I have read a lot about the 430 MEL engines lately and came across a lot of photos. A lot of them have different colors on them. I believed that my '59 Thunderbird should have a all black engine with white valve covers and air cleaner, am I right?

I also own a '60 Lincoln Premiere and will be pulling the engine after I finish working on the T-bird engine. Does the '60 Lincoln has the same colors for the engine?

I like to restore my cars to factory original so any help on this will be appreciated!

Thanks Ferdy

When used on the 59 and 60 Thunderbird, the correct engine color is black with black valve covers. Air cleaner and the duct and valve assembly were painted white. White fan on non-A/C cars and black when using the A/C 5 blade fan.

Thanks for your reply.

That gives my thunderbird enough info to work with.
It’s a non AC car, but have a 6 blade aftermarket fan witch I like to keep on for more cooling power. Already got that black painted.... maybe I’ll switch it to white.


So now for my ‘60 Lincoln, at they the same colors? I do have an AC on it, but it’s a aftermarket (sixties I think) with a more modern compressor. Don’t know if I keep it on the since it is incomplete an non original.

Last qustion, are there original any decals on the air filter?


Thanks again!

The only decal that is correct for the air cleaner are the service instructions. I'm not familiar with Lincoln details, primarily a Squarebird guy.