That normal for the paint to burn off in that area because it gets hotter than the exhaust manifold.

The "Gas Meter Gray" paint will burn on the exhaust ports of the cylinder head as Gene stated, and so will most of the other engine paint on the market that is not formulated as high temp. paint.

You may be interested in a paint being sold as ceramic paint by EASTWOOD, It looks nice and dark and is listed as Chevrolet Gray but the picture shows what looks like a SBC valve cover, I'll see if I can pull up a picture....


EW Ceramic Engine Paint Chevy Gray Qt.1929-52
Item #51625 ZP

Only $32.99

Eastwood's Ceramic Engine Enamels provide a beatiful factory look finish that is super-durable and will withstand tempertures up to 650F. Developed using the latest ceramic nano-technology integrated with silicone alkyds, this is the new standard in engine coatings. Each color is replicated after the original color for that deep rich factory look. The ceramic nano-technology ensures that your motor will be protected and resist small chips, chemicals and heat. In fact this is the highest temperature range in the industry, 650F! NOT FOR USE ON EXHAUST MANIFOLDS OR HEADERS
BUT the info says it is NOT for Exhaust Manifolds Check out some of their powder coat paings.

Obviously that isn’t the actual color, the tint of the background is a clue to that. I doubt if they went out and found lavender poster board to use as a back ground, my guess is that it was simply white. So that lets me play around with it in Photoshop to take out the background tint. I found a pretty good color balance but even then the cover remains a very dark gray. I’d like to try some of it for my comparison chart. I haven’t looked at the price yet but with the word “ceramic” in the name you can bet it’s gonna be a bit more than their rattle can enamel which already is about three times as much as a can of Rustoleum. Most any enamel can withstand upwards of 300° so I wouldn’t worry about using Krylon or Rustoleum or any hardware store spray paint on an engine. If your old Stovebolt is getting up to 300° you best take a look under the hood and see if any of the parts are still attached.
As most everyone agrees, The Filling Station gray is very close but from the washed out chalky bits of gray that were left on my original 216 sheet metal I still think it could be a bit darker.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

This is close to what it looks like in sunlight:

The actual paint that is sold by The Filling Station almost looks black with a touch of dark blue. I have a paint mixing stick somewhere with the paint sold by The Filling Station back 5 or 6 years ago. It is a bit darker than this paint from Eastwood, but this is close enough for Govt. work, a whole lot better than the battleship gray that was sold by Bill H. back then.