Worst and best factory paint for holding up ?

Mike M

Well-known Member
So I have often wondered what others think as to which makers original paint held up the best and which were the worst ?
I nominate the White brand Silver painted tractors as holding up the WORST.

I see some older Blue Fords that seem to be holding up well and they even sit out all year round. So these may be one of the best ?

What do you guys think ?
 

I had a white and it was silver where there was paint left. other than that it was a nice shade of rust. my oliver is all origional paint and holding up nicely for it's age.
 
IH and JD from the 1940's into the 1950's seem to hold up the best. At the same time I have seen some terrible IH and JD factory paint jobs from the 1970's. I remember an used 1466 brought out for us to try in 1977 that looked downright horrible and it did not come off of a livestock farm. Similar story with a JD 4230 brought out in 1976 to help finish up spring work. I don't know if all the manufacturers back in the 1970's cheapened the paint to deal with the inflation. Best thing you can do for any tractor regardless of brand is to keep them inside when not in use after they have been washed off.
 

you see plenty of new tractors that have the paint, primer and all, peeling off the plastic.
 
Lead in the paint gave it durability but it was banned in the 70's. Some of the replacements were no good but it took several years of exposure to know which was best. I had a can of Duplicolor touch-up paint that said 'contains lead' from 1968. Solvent based contact cement was supposed to be banned but its replacements just didn't hold up. You'd grow old waiting for the water based contacts to be ready and the carbon-tet based would eventually delaminate, sometimes years after using.
 
Regarding vintage tractors, I've not noticed much difference. Paint longevity depends upon care and the elements.

These days, I've seen lots of pink Kubotas.

Dean
 
Back in the 1970's all the 2150 red paint used at FARMALL came from Moline Paint Mfg. Most of it came in 325 gallon totes. The other colors like 935 white and the semi-gloss black, and 483 Federal yellow came either in 55 gal drums or 5 gal pails mostly from MPM. There was a Valspar paint plant on Rt 84 on the north side of East Moline, might have been considered Hampton. Looks like now MPM has been bought up by Valspar. I did release paint occasionally from Valspar back in the 1970's. MPM sent their salesman into the plant, he went around to all the storage areas in the plant and inventoried everything, talked to the paint supervisor and they created a release list for paint for the week. On his way out he would give me the list to call in and the salesman went back to his plant and made sure it was shipped.
The 5x88 series and the 3x88 2wd had all their red sheetmetal painted with Farmall's new E-Coat paint system, 20,000 gallon swimming pool filled with red Sherwin-Williams paint. Supposedly it was described as being a "Cleaner Red", looked like it had an orangish tint to it next to MPM's 2150 red. And if it got weathered it really turned orange, just like the WW#2 H's & M's did. Even some of the late 86-series had e-coated sheetmetal, probably those built the last 3-4 months.
The cabs built at the East Moline Plant and any other part painted by the supplier, like the Elwood FWA axles all used MPM 2150 red.
 
Dean the pink KUBOTA wheels came from TITAN we dealt with that for years. The fiberglass fender flares all turned pink for years. The newer sheet metal seems to be holding up real well. Land Pride as a implement manufacture, probably has the best paint set up. They use dry powder coat that stands up.
 
The old Case combines seemed to have very durable paint. My dad's old model A6 Case has sat outdoors all it's life since 1950 and still has most of it's paint. Also the newer 460 pull type has good paint.
The newer CIH (magnum) seems subject to fading bad if left outdoors. Mine is in the shed whenever its not working on the job so it's paint is still pretty good. The white painted Case 70 and 90 series never seem to show much paint deterioration.
 
You cite the WW#II H & M red color turning orange but I remember a lot of them during that time frame fading to a very pinkish red whereas the traditional Farmalls just kept getting darker and darker until they were almost black. PS: I'm not the least bit color blind as proven by over 100 flight physical exams.
 
This 1010 has spent a handful of days under cover all its life its a 1963 model
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And Valspar was bought out by Sherwin Williams 4 or 5? Years ago now.
I liked the Valspar Tractor and Implement enamel. Painted several tractors with it.
 
The last time this combine was in a shed or under any cover was 1979
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Someday I?d like to try polishing it but never enough time to worry about polishing a combine
 
(quoted from post at 19:27:07 01/16/20) The last time this combine was in a shed or under any cover was 1979
Someday I?d like to try polishing it but never enough time to worry about polishing a combine
Yes, that old JD paint will shine up like new but it will take a lot of work and time to do it. I've done quite a bit of that work over the years and a combine is a huge project. I did the hood and fenders on my 2140 tractor when I bought it a couple of years ago and it turned out pretty nice I think.
 
Paint is not the way it was back in the 60s and 70s. You can thank the EPA for the changes.Look at all of the peeling clear coat on newer cars. Paints just don't last the way they used to.
 
I don't know what to say Bill. Yes, I saw a picture of an M the other day on-line that spent decades outside in the weather that as you say was almost black. The '39 H Dad had repainted in 1964 had been stored inside since new, tractor was worn but factory paint had faded to the orange color I mentioned.
Dad bought two gallon cans of IH Red enamel at a farm sale, something off the hayrack. Cans unopened, labels clearly legible. Plan was to repaint one of the tractors. For whatever reason Dad opened one of the cans and stirred the paint up. The paint was almost PURPLE! Dad did some asking around. Parts guy at MY IH dealer said it was some special paint IH blended to be mixed 1:1 with the WW #2 era red that faded orange so the paint remained redder longer.

Interesting story about eye tests. When I took my first DOT physical in 1982, 28 years old, after driving several hundred thousands of miles in everything from pickups to 10-wheel cement trucks, but no tractor-trailers, even a year pedalling packages for UPS, never needed a medical card. I go to the recommended Doctor's office, seems the nurse had a grudge against truck drivers even worse than my Mom did after living with my Dad for 35 years. She showed me this test I had never seen, and decided I really should have failed but scored me the lowest possible score short of outright failing me. My test results were more of her opinion of truck drivers than my visual acuity. Anyhow, after my cataract surgery 5 years ago I see my eye surgeon every spring. 66 years old here in a couple weeks, still have 20-20 vision.
 
(quoted from post at 04:52:12 01/17/20) Wife's 1997 Toyota still has good looking original paint and has spent most of its time outside.

Got a couple of gray Ford company trucks in 88 and the paint didn't last no time on the hoods and some paint guy said it was because of no insulation under the hood.
 
That's good. I have 20/20 out the window, need correction for reading. Don't require glasses for driving but must "possess glasses for correction of near vision" for flying. That means I don't have to wear them but must have them "available on the flight deck" (FAA wording). I'll be 84 in May. Friend of mine is 91 and after having his cataracts removed does not need glasses for anything. 20/20. Shoots trap twice a week and competes in many pistol and rifle competitions. Getting back to the paint. I remember those pinkish Farmalls that had been mfg in WW#2 and supposing it was a change in paint due to the war effort.
 

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