Would running boards have been black on base, stripper models?
They were in '51. My running boards were black, and it's a 3-window cab that was bought as a fleet truck. I don't even think it had the pinstripe around the belt molding. I found no evidence of it, anyway under the second layer of paint. My thought is that ALL running boards were black, and were painted on a separate line as bolt-on items.
As far as that item in Tim's post about the bed wood (prepainted as an assembly) installed in one piece. I have my doubts, as both sides need to be tucked underneath the angle strips. I suppose it could have been done that way, but it would have been a very cumbersome task, and much more easily done with individual boards and strips. If the fasteners were black, I think they may have been black oxide as someone mentioned above. [on edit] I'm rescinding that thought on black oxide finish on fasteners. I just looked thru the
29-54 Master Parts catalog for fasteners and the only thing that wasn't cadmium plated were some sheet metal screws that were plain steel or parkerized. No Black Oxide finish mentioned at all.
