Hey guys doing an engine refresh shortly on my vette. So after I disassemble it I'm going to give it a new paint job. I want To paint the original color buy The problem I
Have is I'm not sure what the original engine color is. The only option im given to buy is gm corporate blue which is a bright blue as we all know but is way too bright and dsnt blend My engine is like a greenish blue color. I've seen this on other late 70s and early 80s untouched small blocks before in the past and also seen it On my uncles 80 z-28 the same greenish blue. Could someone direct me in the right direction as to what color was the official 1980 L48 assembly line engine color is and if this greenish blue color exsist could some one direct me to where I can buy some.

Thanks phil

 

The corperate blue is the green ish blue your descibing.

 

I just finished up my 78 this past winter and I used Eastwood's ceramic enamale GM Corporate Blue. I bought a quart and air brushed it. I also compared it to both the original color on my engine and than a low-mileage 78. It compared nicely in both instances.

 

I hate the corporate blue personally. And everyone on earth does GM orange. If you want to be original, it's corporate blue.

 

Corporate blue is correct. It won't come out of the can greenish blue though. The factory paint turned greenish after a few years.

 

Blue it is, just changed mine back to what a Chevy motor color should be, orange. I think the change came in mid 77?

 

GM changed from orange to blue at the beginning of 1977 production as the result of a lawsuit.

 

Did someone sue GM because they didn't like orange?

 

Nope, someone sued GM because they had an orange Chevy engine in their Oldsmobile.

That led to a huge class action suit, and GM painting all engines the same color and saying ANY GM engine could be installed in any GM brand vehicle at any time.

If you do a google search, you can probably find the whole story.

 

That explains why we saw the decline of things like the Olds Rocket 350 branding and the separate branding for the engines for each brand.

 

Found this on Wikipedia:


It was during the 1977 model year that demand exceeded production capacity for the Oldsmobile V8, and as a result Oldsmobile began equipping most full size Delta 88 models (those with Federal emissions specifications) with the Chevrolet 350 engine instead. Although it was widely debated whether there was a difference in quality or performance between the two engines, there was no question that the engines were different from one another. Many customers were loyal Oldsmobile buyers who specifically wanted the Rocket V8, and did not discover that their vehicle had the Chevrolet engine until they performed maintenance and discovered that purchased parts did not fit. This became a public relations nightmare for GM.[3][4]
Following this debacle, disclaimers stating that "Oldsmobiles are equipped with engines produced by various GM divisions" were tacked on to advertisements and sales literature; all other GM divisions followed suit. In addition, GM quickly stopped associating engines with particular divisions, and to this day all GM engines are produced by "GM Powertrain" (GMPT) and are called GM "Corporate" engines instead of GM "Division" engines. Although it was the popularity of the Oldsmobile division vehicles that prompted this change, declining sales of V8 engines would have made this change inevitable as all but the Chevrolet version of the 350-cubic-inch engine were eventually dropped.

 

Yeah, there was an Olds 307 in my '84 Buick Riviera.

 

There's an LS6 in my 2005 Cadillac CTS-V