E-Z Paint Color History Question

[w30bob]

Hi Guys,

  I picked up a nice E-Z from ePay the other day because I love that blue color they came in.  I'm not a real fan of the smaller saws, but this one looked nice so I figured why not.  I haven't spent much time cleaning it up yet, but I'll get there.  Looks to be complete with the exception of one muffler bolt, and I got a dozen of them on the way.  The goofy aqua blue handle is weird, so not sure what Homelite was thinking back in the day, but I love the white pinstripes on the top edges of the saw.  They definitely paid attention to detail back then.  

  So here's my question........I see that where the paint is chipped (2nd pic) that it's red underneath.  I thought Homelites went from Blue to Red, not the other way around.......so why would the factory have painted blue over red?  For a Homelite of this vintage I have to say I'm impressed with how well the paint stuck to this saw, so I'm guessing it wasn't used much  and spent much of it's life inside and didn't see the large temperature swings that makes the aluminum contract and expand and makes the non-flexible paint fall off.  So if anyone knows the history of the paint colors I'd love to hear it.  Or if that has been discussed in detail already on here just point me in the right direction.  I looked in the paint section, but didn't see a post on the history of the colors, unless I missed it.  I'll attach a few pics of the saw so you can see what I'm talking about.  

thanks,
bob

[ronaldt]

I never cared for the off green colored handles either. As far as the blue over red, who knows. That one is probably a mystery.

[kevinm1980]

I'm guessing parts have been replaced and were painted to match, back in the day homelite provided spray cans of the paint to dealers.. If the tank got smashed and only red new parts the dealer would have painted to match with old fashioned lead based paint

[MI Old Saw]

I have several saws with blue over red. I think Homelite's marketing alternated betwen the colors in the late 60's and early 70's, and when cases, handles etc were left over in one color, they simply ran them back through paint. I have actually yet to see a 901 that did not have evidence of red under the blue. I have seen some 700's this way as well, along with EZ's, but not yet an XL12. I can't say I have seen a Terry saw with the red under blue yet.

[MI Old Saw]

On a side note, I am currently having that blue color matched, and it will be available in both alkyd and acrylic enamels in quarts, gallons and possibly aerosol. So far, the match is looking fantastic, both in color and metalflake.

[stillsawing]

Really nice saw, will likely remain that way if you keep it stored in the kitchen! Hard to guess with the red under the blue paint. 

[w30bob]

Feb 23, 2022 18:13:32 GMT -5 stillsawing said:

Really nice saw, will likely remain that way if you keep it stored in the kitchen! Hard to guess with the red under the blue paint. 

That's the plan, but I'm having a hard time fitting it in the utensil drawer.  May have to make the island a bit bigger!  

Seriously, I have a number of other red saws and parts that were painted red over blue........and that paint flakes off if you just look at it crookedly........so the fact that the blue is sticking so well to the red on this saw tells me they knew how to do it.....but maybe they just forgot.  Or the bean counters made them use cheaper paint.  

Makes me wonder how parts were back in the day.  I guess if you had a blue saw and wanted a blue part the dealer would sell you one if had it.  But if not.......I'm guessing you'd get a red part.......or be told tough luck.  Seems weird an OEM would do that to their customers........but that was then.  I know I wouldn't have been happy with a bright red part on my nice blue saw, or vice versa.  But saws were just tools back then, so maybe as long as it cut no one really cared.  Guess they never figured folks would 'collect' them someday.  

Interesting replies.............thanks guys!!

;0)
bob

[blythkd]

Folks didn't make such a big deal about the color of parts back in the day. If was more about function back then. You have to remember, these saws weren't collectors back then, they were just tools to help make firewood.