The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors 1950 GMC gauge paint

Hello all, In the process of rebuilding the gauges in my 1950 GMC and was wanting to know if there a paint code, or rattle can that will match the yellow used on gauge faces. I have the decals but need to repaint the one with 4 separate gauges. the face needs redone.
Thanks,
Ron

You might want to also join the oldGMCtrucks discussion board.

Rob English is the "owner" - Rob also has a very informative old GMC website: http://www.oldgmctrucks.com/

Rust-oleum Gloss Protective Enamel is almost an exact match. There is no 'name' for the color, just match your gauge face color to the cap on the rattle can. It looks more beige than yellow. On my gauge I painted the circumference and the 4 'spokes' and left the section with the gauge names intact. Virtually undetectable.

Jim,

Is it one of the colors/names/numbers shown here?

Guess I could have looked at the back of the can for the number! It's marked '7771 Sand' and '20066 77718', so that's a match for the '7771830' on the web site. I was able to paint the gauge at a good break point on the face which minimizes the slight contrast with the original, and probably faded, paint. Of course you could also paint the whole part and get new a new lettering kit for the gauge. Once painted and installed in the dash, the gauge is far enough way from my eyes that I can't see any difference in the colors.

Thanks Jim. I stopped at ace on my home and bought the sand paint was going to post the name later, but you beat me to it. The cap sure looks like a match. I will post pics after painting to show how it comes out.

Another question. I received the decals, and they have gasoline, and you can see in my pics that my plate has fuel. Anybody know why the difference? All the pics I find show gasoline.
Thanks,
Ron

Ron, both my '48 GMC and my '48 Chevy have 'gasoline' on the gauge. Jim Carter's catalogue shows a part number difference for the '52-'53 Gauge Refacing Kit, which uses a 90 mph speedometer as opposed to 80 mph speedo for the '47-'51. Maybe they changed the word 'gasoline' to 'fuel' for the later models but I think you have the right decals for your truck.

Ron,
Chevrolet used the word Gasoline for their gauges throughout and GMC used both Gasoline and Fuel for theirs. I am not sure what year the change was for GMC. You will probably also notice that Chev gauges used Battery and GMC used Amperes. I have a set of late 1951 to 53 NOS GMC gauges and it has fuel/amperes vice gasoline/battery.

Dave

Interesting. I suggested that there might be a difference between the '48-'50 gauges and the '51-'53 set. The reason was that there is an illustration in the 1939-1951 GMC Master Parts Book that shows 'gasoline' rather than 'fuel'. The illustration does, as Dave pointed out, also show the use of 'amperes' rather than 'battery' as used by Chevrolet. Ron's gauge photo may be the correct one for his truck. The illustration also shows that only the oil pressure gauge is mechanical. Dave, does your NOS gauge match that?

My camera battery is quite elderly and not being cooperative at the moment but I'll try and post a photo of the drawing later. Because it's a drawing it is difficult to read and I hope I can get a clear photo for everyone.

Jim,
The fuel/amp gauge are electrical and the oil pressure/temp gauge are mechanical (temp gauge has the bulb which is the same as Chev). I read somewhere that the 1947-49 GMC had the electric temp gauge, just can’t find it right now.

Dave

Here's a picture from the parts book. It's difficult to see even in person but look carefully at about 9 0'clock on the Instrument Retainer, part number 7.5100. It says 'gasoline' but even though you really can't see what is printed there, you can see that it doesn't say 'fuel'---there are too many letters.

Ron, I think there must have been two versions of the part, though I don't know which is correct for your truck. If you know for sure the gauge cluster is original then I guess you'll have to see if there is a different version of the repro lettering.

Thanks for all the info everyone. I got the truck from the original owner. Was taken off the road in mid 60's and sat in the barn. I know there was some carry over from different years, and trucks got mixed on the assembly line. I had a 1990 chevy truck that I ordered new from dealer and later noticed it had GMC gauges in it.
Ron

I created a thread last year for mixing paint that is close to the GMC mustard/beige color. I spent some time doing this and created spray samples that kept nailing down the color. Try a search for the message I posted. I listed colors and mixing ratios. Maybe this will help you. Tom

Tom,
Was the thread about restoring 41-46 gauge faces. It lists a color ppg deltron 2000 code 20459 oem code WA880K color sandalwood?
That was the only thread I found on search.
Thanks,
Ron

Here is a picture showing the rattle can I used. It is a little darker than my original but matches pretty close to the decals. My truck is going to be a daily driver, so it is fine for me, but probably not for the purist.

This is the color I used.
Ron