The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Panels 'N Burbs Wood Floor panel van

I’m sure this topic has come up before but I was unable to find any info about it. What’s the best way for re-finish the wood floor for a panel van. My wood is old but in good shape. Any insight would be welcomed!

Thank you

I was able to keep my original wood. Since I blasted my body I did a "sweep" on the wood underneath and put some wood preservative on it. On the top side a sander and some preservative and finish of your choice. My top wood was a little rough at the back doors where the cargo's were drug in and out so i put a thin carpet over it that i picked up as remnant at Lowes for 20 bucks........I'm thinking about doing some filling and re-sand and leave the wood bare although the think carpet does help with the road noise.

.....mine is a Panel Delivery..........I'm just guessing your Panel VAN is same as mine.

Thank you for the update. Yes I have a panel deluxe that I recently found in a Gentlemans barn/garage that had been sitting for 33 years. I stumbled across this on a craigslist ad so I went and visited the guy, it was tucktaway in the corner of his garage all covered in dust, boxes and stuff. I open the door and it was like a time capsule, keys still in the ignition papers on the front seat and stuff in the back. The guy said I’m sorry it’s so dirty if you’re not interested it’s OK. I gave the guy $3500 in cash, we chatted for about an hour I loaded the panel up on my trailer and thanked the guy as I left. Needless to say I had a grin on my face the whole entire time I was driving back to my shop. 3 weeks have passed now and I’m still preparing for the first attempt to start her.

what year : 47-54 or other?

If you want original appearance, the 47-54 original appearance was probably semigloss black paint/appearance (linseed oil and coal tar?).
Here is a product that looks interesting.

Maybe someone has used it on panel truck wood or pickup bed wood, and, they will report on their results?

No one has reported with GM documentation on a composition and/or a product name/number.

It’s a 1954 panel advanced decide deluxe. I think I’m going to take me steel strips off and send the plywood and re-finish with a Marine based UV coated semi gloss material.

Here is a little cargo floor HISTORY

That rear cargo floor is a single piece of 3/4" marine plywood.
So it must of been treated with some kind wood preservative. i.e. marine = exposed to water
It always amazed me that you could find a an old panel truck
that was rust out every where, but the plywood floor was still intact and rot free.
Who knows what kind of wood preservative they used back then, what ever it was,
it was good stuff and kept the ply's from de-laminating. For a long long time.
I never seen a rotted one.

The plywood was grooved or dado-ed to except wear irons (metal strips)
to help prevent cargo from damaging the surface of the plywood.
There are five wear irons running the length of the plywood cargo area.
I think the 1/2 ton and 1 ton panel trucks have the same number of wear irons.

I believe the plywood and wear irons came off the assembly line, painted black. (Check attached)

xfiles

Wow that’s an awesome piece of history and very good information. It’s stuff like this that makes us all here on this forum connected to our love for these automobiles. Thank you for sharing this with all of us.