over time and loose the grey tint .
Here in Canada the new supers are ford blue and the wheels and fenders/ hood are a Kinda jersey cream kind of white, the same as some of the american series tractors I believe.
Regards Robert

[AdrianNPMajor]

Is this the colour you mean, Robert? If so, it is very close to the colour on the inside of my headlamps. I get the feeling that restorers of NP Supers over here prefer the Ford grey that came a little later with the 1000 series tractors. I don't recall seeing a repainted NP Super with anything else.

I'm even more convinced now that I've painted my wheels the wrong colour.

Best

Adrian

http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/phpbb ... f=2&t=4670

[Fixersteve]

Cheers guys! loads of usefull infromation there!

[Dandy Dave]

You guys are about as bad as the antique car restorers. Paint it. If it looks good to you, drive it! Dandy Dave!

[super6954]

Is this the colour you mean, Robert? If so, it is very close to the colour on the inside of my headlamps. I get the feeling that restorers of NP Supers over here prefer the Ford grey that came a little later with the 1000 series tractors. I don't recall seeing a repainted NP Super with anything else.

I'm even more convinced now that I've painted my wheels the wrong colour.

Best

Adrian

http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/phpbb ... f=2&t=4670

Hi Adrian
yes that's the one But Im not 100% sure this is the right color due to original batch and shades of fade it's all i could get from New Holland in town that was close. I dont have a can handy right now but will get the color and number if you need it.
The blue is there genuine Blue (Acrylic Type) 63/00 year as well if that helps anybody, It is also as close as I could get on a match to the original for this tractor model as painted here.
Empire blue is not around, and ford dealers have no clue what it is when I asked . I did find a guy in Ontario importing Bepco parts so might ask him what he has or can get special order if I buy 20 gallons , for the ones I have that should be empire blue .
Regards Robert

[Fixersteve]

Haha! Cheers dandy Dave! I like your style!!

[Dandy Dave]

Haha! Cheers Dandy Dave! I like your style!!

Part of, "getting a true colour" I would be willing to bet is that back in the day everytime a new batch of paint was mixed it was never the exact shade as the batch before. We are on a production line here chaps, we need to get tractors out the door and in the field. I would also be willing to bet that the paint was mixed right on the production line to keep everything moving along. This was not the Rolls Royce auto works where a high quality, Comb your hair in the reflection of the paint, mirror like finish was an absolute must. The day after these tractors left the dealer, you can bet that they were working in the dirt ,or spreading manure. Does anyone here think that the farmer was worried that his shade of Empire Blue was 1/10th different than his neighbors??? They were thinking about getting the job at hand done with a reliable machine. That is my two pence worth on the subject and i'm sticking to it. Dandy Dave!

[Kiwi Kev]

Part of, "getting a true colour" I would be willing to bet is that back in the day everytime a new batch of paint was mixed it was never the exact shade as the batch before. We are on a production line here chaps, we need to get tractors out the door and in the field. I would also be willing to bet that the paint was mixed right on the production line to keep everything moving along. This was not the Rolls Royce auto works where a high quality, Comb your hair in the reflection of the paint, mirror like finish was an absolute must. The day after these tractors left the dealer, you can bet that they were working in the dirt ,or spreading manure. Does anyone here think that the farmer was worried that his shade of Empire Blue was 1/10th different than his neighbors??? They were thinking about getting the job at hand done with a reliable machine. That is my two pence worth on the subject and i'm sticking to it. Dandy Dave!

Totally agree with you Dave.
My tractors are a mixture of yellow paint, and various colours of Rustkill paint, but that does'nt stop them doing a days work, which is what their for. One day I'll paint them, and it won't matter if it's half a shade light, or dark.
Tractors that are rebuilt will never be original. As soon as you replace one part on the tractor, it is not original. Sure, you can use genuine parts, but they are not original
Original paint fades, and so does new paint. Maybe not as much, but it does.
A well cared for but faded tractor is more original than a rebuilt repainted one.
As Dave said, this is my two cents worth on the subject and i'm sticking to it.
Kiwi Kev

[AdrianNPMajor]

Fair points, Dave and Kev.

[super6954]

Hi guys
I totally agree with what Dave said.
This color thing starts to get to be a wee wee competition , what is right I bet out of 40 majors in a show 3 aren't the same color .
I remember When we sold the first new red and black Belarus tractors, There was one shade red for the hood, then side panels and also 2 shades for both parts of the rear fenders, as none of it was sprayed on the same lines or from the same batch or stirred the same. What a mess they looked and we had to re paint the red on our first new show tractors so they all looked good, or as good as Belarus's ever did .
Regards Robert

[BearCreek Majors]

On this video you can plainly see the grills are the silver/ grey and everything else is blue but the wheels, this would be the color scheme for the UK market.
To me this shade of blue looks to be too dark, could just be me ( I’ll blame it on old fart poor eye sight), but who knows how old this film was when it was copied, there may very well be some “color shifting “due to the age of the original film. But I have never seen a brand new Major, so I would have to say that my opinion is nothing more than my opinion.

Pat


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz8IqKV6GVU

[Pavel]

I certainly wouldn't use that film/video as a reference pointer for the correct blue colour -- except for the opening shot. At times it looked like a blueish version of Ferguson grey and at others akin to the dark blue of an E27N.
As an aside: The reversible ploughing was neat, with the plough well set up, even if it sure dropped at a hell of a rate. But the slashing/brush cutting -- oh dear! I'd have been relegated to digging post holes by hand if I'd been seen sending the slashed rubbish into the next bout to be cut as that bloke was.
Pavel

[BearCreek Majors]

And this is what I ended up with for the grill color on my Selene/Power Major. I really like the look of it and it has to be pretty damn close to the original color. It’s sold under the Rust-Oleum brand, don’t know if you guys on the other side of the pond can get this brand but your supplier may be able to cross it over.

Pat

[ford5000y]

And this is what I ended up with for the grill color on my Selene/Power Major. I really like the look of it and it has to be pretty damn close to the original color. It’s sold under the Rust-Oleum brand, don’t know if you guys on the other side of the pond can get this brand but your supplier may be able to cross it over.

Pat

Ahhh, yes. The selene power major. I really like how you restored her. I could spend a whole week just staring in a picture of her.

[BarryM]

Paint Numbers taken from a Ford P & A Book dated 1964.

Part No. DKN19503A Tractor Blue ( Pint Tin ) 1958-1964.
Part No. DKN19503B Tractor Blue (Quart Tin) 1958-1964.
Part No. DKN19503C Tractor Blue ( Half Gall. TIn) 1958-1964.

Part No. AE1ADDN 19503A Tractor Grey (Pint Tin) 1962-1964.
Part No. AE1ADDN 19503B Tractor Grey (Quart Tin) 1962-1964.
Part No. AE1ADDN 19503C Tractor Grey (Half Gall. Tin) 1962-1964.

This paint seems to have appeared around the same time as the release of the Dexta in Australia.

[dromonedog]

Wondering if the Petrol Dexta is painted Empire blue