Having grown up with Dextas & Majors, and been involved with restorations. Here are my thoughts on Dexta grill colours:-
Mark 1 - name badge down centre of grill - orange grills
Mark 2 - name on bonnet sides - silver grills
Mark 3 - New Performance - grey/beige grills
BUT - when I restored an early Super Dexta, I bought new grills from a dealer's original stock which were painted blue. Maybe these were blue as "spare parts".
From these threads it would appear that the true colour of the grilles cannot be established as even the official Ford publications show them in different colours. This must obviously cause a problem when performing a restoration.
My own thoughts are whilst trying to maintain authenticity during restorations the colour of the grilles matters less than the use of two pack paint, the wrong type of screw, screws and bolts which are too long and a general lack of attention to detail which, in my opinion, detract from and spoil many an attempt at restoration.
Which raises the question to paint or not to paint? My 1959 Dexta has had a generous wash with Jenolite to stabilise the rust and I intend to take it to the Pembrokeshire Show in this condition!
I don't expect to win any prizes, as the general consensus is that a lot of these shows are rigged and if you are not one of the "In Crowd" you stand no chance of winning. Perhaps I should have started a new thread on this subject to sound out the opinion of others.
I am the same.
I am trying to get mine back to original, correct screws etc. Am missing one imperial threaded bolt for the foot plates at the moment.....in has a metric at present!
I did not want to paint it, planning on leaving it exactly as it was, and just sprayed up in oil/diesel as it has been while laid up for the past 15 years.
I had to start cutting/welding to rebuild the wings, and got carried away. The plan was weld it and a quick brush coat of red oxide and then blue to keep the rust out, but ended up spraying all the tin work...Regret this now
I'm looking at the pictures in Stefan's post where the tractors have almost red coloured grilles, and that's the colour the grilles are on my dexta, not orange. It's a 1958 model with the nameplate down the centre of the grilles and the headlights on the side of the bonnet, and is pretty much in original condition. The casting codes are B10B which I believe to be 10th Feb 1958.
