Chevy Truck Bed Factory Documentation

[Guest eturnnellbuzz]

Is there anyone who can provide any Chevy Factory Documentation that any truck beds were NOT finished flat black or body color...could you get the boards with no finish at all??? Thanks for your help

[Rick Hoover]

Jeff,

Years back, a friend of mine had some GM factory information that I read and it hit on this subject. To my regret, I never made copies of it and I now have no idea what has happened to those sheets since his passing. Many will tell you that there is little to no factory information available on this subject for your year and make of truck. I tend to agree, as I've never seen any other information, other than what my friend once had. Anyways, here is some of what I remember reading and what I use for looking authentic on the 1st series truck bed wood.

The wood was Southeren Yellow Pine and the planking was dipped / soaked in creosote as a fungicide and insecticide. I believe this was done prior to being shipped to GM. Then, also prior to assembly, the wood had a black "wood preservative" applied. I never saw the word "paint" being used in that GM information. I always understood that this "wood preservative" as being a mixture of linseed oil and some sort of coal black, black pitch, or however is was done back then. Point being, all the bed wood on these trucks like yours were black and never have I seen in writing or heard of them being a natural, or clear varnished like so many do when restoring them. As for the bed strips, they were painted black, as was all the hardware and three center bed support rails. I have heard that some metal bed strips, but very few, had left the assembly plants only zinc coated, but I never saw that one in writing though.

I have done several of these trucks over the years and I'd be happy to share the information of how I finish the wood with you. I have read your other posts and saw your comment of how the bed wood being black would be ugly, but you may be actually surprised just how nice looking it can be when done properly in black. I'm also aware of the changes in the 2008 judging manual and I'll be the first to agree that the wording they have is confusing for both the vehicle owner and the judges to determine what should be. And I do not agree with the wording in the manual of how the bed wood and especially the metal bed strips should be painted <span style="font-style: italic">flat </span>black. The wood had a satin sheen and the strips were straight black enamel.

That's about the best I can offer you. As far a any documentation goes, good luck in finding it.

[ex98thdrill]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The wood was Southeren Yellow Pine and the planking was dipped / soaked in creosote as a fungicide and insecticide. I believe this was done prior to being shipped to GM. Then, also prior to assembly, the wood had a black "wood preservative" applied</div></div>Not saying that you're wrong on this Rick, but something to think about is this....

Depending on the type of varnish that you put on wood, if it is exposed to the elements, the wood will turn black. I'm not saying this is the case, but I do know when we restored our woodie, we were going to use a good polyeurothane varnish. When we went to go buy the stuff, the man who sells the stuff told us that if the vehicle was going to get wet and be exposed to ultraviolet rays from the sun, that we should use marine varnish instead of the standard wood varnish based on this reason. A lot of the materials that are used today are better than what used to be out there. If you were to use a cheap low dollar varnish that is intended for indoor use, this might be how these boards ended up black.

If the wood boards were coated in a cheap varnish (to keep the factory's costs down), put in the back of a pickup, and sat outside the factory for a couple of weeks, then loaded onto an open car hauler where it might sit on a dealer's lot for a couple of months, that could very well be the reason why people saw brand new trucks with black boards.

Not an arguement on the policy by any means, but something that should be given some consideration.

[Rick Hoover]

Patt,

What the heck are you talking about? That made absolutely no sense to me no matter how long I thought about it.

Look, you'll have to believe me when I say that I don't come on here and go about wasting people's time making stuff up. I certainly know that I shouldn't be taking the time that I do in trying to help. The bottom line is, I told the man the way it was and what I know. I've been at this for awhile Pat.

Once again, the bed wood was black on these Chevy trucks and nothing but. I'm not on here talking about Ford, Dodges, or even Mack Trucks for that matter. And no, the Chevrolet truck bed wood didn't turn black because of the UV rays, high tide or even full moons because GM used cheap varnish. I don't know what more I can say about this.

[ex98thdrill]

Rick, I'm not doubting you. I just know that wood when exposed to the elements and not properly treated can turn black. All I was doing was asking you if could this be the reason why the boards were black?? Obviously by your response, the answer is no when it pertains to Chevies. I'm not upset, I hope I didn't upset you, and if I did, I apologize. You answered my question, and I'm cool with it.

Our pickup had a steel bed, so this issue of boards painted the body color versus black boards wasn't an issue with our restoration. Despite our large collection, the only GM product we have is the truck that pulls the car trailer to the meets.

[Rick Hoover]

I'm not upset at all either Pat. Not for a minute! I just didn't understand why you were suggesting that GM may have used a varnish after I stated what GM did with bed wood with these years of Chevrolet trucks. I've done the home work on this years ago. Maybe it was your aging process that really threw me?

