Re: Intake / Exhaust Manifold and breathe pipe Colours 23 series- 1950

Posted by fred kanter On 2011/5/25 15:29:27

I had incorrectly(??) thought that the '40-54 round road draft tubes used on 288/327/356/359 were engine color and posted as such last night. This morning I went through our stock of new and used tubes. As BigKev states, all new replacement tubes are painted black from the factory.

All 10 of our used tubes for these applications are also black, some in pretty good condiiton adn some beat up. None have any traces of green, gray or bronze.

FRom my observation I conclude that most if not all are black when factory installed. The photo posted above raises questions. Was this a display engine shown being put into a chassis at a photo session? If so the engine might have been prepared in a non-stock manner. There is a very widely published photo of a 35-36 12th/14th series Senior 8 sedan with the roof insert the same color as the body yet all inserts were black in production Another with the frame the same color of the body on a 12/14th senior. Custom painted frames were available up to the 11th series I believe but not 12th series and newer. Again perhaps done for publicity and no typical of production.

Even before Photoshop I believe photos cannot be taken as unassailable "proof". Although road draft tube color is not an earth shattering question I'd sure like to get to the bottom of this.