Paul,
I did some more digging on my two trucks and now I'm really confused. On my '50, the entire outer bed side is blue, even under the fenders. I can slightly pry up under the fender flange and see blue, so it appears this bed was painted before the fenders were installed. Now on my 51, the entire area under the fender is black primer. This truck had an Earl Scheib job over the original paint about 35 some years ago. I sanded down some of Earls' enamel, and there's a distinct line of forester green outlining the fender. So it appears this bed was originally painted with the fenders on. How they did that is beyond me, must have had a special gun or some sort of wand they used to get under the bed rail.
Possibly different plants had different procedures, my 50 came from Kansas City, my 51 from Norwood. One of those mysteries we may never solve.
Bob
