The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Colour questions

I am trying to do a factory original 1950 Chevrolet 3100 5 window as close to factory specs as possible.
Would any one know about under the fenders and under the hood if they were body colour or just black Painted?
Also under side of body. I am doing truck in Swifts red.

On my '52, I had forester green paint on the underside of front fenders toward the rear where road tar had covered and preserved it. It was not over-spray, in my opinion.
Carl

My '51 3100 is two tone black and green . It has black fenders which is sprayed on the underside of the fender and the hood is Forester Green which has the same green sprayed on the underside.

Pete
According to the V.C.C.A. Literature & tech advisor.
Forester Green (PPG-40509) is exterior body except
running boards.
Under fenders/wheel wells semi-black/chassis black
Under hood semi-black
Please correct me if this is inaccurate.
thank you in advance.
D@C

No Dave, you need no correction. Why would the Chevrolet factory
bother finish painting the underside of any body parts on a
work truck. These were not custom made trucks, there were
some options but painting the under body was not one of them.
If the underside of your hood, fenders, etc. is painted the
same as the body then the truck has had work done to it some
time after it left the factory.
The body panels were black semi gloss e-coated primer. Some
were painted right over the e-coat and some had a red oxide
primer coat. I've never seen any documentation as to which
factory, shift or paint line primed the trucks. The cars were
primed glazed and sanded which there are photos of this being
done. I've not seen photos of any trucks running through the
paint lines. You'll find over spray only under the fenders,
hood, running board where they painted the edges on an
original factory paint job.
Under the cab there was some undercoating applied, it was
applied after the cab was mounted, it was not the entire
bottom. If the bottom of the cab was painted, I've never seen
an example where any paint remained. There would have been a
swipe of undercoat under the fenders where mud, stones, grit
and grime could be thrown up by the tires.
I've see original examples where the box sides had been
painted with the standard green prior to assembly of the rear
fenders. Optional colors seem to have been applied after the
box was assembled with the fenders in place.
Like to hear from Brad Allen on this also. He probably has a
better feel for the original factory paint schedule than
anyone on the forum since he has parted out many many AD's
and is a stickler for the documentation.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

My original paint on the GMC was; E-coat, Red Oxide and then top coated. There is plenty of evidence from the wear-thru of the patina created. This combination has held up well for 65+ years. It will also remain the trucks paint scheme.