69 GTX Engine color ... what would you do?

[Art Bee]

I've been restoring a 69 GTX for a while now and am nearing the point where it's time to build the engine.

The car was built in St.Louis on Sept 20th 68 (the vin starts with 130xxx), the engine was assembled on Sept 4th 68 and it came with a turquois painted 440HP engnine. It is the "born with" engine and has the complete vin number stamped on the block. I know the history of the car, it is not a re-stamp.

I also am friends with the original owner and he says that the engine was turquois when he bought it brand new and NOT orange. At some point during the late 70's the engine was removed and one head gasket was replaced by the second owner (it still has one thick head gasket and one steel shim), at that time the engine was painted orange. Today you can clearly see the turquois showing under the orange is some areas.

I remember once seeing a unrestored, numbers matching 69 GTX on Ebay that was around 30 cars away from my vin number (built in St.Louis too) that also had a turquois engine. People were bashing him about it not having the correct engine because of the color. I wrote him saying that my car was built 30 cars away from his and also came with a turquois engine ... however he never posted my "ask the seller a question" to his ad ... whatever!

Sooooo ... do I just go with painting my engine orange and be done with it. Or do I paint it turquois and put up with every expert telling me that I used the wrong color? By the way, it is a fairly low mile, original sheetmetal, super nice Washington State car.

So what would you do?
Thanks Art

 

[Propwash]

Paint it original........People can bitch all they want, who cares..it's your car. Tell them to buzz off. If they're doing it about an engine color...Man they need to get a life.

If they don't get the hint to go away.........Just give them "The Rock's" famous stare. LOL

Just my 2 cents...

 

[69Coronetrt]

Paint it orange and spare yourself the future grief. It's not worth it.

Without some sort of proof, no one will believe it was originally turquoise.

 

[moparsteve636]

Big Blocks were turquois until 70!Then they were painted street hemi orange.

 

[moparstuart]

is it an air conditioned car ??????????????

 

[69Coronetrt]

Big Blocks were turquois until 70!Then they were painted street hemi orange.

The first year of orange 383 and 440's HPs was 1969.

 

[69Coronetrt]

is it an air conditioned car ??????????????

That didn't matter on the 440's like it did with the 383's. A/C HP cars were still orange.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

My 68 440 is orange but I am going to paint my 68 383 blue. maybe...To be correct though it must be orange.

 

[Red63440]

Paint it original........People can bitch all they want, who cares..it's your car. Tell them to buzz off. If they're doing it about an engine color...Man they need to get a life.

If they don't get the hint to go away.........Just give them "The Rock's" famous stare. LOL

Just my 2 cents...

I agree but I don't think I have ever seen one with a turquoise engine unless it was a non-hp engine.

 

[mattsmopars]

I am in no way trying to argue the point about your engine color just trying to provide some info.
I have a E440 HP engine that was removed from a wrecked 69 GTX many many years ago that I have keep for my 69 GTX project.
It has never been rebuilt and is standard bore. It was complete till a few years ago when a friend of mine tore it down to build a stroker. He never built that engine and I was lucky to get it for my car. The block under all the grease has orange original paint and was cast 8-13-68. The assembly date is 9-4-68 and has the complete vin stamped on it RS23L9G119373 so it was used at the St.Louis,Mo plant.
My 69 GTX was built 9-16-1968 and has a sequence number that starts out 123XXX, so that is about as close to my car as you could get that is why I said I was lucky to get it.
Anyway here is a few pictures of the block and i hope this helps.
Matt

 

[mikebee]

i just pulled an original 440 hp out of a barn,it has full vin on the pan rail...it's out of a 69 gtx.the guy told me that he pulled it 10 or so years ago due to it smoking.it is complete, original,orange,and it had the big flex plate and 3 groove front pulley....they looked original also.i'm not sure of how close it was to yours but i'll check and post.

ok,i checked mine out...it is one of the first....102709 last 6 of the vin..rs23i9g102709...i think the first 7 are correct,but the last 6 r defficatly right.the car was sold at charlotte n.c. ten to twenty years ago,it was a factory lt green,when sold it was blue.he said he put a 440 back in it but doesn't remember year or kind...hp,cast crank,or whatever. i bought it to build and put in my road runner.i do not recall ever seing a green 440 in a 69 gtx,but if you know for sure yours was factory green i'd paint it green and tell people to suck it if they dont like it.

