paint color

i would like to know what the original color was for the engine in my 55 sd 220 ? also , what about the color of the dash ? thanx kevin from ky

Kevin, others may know better than me, but my SD-240 (Silver Diamond) was silver when I got it and I don't believe the original owners did anything other than regular maintenance to the engine. There are pictures of it in my gallery (Robert Rhodes). I had the restorer paint the entire engine silver although since then I have seen others who have painted the bottom silver and the top black - I really don't know which would be correct. I did check my Line Setting Ticket (also in the gallery) and the dash color is not listed, body color is but I believe my dash was Palomino Cream and I believe it is original. Dash colors apparently varied though and could be ordered, I believe, in any available color from that year, so if you have a chart - they show up on eBay regularly, you could chose from that. Unless you can tell the interior was "obviously" re-painted though, I would suspect that you could determine it from what is left at this point, the dash is as protected from fading as any part of the truck would be. I have seen them both in matching color to the body (which would be listed on your Line Setting Ticket) and in a contrasting color, such as mine, usually an "off-white" tone, mine is whitish with a bit of tan tone to it. If you are restoring one and want it to look original, you have a huge variation you can pick from, IH would assemble and paint these trucks as ordered (at least Dad, who used to sell them says, and he used to tell me about some really odd combinations he had ordered) - The engine though looks good either as a monotone or duotone, I have seen members mention red for some components, like the oil filter, mine are black, oil filter, air filter, starter, radiator etc, but the main engine color for SD, I believe is silver. I'm guessing BD was blue (blue diamond) and GD was green (green diamond) - that last though I'm just guessing, I have not seen those in "unrestored condition" - Bob

The SD 220 was definitely silver. There was also a decal on the drivers side of the valve cover that had 220 and some other writing on it. IH did have 220's that were re-manufactured by IH and they were painted red to distinguish them from original equipment. Not pushing any product, but i used Bill Hirsch engine paint, silver. it has a high silicone content and holds up really well. It can also be touched up easily. a bit pricy but when you pay peanuts you get monkeys.( http://www.hirschauto.com/prodinfo.asp?number=EE-QUART ) On the dash, check the back side as it will still be the same color as it came from the factory most likely. The cream color was the same through many years starting with the L line. I know the paint color was called magnolia ivory in '53, but it is the same shade as earlier models and on the 56 S line we have. Hope this helps.

I have a picture of the SD220 coming off the assembly line in my gallery. The L's dash was hammered gray/silver, the R's dash was cream.

The dash in my L110 was silver and the body was black all over. The SD220 engine was covered in grime, grease and oil, but appeared to be silver under that.

Every L-series I've seen that wasn't repainted had a hammered silver finish on the dash. And every R-series I've seen that wasn't repainted had the cream finish on the dash.