Reupholstering the seat in my 52 F1 pick up. It looks as if the seat frame and base may have originally painted a greyish/silver color. Can anyone advise as to what the correct paint color should be.

 

That is a good question for stock lovers. I "think" 52 and 53-56 are the same. for 53-56 models the color of the seat runner that bolts to the floor is an argent color while the bracket that bolts to the runner and the arm that supports the seat back are a brown color a lot like the color of those metal folding chairs you might find in church basements or used for overflow seating. I always thought the arms on my truck were just rusty. It doesn't make sense that they used argent silver for most of the trim but the seat components were brown, but as these pictures above show that is how they were. These pics are from 54 adn 55 low mileage firetrucks. I don't have any pics of 52 trucks but maybe someone will chip in with some.

 

thanks for the reply.
Now to figure out what argent silver is.

 

I don't think it's a paint, but rather a coating or treatment on the metal, similar to galvanizing. You can see the spotweld bluing and drawmarks from the stamping too clearly to be painted over, and there's no evidence of paint scratching or loss that you would expect after 60 years. my 2c.

 

Here's where I bought my argent silver paint for my grille.

 

It looks like my grille.

 

If you want to buy the paint. the PPG code is DQE-8568 and dupont is 9562

 

If I remember correctly most of the old seat glide mechanisms were cadium plated,very cheap and didn't last long.

 

Are you sure? Cadmium does have better lubricity - not sure it was cheaper than zinc - it certainly is more toxic.

 

Cadmium is generally more yellow than silver in color. It looks like argent paint to me. might be a thin zinc coating, but that would scratch like paint.

 

Cadmium as a metal is white - typically, when plating, a chromate conversion was used as an overplate. The CC gave a yellowish cast to the work and provided a harder finish.

Back to the original issue, the seat bases I've seen looked to have been painted.

 

FortyNiner, you are correct. I had forgotten about the chromate conversion process.

The company I work for rebuilds engines for the US military. One branch still has our plating shop cadmium plate parts and they all get the chromate conversion. All their cadmium plated parts come out yellow. The other branch has all the same parts nickel plated.

 

I helped a friend of mime restore a 1956 Chevy convertable about 20 years ago it turned out to be a 100 point national show winner and the seat adjustment hardware was cadium plated

 

Hi! Long time lurker here...hoping to get some help resolving a seat frame question before I reupholster. My seat frame has clearly been altered so seat frame will clear the gas tank behind the seat (see photo). The frame can't simply be bucked off shorter as the rear bolts attach at the very back of the frame. This clearly isn't original. My question is what does the original 56 F100 seat frame look like? Could someone post a picture? Mine is about 23 inches deep with bolt holes 20.5 inches apart. It's a real head scratcher for me. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Jim

 

that is a 53-55 seat frame that has been modified to fit a 56. The 56 tracks angled in the back to clear the tank

I have a set if you are looking