This picture of an M30 engine prompted my question with regard to the black vs grey air cleaner. The picture below is from Wikipedia and shows an original M30 engine on display at the BMW museum in Munich.
Using my awesome Google Pixel* phone to view the air cleaner, it appeared to me as black with a clear coat. But, my air cleaner was a sort of industrial grey color. So I wondered if the grey was an etching primer, or if BMW used both black and grey.
Anyway, I just looked at that same picture on my computer and the air cleaner is clearly grey.
The oil canister color also looks orange or red depending on the computer screen. I do understand color gamut, but the canister colors also look different to my eye under natural light. So, maybe the color varied according to which red they had on the shelf. Or, maybe the red color fades to orange over time?
My goal is to determine which paint and color was used on the museum engine so that I can make mine look like that after I pull it out and mothball it. I can eyeball it or get the RGB colors from the image and mix up close match, but what fun is that?
Maybe the color is a Purolator brand color and not BMW?
Thanks for all the feedback. I will post if I discover anything about the oil canister.
* The worst thing about the Pixel is that it's waterproof.