No one knows for an absolute certainty as to why the traditional Power Red/Power White colour scheme abruptly changed sometime in 1983 and continued to the end of the 1984 production year.
We can speculate that there was pressure from Racine (Case headquarters) on Bill Shlapman at the Winneconne plant to change the paint scheme thanks to Case buying out International Harvester's failing agricultural division. Whether there is any truth to that remains to be proven.
We do know that the Black Frame tractors were short-lived and anything that is short-lived means that it will eventually become highly collectible. I have been banging that drum now for several years and apparently some people are beginning to take notice. The Black Frame tractors all came with a white seat to set them apart. In addition, all of the correct attachments for this time frame were painted Power White. Decks, snow blowers, plow blades, rototillers, log splitters etc. Interestingly, the options such as hitches, rear PTO's, holding valves and Flow Control Valves were painted a matching black.
As time moves on, more and more of the Black Frame models will disappear forever, due to being junked, parted out or other tragic mishap. The remaining ones will become more and more prized as a collectible. These were all CASE tractors, not Ingersoll. Yes, Jack Ingersoll bought the division from Case right at this time but make no mistake. Jack just continued to make CASE tractors for CASE until 1987 when the Ingersoll name appeared on the tractors all by itself.
Right now, no one is putting any special emphasis on the Black Frame models except for me. Some people dislike this colour scheme while others love it. But no one is asking a premium price because their tractor is a Black Frame 1983 opposed to a Red Frame 83. In my opinion, that will change in the next 10 years. Watch, wait and see. History has a tendency to repeat itself. No one wanted anything to do with the JD Custom Color Series (Patio) tractors for the longest time and now today, a pristine seat alone for one of these models will bring up to $1000.00 due to its rarity.