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I want to paint the interior of my 59 Apache with the Comanche Gold Metallic and Charcoal Gray like Jim Karras did with his 59. I PM'd him but he hasn't responded. Does anybody know which of the two colors the gas tank and the heater should be painted?

Thanks!!!


From one of his posts:
The following item should all be painted Charcoal Gray:

Steering column
Steering wheel column bracket
Steering wheel
Dash top
Dash face above the role
Emergency brake handle
Emergency brake handle bracket
Step well floors
Cab floor
Clutch pedal
Brake pedal
Accelerator pedal
Bench seat frame and purch
Tire jack mount

The item below should be painted in the gold color:

Interior doors
Kick panels
Dash front
Vent covers
Door jams

in my experience with quite a few 55-59 trucks from different plants the gas tanks weren't painted, they were galvanized when made and installed after interior paint - heaters were supplied by Harrison, already painted a hammertone gray lighter than the charcoal

just remembered there's a low mile original in the gallery you could refer to, doesn't seem to have a heater, and looks like the gas tank may have been interior color, although it's a Canadian truck

Bill

Thanks Bill! I had to put a new heater core in, so I painted my heater after that, and put the decal on the side. Guess I will cover it up as-is when I go to paint the interior. Getting a new gas tank next week, so I will leave it as-is also.

The heater box is always painted a hammered finish dark gray.
The gas tank will be the gold color or what ever the rest of the inside of cab is. The floor is charcoal gray as are the steps.
Some of this is correct
http://www.59apache.com/comanche.html

Truckrolet,

Yes, that is the site I've been looking at....but I didn't see any pics of the heater nor the gas tank in any of them.....the back wall of the truck is grey, the floor is blue....since the gas tank sits on the floor but is parallel to the back wall, that's why I wondered what color to paint it.... i.e. is it part of the floor or part of the back wall?

Thanks

look at this picture of original parts, gas tank doesn't look painted to me .... and not unusual for a California truck to not have a heater

if your floor was blue under the tank, it's not original, floors were dark [charcoal] gray - and if the back cab wall was painted interior color, it indicates the interior was painted before the tank was installed, it wasn't "part" of anything - the tanks were installed when the truck was being assembled, well after any painting on the cab, and as identical tanks went into all different models for 5 different years, with different interior colors, they were the "natural" grayish galvanize color

Bill

Thanks Bill.

My truck actually has a black dash and the entire rest of the truck interior is a dark navy blue. It also has black knobs. I am restoring it to the Deluxe version, chrome knobs, two-tone colors. Haven't decided about the seat cover yet.

Iv'e never seen any GM truck with a painted tank from the factory, unless they were installed in the cab before it was painted, and then if any paint was on the tank, it was just overspray around the edges.

The tank in my 45 GMC was like that. The truck was green from the factory & the tank was mostly bare galvanized metal with green around the edges.

Thanks JeffL

There are some interior pics of my '59 here.
http://s171.photobucket.com/user/durwoods78/library/1959%20Chevy%20Apache%203600?sort=3&page=1
I tried my best to put it back like original. I do remember my gas tank was not painted but it did have lots of overspray on it.

Nice job!!!! Is that the Comanche Gold Metallic and Charcoal Grey or some other combo?

Thanks for posting the pics, that helps!

It's actually 64-66 metallic beige and I'm pretty sure I got it from Jim Carters truck parts online. The charcoal grey is my own concoction of grey and black Van Sickle tractor paint that I mixed up to match the old paint in my interior.
The beige was a premixed paint that needs no hardener or catalyst. But I found that when I added hardener it gave it more gloss and made the paint harder. So you can do that if you like the glossier look. The original probably wasn't very glossy.
Darren