The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Wood bed painting sequence question

On the old trucks that had wood beds did GM paint the bed box separate from the bed floor boards and strips (since they were usually black and not body color) and then assemble them, or was the complete bed assembled, the floor painted and masked off, and then the box painted body color? In other words to appear as a correct restoration should the bed floor bolts have paint on them or not? If the floor was assembled to the box after painting, the bolts probably wouldn't have had paint on them, and if done the other way around they would have. If painted after the bed was completely assembled a lot of the wood and metal wouldn't have gotten anything on it to protect it (not that GM cared) so this could probably be seen on an original unmolested truck. Thanks for any input.

never seen any documentation, but GM didn't waste any time on masking, with the years the wood was black it would have been done separate from the bed metal - later years they started painting the bedwood the same color as the metal bed parts - I would guess the black floor beds would have had "natural" bolts, but that could as easily have been some black anodizing as cad, and the same with the skids

Bill

Thanks - that helps.