I had heard that the GP20s and SD24s were delivered new in Chinese Red and that the paint used was not the traditional type used up to that point. Maybe it was Acrylic water based instead of the solvent based DuPont paints. But there was an adhesion problem leading to peeling into a locomotive-shaped skin. I believe the replacement Chinese Red, and probably the Gray, was a slightly different shade in the paint finally used beyond the first batch of units. I will leave to others to decide what shades the paints were.
Regarding the FT-F3-F7 shift in “Imitation Aluminum”….there were many batches of Fs after the FTs and I think the shift happened sometime after the F3ph2 units. There is a film (Maybe All Steamed Up on the Burlington?) that has shots of the 637 fantrip with the GP7 at Aurora. During the Aurora sequences a F unit goes by with side panels displaying both shades of paint….proving that there was a change at some point to a darker color….
To my eye the paint was Fridgeadaire White when freshly painted. During the 5632 Birthday Trip to West Burlington one of the passenger Fs had been repainted and it didn’t look grey at all, even inside the shop. But this was not to start a argument over the correct shade of color for “Greybacks”.
Charlie Vlk