Asking for a friend of mine who is detailing his engine and bay. He also owns a 72 Cutlass Supreme convertible. He is in need of the correct color for the alternator impeller /cooling fan blade. Can someone please let me know if it should be Cadmium gold or Anthracite grey. Using these just for color reference. Thanks all !

 

I can tell you it's definitely NOT gold.

 

So, not Cadmium plated. So possibly either Cast grey or black ?

 

Not gold cad or gold zinc. I would go with either silver cad or zinc plate. Caution, cad is toxic even in small amounts.

 

The truth is, I'm not really sure what kind of plating was used in 1972, only that I absolutely know it wasn't gold. Many 60's-70's GM fans were like galvanized. I've had NOS fans like that. Some are like a shinier silver/zinc? Definitely not black, not cast grey. If I get a chance I'll take some pics of NOS alt fans I have.

 

I have many original alternators, and the original finish has long worn off. But on many when the pulley was removed it revealed gold cadmium plating. I believe they would come either silver, gold or zinc, depending on what the manufacturer was using at the time. They were never black as mentioned, but I have to disagree they were never gold.

 

I would love to see the pics if possible.

 

Ok...I'll have to dig them out or look through my pics more. As you know, fans + pulleys were plated separately and differently. I've got NOS fans and pulleys here, some pulleys were more gold-ish plated. I've never, ever seen a gold fan on a GM of that era. It's possible that if you removed a pulley that was gold-ish plated, the fan may have retained some of that color. It's possible some Canadian fans may have been gold plated. I've sold many NOS Alt fans and pulleys to people on this site like Patton. Most GM mid/late 60's fans are like galvanized, like a galvanized pail. It seems as the 70's came in they were maybe plated differently, or just brighter...smoother...not mottled like galvanized. I have some NOS like 64 'vette fans here that are almost like chrome! I'll look around. Meanwhile here's a link to an NOS I think 70 GM alt on ebay. This one looks like the galvanized type. I'll put a pic up from my files of a well used 70 open face...looks like the galvanized type. If you search ebay for NOS GM alt fan, there are more of the galvanized type. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-OEM-Del...RYWYjE&vxp=mtr

 

I added more pics + info on a separate post.

 

Could you please send me the .Forum link for the additional Alternator pictures, Thanks Tony ( ragtopblue )