[ex98thdrill]

GOOD. Not to pick on GM or anyone else, but we all know that with a lot of these vehicles built, the name of the game was build it quick, build it cheap, get it out the door and take the money. Anything is possible...

[drb51truck]

I would just like to bring up here the history of my family own truck. Some May already have heard.

I have a 51 that had the board’s body color from new. No one not even the family own Chevy Dealer can answer this. The last time I showed my truck at an AACA meet I may have lost points on this because of no documents. So I had decided to replace with nice new boards to go with the new restoration as well to be correct for the future. I have been to Rick Hoover place and saw the truck bed that is posted in this Forum.

The way Ricks Bed Sheen is laid at goes along with A member that I have been chatting with from the VCCA Club. I believe this member has worked for GM and is saying that the bed was but together first then painted gloss black making the boards looking has a semi or (Flat) Sheen after soaking in to the wood. Then the bed was installed in the box.

I have been to the Hersey Library last summer and no document was there at that time.

I would just like to say that I’m glad that the beds are going to be judge to the correct color and spies, but is there a document saying Flat Black be for, one I finish my truck bed, and two before I have points taken off?

Would this not fall under the Over Restoring rule if some one was trying to preserve the wood with a longer lasting paint or stain as long as it was Black?

[Guest eturnnellbuzz]

Rick Thanks for your expertise I guess my biggest gripe was I finished my bed in the summer of 2007 and now with little or no warning AACA changes the rules...when they were going to change the rules for the fire extinguisher upgrade this year they said they were taking a stance on requiring the correct one then turned it around and now say there is a one year grace period. Personally I think ANY change in rules or judging should have a grace period and why isn't there a proceedure for implementing a change...

But since I guess I am screwed I would like any information you have on how to finish the bed to look correct it would be greatly appreciated

Tell me what is the easiest means of contact and I will supply you with my information

Thanks Again

[Guest Bob Kerr]

I have found that when documentaion doesn't exist on a process, one has to inspect many unmolested originals and come up with an "average". I have a 49 3/4 ton chevy I have owned since 1978 and it is largely original with exceptions of the spare tire moved to the running board with a homeade bracket and a steel plate welded in the bed. The farmer who originally ordered the truck new didn't like sweeping chicken feed out of the groves and said "that feed left in there aint gonna do those chickens any good" so he welded the plate in. However the bottom side of the bed is indeed black as are the metal cross bars. There is nothing that looks like under coating or any creasote, but there is some grease dried up from the rear seal and blown back from the engine and trans that kind of looked like creasote. I do know that the wood used was "Long Leaf Yellow Pine" and was used because it is strong, wears well, holds up better in weather than any other pine will and it is full of pitch. The long leaf forests in the south were almost decimated as Long leaf pine requires fire to open the pine cones and reseed itself. Last I checked it is very hard to find but people were starting to burn areas to get it started growing again and there were a few stands left here and there. I did find a nice original 1950 3/4 ton truck in a junk yard back in the early 80s and it was the same way, but did not have a plate welded in it. I bought the bed to replace my bed sides but haven't put them on. That bed looked to have the original paint and was painted body color inside and black underneath. If it was painted buy someone it had to be done close to the time it was new. There was still traces of green paint here and there, but I don't remember any black showing anywhere on the top side of the wood. I still have the bed sides from it.

[Rick Hoover]

Jeff,

I'd be most happy to talk over this bed wood finish with you anytime, so just e-mail me at rahoover1@verizon.net and we can start from there. If you are planning on showing at this years Hershey, you should have time to make the correction, but as you know it's not going to be a quick fix. I'm sure this isn't something you wanted to go back to re-doing, but let's see what can be done.

[ex98thdrill]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I guess my biggest gripe was I finished my bed in the summer of 2007 and now with little or no warning AACA changes the rules</div></div>Bear in mind that this is a work in progress issue. A couple of weeks ago, one of the other members of my judging team took the truck bed CJE, and I noticed that there were some things pertaining to a truck that we owned that was not correct. If you have the documentation to prove that your vehicle is correct, bring it to the meet, as well as forward it to Hulon McCraw.

[drb51truck]

I would just like to bring this to the Judges attention. The link below is of a 53 Chevy original truck. With the wood of the bed painted the same color as the body. This is the same way that my 51 was painted. I will say this, is the only other truck that I have seen Body color prior to 1955. I have no documents backing this up but again I have not seen any documents at all on Truck Beds. So I just wanted to add this information to this on going discussion.

Thanks David

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevrolet...sspagenameZWDVW