Oliver Tractor Paint Colours
To have the so called "correct" paint colour on your Oliver tractor may not be easy. From my experience many people will tell you that you have the WRONG colour (or "color" for my American friends). Also many others will insist that their colour is correct, and yours is wrong.
Many reasons will be used as to why they are correct. The advice I always give is if you see an Oliver tractor at a show of your age period and you really like it, ask the owner for his source.
Also, realize that even the original colour may have had a slight different shade. You can be sure that at times the factory would have used paint from different suppliers. This would no doubt have an effect on the shade. Finally, during restoration re-painting, proper mixing, type of paint, and additives may result in variations.
There is a family owned paint factory in my area and I found that they have the formula that was used by the Oliver Dealers in the area during the late 1940's and early 1950's. I worked at one of the Dealerships as a summer student worker. When I restored my first Oliver in 1992 I was told by the original owner to visit the paint factory as he got paint from them. This is my justification for having the correct colour on my Oliver tractors.
The following are my thoughts and experience. If someone has more to add to this information, I would welcome the information.
Hart-Parr
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Through until 1937 three different shades of green were used. |
Oliver
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From the beginning a dark green was used (it may have been the same, or lighter, than used by Hart-Parr) |
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In 1937 at a farm fair show the following six colour were displayed for the purpose of selecting a colour to be used: Ivory, Red, Yellow, Gold, Green with tangerine wheels, Green with Red wheels. |
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The public chose green with red wheels for the 1938 production. |
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From 1938 to 1944 a slightly lighter dark green than Hart-Parr used. |
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From 1945 to 1951 a lighter medium dark green was used. It was mandated for use by all dealers. |
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Starting in 1952 a lighter green (it may have been meadow green, but I believe not). |
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Around the period of the Super Series and the three digit models the meadow green was used (available today at the Agco Dealers). The four digit models use meadow green. |
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In 1959 for a very short time the 880 was painted Mist Green (around 249 tractors). |
If you need paint code numbers, try the paint codes article in www.Oliverinformation.com.