Have you ever wondered how Allis-Chalmers tractors got their distinctive shade of orange? It’s not because orange was the only color left! (Although to be fair, a desire to be different might have had something to do with their color selection).
The very first AC tractors were a dull shade of green. Everything changed in 1929, when Harry Meritt took a trip to California. Merritt was the manager of Allis’s budding tractor department. He must have been thinking over the question of color one day when he traveled past a field of brilliant, blooming poppies. As they waved in the breeze, the color struck a chord with Merrit.
He went back to the factory and convinced his colleagues that orange was the right choice. The shade was named Persian Orange after the poppies (a native crop of ancient Persia, now modern-day Iran).
If you are painting an AC tractor, you should know that the company used two different shades of Persian Orange (Persian Orange #1 and Persian Orange #2). If getting the shade exactly right is important to you, then you’ll want to do careful research to determine which color to use. Later AC tractors used a different orange altogether, called Corporate Orange.
As a child, I painted my bedroom a similar shade of bright orange (much to my mother’s chagrin). While it might be a bit much for a little girl’s bedroom, the color sure makes a statement!