Blue Engine in ‘72 K10

[MAGGEE]

The engine (350) in my’72 K10 is painted blue. Any chance it came from the factory like that?

[Redneck Rydes]

Nope, GM went blue in 1977, and black around 1983,

[MAGGEE]

Thanks. I suspect it is not the original motor. Can’t imagine why it would have been painted blue.
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[Steeveedee]

Could be a Target engine. They were painted corporate blue back in the '70s and '80s. I put many of those in cars and trucks. They were cheap, something like $700 in the crate from the dealer.

[liftlawssuck]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

Could be a Target engine. They were painted corporate blue back in the '70s and '80s. I put many of those in cars and trucks. They were cheap, something like $700 in the crate from the dealer.

My Target Master motor was black but it was also bought around 91 and it was $1200. Cool to see the progression of blue and $700 to black and more $$$. Lol Still have that motor.

[special-K]

I have some original orange Goodwrench small block valve covers. They are post-72. Not sure what year.

[Redneck Rydes]

When I worked at GM we used to have a suggestion system,where employees could fill out a sheet to suggest better ideas to save the company money,so my friend decided to fill one out in 1982 ish,to have GM paint the engines black,because people were complaining about valve covers leaking oil and the oil would show on the blue engine,so if the engines were painted black,you would not see the seeping oil,so that is why the engines went to black in the 80's

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by Redneck Rydes

When I worked at GM we used to have a suggestion system,where employees could fill out a sheet to suggest better ideas to save the company money,so my friend decided to fill one out in 1982 ish,to have GM paint the engines black,because people were complaining about valve covers leaking oil and the oil would show on the blue engine,so if the engines were painted black,you would not see the seeping oil,so that is why the engines went to black in the 80's

They should have paid you enough to retire, with some small fraction of the cost savings!

Where I used to work has a lot of high bays. The roll up doors were as tall as 50 feet, and they were all painted dark gray. One of the electrical techs put in a suggestion to paint them all gloss white to reflect more heat. He was awarded 10% of one year's worth of the calculated drop in the electric bill. He wouldn't say how much it was, but I'm sure that the company's electric bill was in the millions.