correct color for 260 valve covers and air cleaner

I am in the process of restoring an early 65 with original 260 v8. I am confused on the light blue for the valve covers and air cleaner.

I got the recommended Plastikote old ford blue #205. It looks to dark to me. Are there three shades of blue? It is not the dark blue, but it seems to me that the original color was more of a robin egg blue, similar to the pontiac blue engine color.

were the 66 289 cars the dark blue or was there a medium blue between the light blue of the early 65 and the later dark blue.

I stripped the old paint off the valve covers and air cleaner thinking I had the right color but it doesn't look the same to me.

There is some original paint on the c4 automatic and it is way lighter than the new paint that is supposed to be correct.

Thanks, hope this makes sense to someone.  

My valve covers where also a light blue, almost a baby blue on my 289, as my car was built the first day of production for the 65 model year too , and still looking for the correct colour, there was 3 different blues used,  a baby blue, a light blue and ford corperate which is the dark blue the still use..  

Thanks, that is what I thought. I think I am going to find a light blue that I think looks close and go with it. The pontiac blue or GM corporate blue may be possibilities. My car will not be judged but I still want it to be as correct as I can make it.  

The best way to get authentic colors is to mix it and spray with a gun (somewhere in a recent copy of MM I seem to recall a color chart from Bob Alberto).  There are several blues and the early blue is a different color than the later blue (Krylon 1923) or (Duplicolor 1606). also as you've noted, the block is still black and just the VC's and air cleaner are blue.

Quote:Early cars built with 260 engines use a light blue color scheme for valve covers and air cleaner. A very good match would be 1970 Ford Grabber Blue. They were NOT painted Ford Corporate Blue. The Ditzler Paint code for this engine is 11297.

For actual info this may be the right reference:
Author Bob Mannel in his book, Mustang & Ford Small Block V8 1962 – 1969, list all engine items which are painted and which are left unpainted on Ford small block engines.

I found this how to article here in the MM archives:
http://www.mustangmonthly.com/howto/mump_0308_select_correct_vintage_mustang_engine_paint/index.html  

Thanks, this helps a lot. I may see if the auto body supply can mix up the right color if it is not too expensive. Otherwise I found a Chrysler blue that is closer than anything else I have found. This is not a concourse restoration.