Is this '69 340HP engine color Blue or Turquoise?

Turquoise it is! Here is my freshly painted engine on my '69 GTS 340 4 spd car!

on a related note ...

Pie tin for a '69 340 - RED or ORANGE??

All 69 pie pans are red.
Mike

My '69 340 was Turquoise from the factory. Red pie tin too.

Danny, I'll be the first to say that with Mopar you "never say never", same applies in this case.

The bottom line is that in this case until I see a 1969 original paint 340 block in any other color than Turquoise I'm not going to believe any were made.

The red Dart shown above with the orange engine is one I recently looked at in person, it's beautifully restored ICCA Gold Certified car (which recieved the maximum allowed points deduction due to the incorrect engine color). It's owned by the second owners son who claims his father bought it from the original owner after the original owner had only owned it a short time (less than a year I believe). The car had an orange engine when his father bought it so it was restored that way by Paul Jacobs (because the owner insisted that Paul paint it orange). However, he had no proof in the form of photos or any other documentation that proved it's original color, it's quite concievable that the engine had some early problems and was pulled and rebuilt/repainted and only being less than a year old the builder simply used the currently available "correct" 340 engine paint (1970 was orange in this case) to re-paint it and re-install it. It really doesn't matter what the story was because regardless of what did or did not happen there's no proof to support any of it, and being an exception to the rule it's the responsibility of the cars owner to provide evidence that supports the exception.

I don't doubt your memory of a red engine either, but as I said above, I've looked at ALLOT of original 69 340's and haven't seen an orginal red one yet, only Turquoise. Maybe someone will see this post dig out thier old greasey block collections and post something that proves otherwise.

With Red being the 1968 year engine color and Orange being the 1970 engine color. I can see how this might have happened. I would be curious to know if the car with the Orange engine was late production. It really is of no significance to me but I state the facts here so possibly someone with a different color engine will not be brow beat into conforming to the majority.

( Just for intertainment)
One auto worker to the other auto worker, Where are we suppost to stop the red and start the torqoise? I'm not sure I think about 3 engines ago.

Danny I'm not trying to brow beat anyone into changing thier car to conform to some "standard". Being a bit of a "purist" myself I agree with your attitude and actually support using any cars own original details when attempting a restoration, each car being it's own best blue print.

That being said I also believe that if your car has something unusual you should make every attempt to somehow save and be able to provide evidence that supports it's originallity. Sometimes this isn't possible due to the cars condition when restoration begins but in allot of cases it is.

If a persons goal is to restore a car to OE show status they must be prepared to offer ample proof on any unusual aspect of a car or be willing to accept the points hit if it is judged at a high level show (by any knowledgable judging body) maybe someday evidence will surface that proves your detail to be accepted as original, in the case of the ICCA a provision is made for such discoveries and points can be added to your cars judging history in thier records to show it.

If it weren't done this way the flood gates would open to every "It came this way new" story you've ever heard of.

BTW, the red Dart above was not only judged by the ICCA OE judging body, it was also judged by the Mopar Nationals OE judging body scoring gold with both. Using completely different judging formats, both judging bodies deducted ponts for the engine color and the car scored within 1% overall between them (which says allot about the validity of both judging bodies IMO).

I am not pointing any fingers. I just think it is a benefit to the hobby to have all of the knowledge out there that is available. Even if I can't substanciate it with facts possibly someone will that possibly may have just gone with the flow had they not seen that there were possible exceptions and what color the exceptions were.

Danny, I absalutely agree with that statement

"I don't doubt your memory of a red engine either, but as I said above, I've looked at ALLOT of original 69 340's and haven't seen an orginal red one yet, only Turquoise. Maybe someone will see this post dig out thier old greasey block collections and post something that proves otherwise."

It must have been a 273 if it was red!

Dad bought his 69 340 Dart new, it was turquoise as was my 69 340 Cuda.

Sorry, but the front one does go to the outlet (on the right as you look at the firewall). Not sure why anyone would think this way is incorrect :).
Tom

My 10/68 built '69 GTS has a Turquoise 340.

Eric, Thanks for this post. My block was painted blue. After looking close at some old original parts in a box I found evidence of turquoise. I am changing it to the correct color. Scott

68 come & get it. lol

There is a 1 owner 69-340 Dart, one family owned. Its turquise. The kid that ownes it now, stroked the original block and added batten w-2 heads.

Ironically, I have everything off the original motor. X-heads, intake, carb, exh. manifolds, oil pan, crank pistons.....all but the block.

Motor is definately turquise.

However, I could see in the transition of model year change, a red 340 could make it into a 69 model. I couldn't see an orange making it though.

Would this 340 be a 69 motor?
The cast date looks like 6.18.68 but it's turqoise.

Yes, 69 motor. The 69 model year started August 1, 1968 and blocks were generally cast 2-3 months before being used.