Can you tell me the original color for the metal on our OEM seats? Mine are grey as you can see in the picture. I have removed the cover, and wanted to paint it the right color if this is not it before installing the new covers.

 

I'm interested in this as well. My '49 was a sort of folding chair beige.

DW

 

Probably different between Bonus Builts and mid-fifties. Mine is black, so was my truck.

 

The tubular part of the seat frame on my '56 appears to have been a greenish gray. It does not appear to have ever been touched up or painted. The truck was originally Meadow Green, standard trim.

 

Great Question! From my research the seat "bracket" (for lack of the right term) that bolts to the floor is argent. I think the tubular frame of the seat that sticks out I have found to be a light brown color. At first I thought mine was rusted brown but I have seen pics of untouched low mileage firetrucks that shows it to be a brown color. I will post pics later after.

 

my truck was pretty unmolested, I can still see the correct orangish red paint on the back part of the block even. Mine was Black and either hadn't been repainted or had been repainted and then took a lot of years of abuse....

The seat definitely HAD been recovered with a black vinyl. But under the black was some scraps of the original barf orange and there was a few scraps of orange cardboard headliner material behind the seat.

 

Here are some pics of untouched stock interiors I have collected:
a 1954 low mileage firetruck:

The same 1954 firetruck; notice the black transmission cover:

A 1954 seat; the model's bathing suit is made of the same material as the seat vinyl; notice the black (not bright metal) fuel cap!

Interior of a 1955 firetruck:

Closeup of a 1954 seat; here you can see that the seat brackets, the part that slides the seat front and back, and the seat runners are different colors, argent for the first and a brownish color for the latter.

1955 seat removed from a low mileage truck:

If anyone can match that brown color I would like to know the mix so I can paint my seat metal the correct color.

 

Thanks guys. This really helps.

 

FP,
did you ever paint your seat back frame and the seat brackets? and what color/s did you use?

 

No, I didn't. I left it alone. My truck is put away for the winter now.

 

I have photos of the painted seat track, seat back arms and another seat part in my gallery. The color I used is slightly darker than OEM, but will matches the new interior better. The color is Dupont Centari Gray.