Ok all, been trying to do a little research on the proper stock colors to paint a 52 F-3 (I may be a ways off from painting, but I'm doing my homework).

I plan on using the stock Sheridan Blue for the body, ivory for the grill, and semi-gloss black for the frame and front bumper, but I am uncertain about the wheels. From the 3 books I have read through as well as the original dealer literature, I know the F-1's (and F-2's) had the wheels painted body color, but no mention of the big trucks colors. From what I have seen in pictures, a lot of F-3+'s have had black rims, a handful body color, and the ones that I got with my truck had traces of ivory?

Anyone know for sure what the color scheme should be? I'm certainly not going for a concurs resto here (as shown by my making an extended cab) but I do want to make this as close to stock appearing from the outside. Plus, I do hope to get my frame/rims stripped and painted sometime soon and wanna know what color to shoot them with. Thanks

 

The factory wheels on my 1950 F3 were black.

 

I'll quote from the 1951-52 Ford Truck Specifications, Features Manual which is a reprint of original Ford pages by the Obsolete Ford Parts Company. It says the "Frame, running boards (except Panel models), outside rear view mirror, door divider bar, vent window frame, fuel tank filler cap (except Panel models), tail lamp, wheels (except F-1 Series), springs, axles, fuel tank if frame mounted, and bumper are furnished in Black." It makes no differentiation between 5 Star and 5 Star Extra models. Probably like yours, my original sales brochures all show black wheels. I just went out to the barn and turned up the lights. On my four 51 or 52 F2s and F3s, plus the butt end of a 48, all are either black or rusted too bad to tell. Hope that helps. Stu

 

It seems this site will drop words out of a post. It's the Obsolete Ford Parts Company, and the word bumper was dropped out of the quote. Stu

 

Sorry, my Norton seems to have been the problem. Stu

 

truckdog:

Sounds like an interesting collection; please put some photos in a gallery, so we can take a look.

irondragon:

The wheels on my 52 F3 were black; I am no longer using the two piece wheels, but the 8 lugs I am running now are black.

 

Yeah, I need to do that, but there's not much to show right now except a bunch of rats in a row. Stu

 

We like Rats in a row.

The words that you describe as missing appear in blue on this board and are linked to sponsers items. If you are using a blue background or a blue font they will appear as a blank to you.

 

Rats are gaining more respect as I converse on the thread that deals with F3 rear bearing nuts. Seems the rats' axles, and specifically the hubs, are special. On the dropping of words, I figured out that my Norton anti-spam was blocking those blue words since they're tied to advertising. So I need to disable the Norton if I want to make sure I can read all that's written. Stu

 

I gotta get out more! What are rats? Sounds like I may have one and didn't know.

 

Also just learned how to graduate from a new user to a freshman.

 

I just got back from the Bagerland Club's Dash to the Dells. I'll tell you there were no rats there! Just plenty of motivation to turn a rat into a beauty! Stu