The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk How can I know what my truck looked like when it was new???

I have a 54 3100 that is in great shape to be rebuilt or restored. I bought it from the niece of the guy that bought it new. I have asked for any pictures they might have when it was new so I could make sure I restore it back to that. They can't find a picture from back then.
How can I see what my truck probably looked like out of the factory? Were the bumpers white or black, was the grill body color or white, what color were the hubcaps, things like that.
Any info of where I could find that would be great.
Thanks,
Roger

A lot of those questions don't have ez answers. There were "standard" piickups, and there were "deluxe" pickups. Deluxe pickups usually had chrome, while standard pickups usually had painted trim. There are other differences.

Start by requesting a "Restoration Kit" from Chevy. There is a recent tech tip that has the phone number, and the snail mail address. The restoration kit might give you the information of Date produced, date first sold, dealership which sold your vehicle, options the truck was sold with, and other general information about pickups from 1954. Best of all it is "FREE". Many of your questions might be answered by that information. The rest will be answered here. Congratulations and good luck.

Roger, it would seem that if you're the second owner then perhaps there were no major changes. For example, unless someone had big plans for the truck then they probably didn't change from painted bumpers to chrome ones... which means that your grille wuld be painted as well... so your truck is probably "standard"... however, if you now have chrome bumpers then it may have had other options like chrome hubcaps, grille, etc.

I dunno, just trying to throw a bit of logic into the equation.

The grille was most likely painted body color, with white inner bars. The chrome grill was a rare option from what I understand. This was due to the high cost of chroming that design grille.

Rogedr,

As suggested above, the Restoration Pack is the place to start (for free). If you want to spend a little money, the Salesman Truck Data Book has been reproduced and is available from most of the reproduction parts vendors. All the questions you asked are answered in either of these documents.

Here are photos of original 1954 Chevrolet Truck postcards (click each picture in the center and it will enlarge two times). You will find a variety of factory documents on my website (links are below). Most of the pictures in factory documents are artists' renderings, not photographs. Sometimes the artists' renderings are affected by "artistic license" or slight mistakes.

The most common grills in 1954 were body color with Thistle Gray inner-bar color. Chrome grills became available again in 1954 (nickle/chrome items were discontinued during the Korean Conflict). The lower grill bar and parking light panels were painted body color on the chromed grill and the inner bars were white. Bumpers were Anvil Gray or chrome. On pickup trucks, a rear bumper, painted or chromed, was an option (not standard) and had a new design in 1954.

Tim

What, you don't have a time machine so you can go back and look?

Part of the fun of restoring a truck is trying to determine what it started out looking like. You've received a lot of good advice from the other guys. I'd also suggest doing some forensic work on the truck itself. As you mak preparations to paint, sand down carefully and you might see the original colors beneath the current colors. Also, as you remove trim, etc., there is often the original finish underneath. Have fun!!

Good point, Tom. When i removed the center strip off of the hood of my 50, i was surprised to see that is was orginally painted Seacrest green, not rust like i first thought.