My dad and I are restoring a 1957 Ford F-800, and we are trying to determine the original engine color. I've been told by an old timer at a truck salvage yard that the engine was a 279. I think he is correct because the exaust manifold he sold me fit, and I found some documentation on the 279 (John Mummert's site), and it looks just like the engine in our truck. The only problem is that the engine was rebuilt in the 1960's and now is the blue/green signature color of the company that rebuilt it. Some of the parts appear to have been yellow, but most of that paint is gone. I've been told that the original engine color was yellow with silver valve covers, and I've also been told that the original color was red/orange with silver valve covers. Some one suggested that the Lincoln 279 was red in cars and yellow in trucks. Does any one know for sure what the correct color is, or where I can find out what the correct color is?

Thanks,

Brian

 

Also does anyone know where you can get a new hood ornament for a 57 truck? None of the reproduction places seem to have one...

 

I think your engine should be yellow with the silver valve covers, but then again I'm a 1960 man my self. The main reason I'm posting is to tell you that nobody makes any repo ornaments for any 57-60 model. Although there's a nice looking one on ebay right now. -4speed

 

The lighter duty trucks for 57 with the 223-6 and the 272 v8's were yellow, silver valve covers, and all else black (starter, generator, oil fill cap, pulleys etc) I cant say for sure yours is supposed to be yellow but if you have found previous signs of yellow I'd say it should be.

Kevin Bigwin

 

I have been wondering the same thing for my 57. The block is bright red on the left side, black on the right side and Ford blue on the valve cover. Man does it need a face lift. A yellow block would look nice in what will soon be a pastel yellow and white truck.

 

I saw an all original 57 F100 in a local junkyard awhile back, it was a Custom Cab but was a rotted mess!
Still had the 272 in it and it was yellow, very faded yellow with alot of rust in the mix!
Hope that helps!

 

Glad you found your way on here.

Getting back to my question from the other forum; are you sure it is a 279? And not a 302 or 332?
Hollanders shows the last year for that engine was 55.
But since yours is a fire truck it could be a left over rolling chassis that wasnt delivered until later.

Quite a few big truck guys on here to help you; have fun.

BTW, to the other guys replying, the regular F100 style Y block was not used in the F800. Ford had a truck block that was derived from the 317 Lincoln Y.

 

Serial number on the truck is F82F74 37836. Any body know how or where to decipher that to figure out what the engine would have been?

 

The identifier is the F7 which is for a 1957 332 with 4bbl. That would be the engine I would expect to be in that truck.

BTW, the 52-55 279/317 and the later 302/332 share a number of external parts so I can understand the confusion.

I spend a fair amount of time with a 58 F800 dump truck but I couldnt start to guess what the original 332 color was. I redid it with my own favorites, red block and gray heads/intake.
Last month I built headers and added dual chrome stacks, just like the old days. I love the sound going down thru the gears.

As a kid growing up in NY where the volunteer FD's had all out competitions every year I remember several FD trucks with stacks

 

Great. At least now I know for sure what is in the truck. Now all I need to do is figure out what color it was. I'm leaning towards yellow with silver valve covers.

 

My next question now is does anyone know where to get the yellow paint to match what ford used? I can find lots of paint matches for ford blue, ford red and ford green, but no yellow. I'm sure some one out there has a match for it....

Thanks

 

Hopefully George doesn't mind me giving him a plug: here's where I think it talks about the paint. -4speed

 

The yellow I used on my engien was RED DEVIL brand SUN RISE YELLOW. And to my surprise for being non heat paint it has held up extremely well. I have a total of 6,000 miles on it and it still looks excellent.

Kevin Bigwin