The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Painting chasis parts color questions

Is there a thread or a definitive guide somewhere online on how the chassis parts on the old Chevy trucks (like 1946) should be finished to be considered by car show judges to be "correct"? All I've been able to find is the thread mentioning the Billiebob site. If not, is there a general consensus on this?

Obviously the frame and the stamped steel parts like the brake backing plates need to be a low gloss black; probably the rear end housing and driveshaft too? I'm guessing most of the parts that were made of cast iron would have been left bare by GM so they need to be finished to look like cast iron, but what about the front axle, steering gear and transmission? I think I've found black paint on these kind of manual steering gears and transmissions before, but I could be mistaken. What about the shocks?

The person on the Billibob site said the drop out gear carrier of the rear end was painted some sort of red: what shade of red, and were all the years they ran these type of rear ends the same way? Finally, I'm guessing most of the hardware, including the shackles, were either phosphated, zinc plated or bare steel?

I have the whole chassis on this truck taken apart so I think it would be wise to paint everything to look like it would have been originally before years of rust and dirt took over it before reassembling it rather than just painting everything semi-gloss black. Thanks for any help.

I would bet that many of the parts which you have listed began to rust before the trucks left the assembly line. As far as how these trucks are judged, well that opens a whole new can of worms. There is only one person who judges my truck and he types real slow and clumsily and is occasionally misunderstood by some as sarcastic (sometimes however, they are correct in their presumption)
Carl

Yes. the lack of response indicates to me that there must not be any judging guidelines for these old trucks like there are for cars such as Corvettes which have very specific guidelines. I'm not going to worry about it other than what the owner of the truck wants.

While I am not a member, the Vintage Chevrolet Club of America (VCCA)I am pretty sure does have judging standards for these trucks. Maybe someone who is more knowledgeable than me can help.