 

[mattsmopars]

i just pulled an original 440 hp out of a barn,it has full vin on the pan rail...it's out of a 69 gtx.the guy told me that he pulled it 20 or so years ago due to it smoking.it is complete, original,orange,and it had the big flex plate and 3 groove front pulley....they looked original also.i'm not sure of how close it was to yours but i'll check and post.

If you would please post the vin from the engine you found. You never know it might luck up to me mine or someone else.
Thanks, matt

 

[70Fish]

It's certainly possible that it was turquoise as the later 71's went from orange back to turquoise so why not here?

 

[Cranky]

I think the factory tried to paint them right but used whatever that was on hand at the time. They are NOT going to hold up production just because of engine paint. I've seen same year cars with both turquois and orange paint. My 70 Challenger was turquois but it was a 383 and built 5-8-70 and so was a 71 340 Cuda but can't remember when it was built. To me, I could care less what color the damn engine is but turquois in a sassy grass car looks dumb in my book. If you're building the car the way it came and you're sure about it, then go for it and tell everyone else to screw off. I've had several try to tell me what was correct and whenever I asked for documentation on my particular car, they usually shut up and walked off. That even happened on more modern cars. Some smart *** would come up and say "hey, I like the mirrors (for example) you put on your truck...." I ordered it that way.

 

[Art Bee]

Hi everyone.

Thanks for all the replies!!! MY GTX is a non-A/C car. I have owned many Mopar muscle cars over the past 3.5 decades and yes, it is supposed to be orange and not turquois. I think that I will just go with the orange and be done with it.

Thank you for all your replies!
Regards
Art

 

[MCODECUDA]

My original 69 GTX had air and it was orange.

 

[dave5237]

I think the factory tried to paint them right but used whatever that was on hand at the time. They are NOT going to hold up production just because of engine paint. I've seen same year cars with both turquois and orange paint. My 70 Challenger was turquois but it was a 383 and built 5-8-70 and so was a 71 340 Cuda but can't remember when it was built. To me, I could care less what color the damn engine is but turquois in a sassy grass car looks dumb in my book. If you're building the car the way it came and you're sure about it, then go for it and tell everyone else to screw off. I've had several try to tell me what was correct and whenever I asked for documentation on my particular car, they usually shut up and walked off. That even happened on more modern cars. Some smart *** would come up and say "hey, I like the mirrors (for example) you put on your truck...." I ordered it that way.

I agree. They spit these things out quick and they used what they had. ORANGE.BLUE.PINK.GREEN. Its your car. Satisfy yourself not others Art Bee. Good luck!

 

[CornDog]

I say if you have very good photos of the engine and numbers prior to being built, I'd display it with the restoration photos to prove that your particular engine was turquoise and not orange. Mopars arenotorious for doing crazy inconsistent stuff like this all the time. I am currently restoring a '69 GTX that was built 9/6/68. Not sure which plant. The car was a basket case so I'm not even sure what color the engine was but I'll check it out.

Justin
"CornDog"

 

[Donny]

My GTX was built on 6-09-69 (my birthday, not year of born though) and it was built in Los Angeles and it has air conditioning from the factory, and, I am under the impression that the 440 came in Turquoise. Now, I need to find an E 440 to put in it, and paint it that color, and in a Q5 color car; it will look pretty cool! And I'm under the impression that Chrysler undertook B Body production in the L.A. plant to meet demand, and not too many were produced there?

 

[CornDog]

The '69 GTX that I am restoring was built on 9/6/68 at the St. Louis plant and is number 116195. The original # engine us still with the car and is hemi orange and has never been rebuilt or out of the car prior to when the whole car was taken apart. The 440 has a casting date of 6/5/68. Tough call.

Justin
"CornDog"