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I have a 51 1/2 ton pu with a painted grill. I am having the truck repainted and want to paint the grill again. (Forester Green) Does anyone know the proper color for the back part of the grill. Should it be cream color, black, or ? Any help is appreciated. :confused:

On '49-'51 Chevy trucks, with a painted grille, the back splash bars were painted white.'47, & '48 were body color, '52, & '53 were painted light gray.

Thanks for the information. Now, have to take it apart to paint it, unless there is an easier way.

The Standard Catalog Of Chevrolet trucks lists the inner bar color as Waldorf White.

I believe the uprights are black, the inner bars are white.

When you take yours apart, let me know how you did it. I'm still thinking about how to get all those rivets out myself.

Chevy Duty sells a kit to re-assemble the grill. Looks like you need to start at the bottom, remove crossbars and work your way up. Otherwise, would be hard to drill out rivets. My painter says he can paint without taking it apart, that would be alot easier for me. Other option is buy a chrome grill, and sell my original. Its in perfect condition with no dents or rust. May put it on ebay if I decide to go that route.

I suggest you work on your original grill. Those repro ones are pretty much junk. They might look good, but do not fit. And the chrome will be really cheap and go to rust really fast. And do not bother trying to figure out what "waldorf white" looks like, the color code is not available. Just use plain old white.

Didn't mean to cause any head aches on the exact color, I thought it was still available. But i think you are correct, Brian. The color is basicaly plain white.

Ive seen the repop grilles, very thin metal on the "chrome", not worth the money to me, maybe cheaper to have the front bars chromed, and paint the rest of the grille.

Fellas, After searching for a few years, I finally found a code for the Waldorf White with some help from Bob Adler. The PPG number for DCC Concept is 90096. It cross references to a 1977 Subaru color called Plaza White.

Bob

Okay, you guys made me change my mind again. I think you are correct, the repro grille is probably cheap. Was only worried about taking my original apart. My painter says he can paint it in one piece so that would be good. If not, I think I would use small flathead bolts and nuts to reassemble, not original, but alot easier than trying to rivet all the joints, not much room in there. As for Waldorf white, may just use an off-white or something like that.

The "kits" the vendors sell to assemble the grill have "rivet" head bolts so at least one side looks like a rivet. Bolts are probably a better way to go if you're not concerned about total originality. The reason the factory went with rivets is cost. The rivets were cheaper and it was quicker to "set" a rivet than assemble a bolt, lockwasher, and nut.

Bob

Bob
Thank you for the information on waldorf white. You do not know how much searching I have done for that color. Unfortunately, I have already done my grill with just plain old white. I had talked with Bob Adler in the past about that color, he did not have any information back then.

For LONGBOX55 - Where can I get a copy of the Standard Catalog of Chevrolet Trucks?

Thanks
Craig

I got mine from WaldenBooks, which is now a division of Border's books. It's published by Krause Publications. the author was John Gunnell, along with a few others, including Bob Adler. It should still be availible, if it isn't in stock they should be able to get it for you. There's also catalogs for Chevrolet cars and 4x4 trucks that are interesting as well.

Oh Hell, I just taped the damned thing off and painted it, Honda Civic, white. lol.... Why? because I just painted my white, Honda Civic and that's the color I had on hand. [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TADeAgAY9brGSrQpcciKWHN1c!iiA6tZkMoAo9QfKHENt6yAv3GzVLhRhMuGVDBCAy47wIrzUSt6ptkariC0!eXCFEe1AP02uSr2FfdICL*4OErG*Ui3cA/truck-white-grill.jpg?dc=4675588380135152022[/img]