Slant Six Engine Color

[SMART67]

Can anyone explain why my '61 Valiant, built at Dodge Main, has a silver green 170ci slant six? This car is a 38,000 original mile ride - undisturbed. Close inspection shows it is the original engine. The valve cover has never been off. The exhaust manifold has traces of silver green. I know other Valiants of the same vintage have also been spotted with silver green slant sixes. Question is - why? Why some red and some silver green? Thanks!

Jim - Palmdale, CA

[Dick]

This has been hashed over several times in the past, with no positive results. I just found one source that claimed that the 170CI engines were green and the 198CI engines were blue. The source was sketchy and the website said nothing about it, even though a partial quote showed up on a search.

Here is a link that has a pretty thorough list of Mopar engine colors for quite a few years. Scroll through the entire list and read the notes. There is one note that said that Chrysler wasn't too concerned on exact engine color as long as it was painted. Who knows.....................

http://www.turbinecar.com/misc/enginecolor.htm