1947-1953 steering columns were not black (as was the case in 54/55); however, I do not know what color the earlier steering columns were painted. Pearl Beige was the standard color for a pickup cab in 1954.
However, some color documents (drawings, not photographs) that I have of a 47-53 truck interior, show the steering wheel and the steering column painted the same color as the rest of the interior sheet metal. It should be noted that sometimes the artists that made the color drawings took liberty in depicting all the details correctly.
