No lead in the paint. Have you ever done automotive painting before? That is a whole other arm of car repair with skills and equipment required. There are usually automotive paint stores located in larger towns that specialize in automotive paints.

And then you have the youtube craze where everyone is painting their vehicles with a roller.

 

If you have clear coat on your truck someone had already painted it, factory did not clear coat them.

As Dave F posted whole other skill and equipment needed. Get paint at automotive paint store.
Dave - - - -

 

Okay, thanks for the information!

I think the paint is original. The color matches the paint code on the door tag.

I've never painted a vehicle before, but I have some experience painting furniture and walls. I figured it would be better for me to try and improve it, than to just leave it as it is (exposed to the elements) or to pay a lot of money for a shop to do it. I'm not sure if I'll use spray cans or a spray gun (spray gun will probably look better).

My truck is desert tan, which is not a deep color or a flashy color. I think it'll be much easier to blend in the spots that I re-paint, and make it look good, than something like a rich red or blue color would.

 

1. The paint.
a: If you are going to try and match what you have, you will need to go and get the official automotive paint at the paint store. This is powerful stinky stuff, but it does last and does not fade out and oxidize like regular enamels do. It takes powerful thinners to thin it down, and you will need a respirator to paint with a paint gun. It dries fast, they have different speed thinners. From experience you judge the weather and the temps expected when you are painting, and use the correct thinner. If it dries too quick, you get a lot of orange peel. Too slow and it has a tendency to get runs in it. That is the trick to the professional paints, you have to get it on thick enough to flow out, but not too thick were it runs.

b: Some of the larger automotive stores will make custom spray cans for you. For a little bit more cost, you can have something a little easier for patching besides a spray gun.

2. Patching an existing paint job.
a: This is a art in itself. The old paint usually is faded, especially on the horizontal surfaces like the hood and the roof. Blending these areas in is very difficult. It's usually best to pick a stopping point like a seam or crack between the door and the fender, and then repaint the whole fender or whole door area.
b: Base coat/clear coat paint jobs. When they are patched, you pretty much have to do a whole panel. You can't blend a clearcoat job, because your new paint will be sitting on top of the old clearcoat, and the old paint will be underneath the clearcoat. I think someone else was correct, they had single color paint systems when these trucks came out, yours was re-painted the factory color sometime in it's life with the clearcoat system.