Today I offer an unusual colored American Flyer 1217 engine c. 1920. The Greenberg's Guide to American Flyer Prewar O Gauge lists the 1217 as c. 1921; however, the dating of the engine is based on a 1921 Playthings advertisement and not on actual American Flyer information as there was no catalog in 1920 and only an 8 page advertising foldout printed in 1921, which does not show a 1217 engine.
On page 99 of the Greenberg's guide, the listing for the 1217 describes 3 variations
a) Black body with yellow/orange rubber stamped lettering
b) Same as A, except brown body with yellow rubber stamped lettering
c) Dark green body with gold rubber stamped Motor 1217 only.
What is not listed is the following variation. It is somewhat of an unusual reddish-maroon-wine color with gold rubber stamped "AMER. Flyer Lines" to the left and "Motor 1217" to the right. The lettering on one side is very difficult to read, but it is there. I could not make out any lettering on the other side. However, the rubber stamped "1217" on the non-lighted end is very prominent. Also the red window frames appear odd with the body color as they are so similar to the body color that there is little contrast between the colors.
One other unusual feature is that the underside of the body is unpainted. I have only seen this on one other engine and that is the dark green 1217 that is in my collection. All of the other early 1201 - 1218 engines in my collection have the underside of the bodies painted the same color as the exterior of the body.
The photo below shows the side of the engine that has lettering on it. It is somewhat faint, but there
Side with no lettering
Note the red window frames on both sides. These do not really contrast well with the body color, but are present.
I am not sure why, but the roof appears darker than the rest of the body. I do note that the paint on the body appears very thin and almost iridescent in color with the paint not covering the bare metal underneath and making the paint appear to vary in color. The roof does not have this issue. I believe the roof color to be original, but at 101 to 102 years old, who can say for sure. Close examination of the curled edges of the sides of the roof, where it meets the body, shows no paint disturbance and there is no evidence of overpainting of the roof, so it appears that the roof simply got a thicker coat of paint, which causes a slight variance in paint color.
Here is a picture of the end of the engine, which shows the strong lettering of the 1217 number
Bare metal underside
For contrast, here are photos of my dark green 1217
NWL
