67 Original Holley Carb Color

[Gary S.]

Have not seen this in the archives so hope this is of value. A good friend just had a discussion of what the original 1967 carb color was with the manager of Holley's carb restoration business. He emphatically stated it was a fairly dark gold plating, solid in color, which is what Holley will send you if they restore your carb. Many restorers are recoloring with an iridescent look. The Holley manager stated that iridescent look does start to appear on the original gold plating when the carb ages with operation. Right after that conversation, my friend saw a 1967 GM ad for the L71 motor with the air cleaner removed which shows the carbs are obviously solid gold plated. Pictures attached of the 1967 GM ad and a recently restored non-Holley restoration for your amusement.

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Original Holley Carb Color

Have not seen this in the archives so hope this is of value. A good friend just had a discussion of what the original 1967 carb color was with the manager of Holley's carb restoration business. He emphatically stated it was a fairly dark gold plating, solid in color, which is what Holley will send you if they restore your carb. Many restorers are recoloring with an iridescent look. The Holley manager stated that iridescent look does start to appear on the original gold plating when the carb ages with operation. Right after that conversation, my friend saw a 1967 GM ad for the L71 motor with the air cleaner removed which shows the carbs are obviously solid gold plated. Pictures attached of the 1967 GM ad and a recently restored non-Holley restoration for your amusement.

Gary-----

The Holley guy may have "emphatically stated it was a fairly dark gold plating...", but I don't think he's correct. Also, I don't think the carbs shown in the old advertisement accurately represent the color of Holley carbs of the 65-72 era. There was, of course, some variation in the coloration but I really don't think any were ever originally as dark as the ones shown in the ad.

To wit: attached are photos of a Holley list 3130 carb, aka GM #3869933 ( application is 1965 passenger car with L-78). This carb is brand new, NOS, never been on a car; rarely been out of the box) [not for sale]. It is SERVICE-dated "854" (fourth week of May, 1968), so it was manufactured "right in the thick" of the muscle car era.

Note that the carb is MUCH lighter than the carbs shown in the 1967 ad. The coloration on this carb is just about what I recall from seeing and working with these type carbs when they were new. I NEVER recall seeing a carb that was as dark as those in the ad (and, many "restored" carbs I see around).

Also, note that one of the fuel bowls is darker than the other. This represents ABOUT the range of color variability that one would have seen among various carburetors and main components of the day.

[Gerard F.]

Re: 67 Original Holley Carb Color

Gary,

Here's what I believe was the original gold irridescent look, although this one might be a little overdone and too even in coloring:



This is my 67 Holley 3810 just after recoloring. (Sorry guys, I know you've seen this one before, but I'm proud of it )

I say it is a little too even in coloring, as the coloring was done more or less at one time and with the same dichromate solution. I think true factory carbs probably had a higher variation in color of the individual parts (like the one in Joe's pictures) as the parts were done separately in separate varying solutions. Some parts even took on a greenish tint.

I think the manager at Holley's has it backwards. They start out with the light gold irridescent finish, and get darker and lose the irridescence with age and use. Dichromate on zinc darkens and gets duller with age. If he is initially making them dark and brassy, they will get darker and duller with age, they just ain't going to lighten up and go irridescent.

In your picture of the bright carb, I think it is too bright, and not what I would consider gold irridescent on the potmetal. It looks like bright gold dichromate, similar to what you would get on a zinc plated steel part.

The potmetal parts (fuel bowls, main body) in your picture looks like they were zinc plated first, then dipped into the dichromate mix, heat blasted bring out the red and green tones. That's not how the originals were done. The potmetal parts were not zinc plated, they were freshly cast zinc potmetal, just cleaned up with some sort of pickling bath, and dipped in the dichromate solution.

I found that the best way to recolor potmetal is to get the surface down to a fresh zinc potmetal finish and then do the dichromate dip. If you plate it over, it will come out too bright.