engine finishes

hi. were the engines finished as cast from the factory, clear coat, or painted.
cannot remember that far back and all i see now are painted?

I don't think they were clear coated. I think they were painted with high temperature paints of the time, and cured. The original paint doesn't peel or flake like a paint from let's say park bench would,falling off in patches, but rather gets discolored as the aluminum oxidizes and with that creates areas kind of hard to clean and polish. I've never seen it being layered, like it would be with a clear coat. Sand blasting works best.