The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed 41-46 bed wood originally only painted on top?

I have heard that the bed wood in 41-46 trucks was painted black.

The underside of my truck's bed wood seems to be treated with some kind of dark colored preservative. This side is in perfect condition but not even a single tiny speck of paint is present.

The top side of the bed wood is well roughed up and dented from use and any finish has been long obliterated.

Since these trucks supposedly had painted bed wood, but no paint is present on the underside of my example, I wonder, was only the top side originally painted?

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likely the wood was painted after being assembled as a complete floor, top only ... the underside of yours may have been treated by an owner sometime along the way or maybe it got a good coat of road spray from oiled dirt roads common back in the day

Bill

Thanks for the info. That makes sense.