stock model a paint choices

H

hudson-b

Junior Member
I am woking on a 31 model a pick up and I am looking for any information or resources on what color choices where available from the factory for a truck in 1931. I just about have the chassis done, and I am getting ready to work on the body. It is going to be a very early style hot rod, and I want it to look like some kid took his dads truck of the farm and hopped it up. Any help is appreciated, thanks.
 
There were if I remember correctly 38 standard colors for the '31 pickups. The names and paint chips are shown in the Paint and Finish Guide from the Model A Ford Club of America (MAFCA), $28). Their site is MAFCA.com. The one I see most often is a dark green but that wouldn't be my choice. To stay in the period it might be good to leave the fenders, grill shell, headlight buckets and tail light buckets black like they were originally. There are computer sites but what you see depends on the adjustment of your monitor. Hope you don't go too far when you "hop it up".

Charlie Stephens
 
Thinking about a while it might be a better idea to go to a large car show and decide on a color you like. Pick one out and ask the owner what the color of the vehicle. It is dificult to pick a color from a small chip. If you included a general location in your profile maybe someone could suggest a show. If you are in Southern California, MARC is having a national meet in San Diego www.2011marcmeet.com.



Charlie Stephens
 
The paint and finish guide and looking at original cars are great ideas but don't forget that if a kid took his dads truck off the farm it would have been well used so the kid could have painted it any color from the date of when the truck was built to when he "hopped it up".
 
Thanks for the help. I went to mafca web site and found a list of colors under the tech section. I never would have guessed that there where 39 colors to choose from.
 
If the truck has an indented firewall, you can paint it any color you want. Henry sent out a letter on June 4, so stating.
 
Fordgarage has a good question. Anyone have an answer? And yes the truck has an indented firewall. And I was not there back in the day, but I would assume that after going through the depression, and being young in the early 40s, I would put my hard earned money towards speed parts rather that a new paint job. I realize that I can paint it any color I want, thats not the point. The point is I have an idea of what I would have done to my dads farm truck in 1940 and painting it would be on the bottom of the list.
 
Thats a nice document ron c and it spells out what ford was allowing at the time what i would love to see is a photographic example of each of the colors on a car or truck ,also what are the combinations for the pin stripe and body colors? such as bluerock green and??? pinstripe or menelous orange and ???? pinstripe. can we build this visual library with good clear pics and details of striping as well as unusual combinations or seldom seen colors . hope this can happen it would be invaluable for choosing our new paint .
 
rollingsculpture said:
Thats a nice document ron c and it spells out what ford was allowing at the time what i would love to see is a photographic example of each of the colors on a car or truck ,also what are the combinations for the pin stripe and body colors? such as bluerock green and??? pinstripe or menelous orange and ???? pinstripe. can we build this visual library with good clear pics and details of striping as well as unusual combinations or seldom seen colors . hope this can happen it would be invaluable for choosing our new paint .
Click to expand...

If you are going to paint any part of your Model A according to how it came off the assembly line then you should buy this book.

https://mafca.com/cart/index.php?productID=129
Paint and Finish Guide "3rd Edition Revised"

"This much improved Edition includes Paint chips remastered to original Ford colors, Improved color chips placed on more neutral paper, Revised charts and updated text, 18 new factory or original vehicle photos. These additional photos clearly identify the painting process used at the Ford plants and include; 2 additional photos showing body painting, 5 new photos showing how colors were applied, 4 additional photos showing striping details, 5 new photos showing woodgraining process, 2 additional photos showing polishing results, 4 photos in the previous edition have been greatly enlarged and sharpened for clarity and detail. Added information for commercial vehicle painting and Town Car body painting. Two new paint chips added for the Town Car: Madras Carbuncle - Town Car body color & Moulding Brown - Town Car door window moulding."
 
Thanks for all the help and resource material you guys. When I first asked this question, I expected an easy answer. I figuerd mabey ten to twelve choices. It is very interesting to me that the man who made the assembly line famous would accommodate special requests, and offer so many choices.
 
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