need some advice on restoring

[drb51truck]

I have started on my truck and need to no should I undercoat or not and what type of paint that I should use on the body and frame to be with in the AACA. 2. My wood in my bed is the origanal but some how as been painted body color. Should I some how save the wood that has some small splits and that the paint may not come off to be abel to stain black or just go ahead and replace to look new show quilaty to go with the new face lift.

[Guest BJM]

No need to undercoat, especially a truck that is a hobby interest and not to be driven in snow and rain, etc. The proper chassis color is, well, called chassis black and can be obtained from Eastwood and other old car hobby suppliers. You have probably heard of the products that prevent rust, come in black as a color and can be topcoated with still more black paint. The bottom line is do not undercoat, it is not necessary and you will get more then adequate protection from rust prevention coatings and high quality chassis black paint.

Regarding the wood in the bed, you own a truck that is extremely well supported by aftermarket suppliers. You can almost build a 51 Chevy from a catalog now-a-days. In other words, there are beautiful replacement wood kits including the stainless strips that you can buy to replce your original wood. However, you can carefully remove your boards and maybe, likely - the paint has preserved them so that they can be used, which would be neat in a way.

You would need to strip them of course and selectively use putty to fill splits and such. The hardware retaining them should be replaced. The final judgement would be: Do the restored boards take away visually from the overall restoration? or would they be presentable restored? If they look good, use them. You can remove them and "restore" them to the best possible condition before deciding to go with them or use a brand new bed.

Hope that helps.

[wldavis]

drb,

(My two cents)...Most likely, your truck came stock with pine boards -

but I could be wrong - If that is the case, I would not "restore" with

oak or some exotic wood. You might also, after disassy, turn your

boards over and clean them and they would probably look fine if finished

with a clear stain/sealer.

[Restorer32]

Is there any real evidence that ANY pickup came from the factory with varnished boards? Wern't they all originally painted? I know varnished bed boards are accepetd in AACA competition but were they ever original? Kinda like the painted Chevrolet logo on '55-'57 valve covers. They were never highlighted from the factory regardless what numerous "experts" will tell you. Bottom line. restore it the way you want it.

[drb51truck]

Restorer32

That's funny that varnished boards are accepted, Because I had more questions regarding my body painted boards that are still the original 51 boards that should of been painted "stained" black