The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Paint for 51 Chevy 1/2 ton

What kind of paint did these old trucks come with off the factory floor, enamel? What kind of paint should you use when restoring a truck to original? Thanks

Advance-Design trucks' exterior paint was Dupont Dulux alkyd resin enamel. The interior paint might of been Dulux or it might have been Duco nitrocellulose lacquer.

Neither paint line is still available from Dupont.

Good substitute paint would be acrylic enamels, 2-part single stage urethane enamels, or 2-part/2-stage clear-coat/base-coat enamels.

PPG Delstar acrylic enamel is very good.

PPG Concept (DCC) acrylic urethane enamel is an excellent 2-part, single stage paint that can be polished to a beautiful finish.

if you look at chevy duty they sell the original paint colors, they are mixed to the exact colors as factory

Thank you for your help. What do most people use? Does it really matter as long as the paint is shiny?

If you are going to paint this yourself, use whatever paint you can afford and feel comfortable applying. If you are going to hire somebody to paint it, use whatever paint system they are most familiar with.

The trucks were not originally very shiny or well painted, so anything from fleet paint on up looks appropriate.

I believe that you should use modern two part urethane paint just because it is superior to any prior paint system. You can get the original colors at most paint suppliers. Even though base coat clear coat is the standard these days a lot of folks that do restoration work use a single stage urethane as they believe it looks more original then the depth of shine that you get with BC/CC. I am spraying mine with a Dupont single stage urethane and am very pleased with it.

Yes, definately use a modern paint system, and use the hardener. Your paint will last a lot longer.