Brian Hart Engine Color

[Earley Motorsports]

Hi all. I am restoring my 1970 Lynx FF which has a Brian Hart Cortina 1600 in it. Does anyone know what color Hart engines used on their cast iron motors? I have seen one picture and the supposedly Hart motor was light blue. Just trying to confirm so I can get this one-off car close as possible to the way it was in 1970 when Bob Riley built it.

Thanks in advance.

[Earley Motorsports]

Bump

[tlracer]

The only period colour photo I can find is this link:

https://rodrigomattardotcom.files.wo...ees-f2-005.jpg

The block there is bright red and would have been iron. Not many years later Brian moved to using alloy blocks for the 420R/420S which didn't need paint. Unfortunately most Hart engine pics are of those!

[Earley Motorsports]

Thanks Tim. Interesting. That is the only coloured period photo I have seen. Most are black and white or as you stated aluminum blocks. The light blue I have seen have been on apparent Hart motors from restorations but that was only on two. Thanks.

[tlracer]

The following is just my guess, but the blue engines may be as a result of the development work Brian Hart did for Ford on the BDA/BDG/etc. as blue was Ford's standard block colour around that time?

[Earley Motorsports]

Yes Ford blue was used a lot but was normally a darker closer to Royal blue. What I had seen was a lighter Niue more like sky blue. Thanks for your input.

[tlracer]

I've had another delve into this and I can see a couple of engines in pale blue but, as you mentioned, these have been rebuilt so may not be the original colour. I did find these though, which are red:

https://www.classicdigest.com/spare_...-other-/156875 - Brian Hart BDA
https://racecarsdirect.com/Advert/De...tic-bda-engine - Built by George Wadsworth, ex Brian Hart builder

Also, going back to the Surtees picture I found this thread. Around half way down is some information from David Dixon, who built most of the Hart engines that were used by Surtees. Whilst not confirming colour, it does seem to confirm the engine in that picture is definitely a Hart unit in period, so should be as reliable as anything on colour:

https://historicmotorsportcentral.co...rth-bd-engine/