Renault FT Engine Colours

The majority of the Renault FT engines we have encountered on our trips have been either rusty or covered in new paint, reflecting the environment in which they now stand – relic, museum exhibit, collection or in the care of the military. These do not however provide a clear indication of just how these engines were finished in 1918. Looking at the various manuals of the period is also misleading as they only provide a black and white image and we are unable to confirm colours one way or the other but merely provide possibilities. What we needed was absolute proof how these iconic engines were painted to allow us to return our own engines back to how they were in 1918. We knew how the aluminium crankcase had been finished – bare aluminium. The prime area in question now is the water jacket. What colour was this painted or was this simply left as bare metal and allowed to rust? Our research and visits to the various survivors proved frustrating as what small fragments of paint remained on the engine water jackets were indistinguishable from the oil or carbon deposits spread freely over the engine. What we needed was evidence that could not be confused with carbon or oil. This state of affairs continued for months until we posted a picture of our engine on Facebook. We posted text saying we had yet to confirm the colour of the engine. The response to this piece was impressive. One response in particular was like a bolt from the blue. Charles Lemons, the former Curator of the Patton School of Armor, sent our Trustee Hilary Doyle an extensive series of photographs of the Museum’s very complete Renault FT, which had been extracted from Afghanistan. The beauty of these images was that they were taken prior to restoration. One in particular had been taken from an angle where the usual exposure to sunlight and the elements had not killed the evidence of paint – from the cabin back into the engine bay. There in front of us was clear evidence of an untouched water jacket still retaining large areas of paint – black. We knew from our previous work with our paint conservancy partners that paint in 1918 was not available in matt. The black seen in the photograph was originally a gloss which had been previously analysed and precisely matched to a paint standard which would be delivered at the end of a phone call.

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Just how were these engines finished in 1918?

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