color for 1929 truck

jm29henry

jm29henry

Well-known member
looking to find some more information. According to the judging standards 1929 commercial truck colors were Rock Moss Green, Black, commercial drab, L'anse Green Dark,and Gunmetal Blue. The belt moulding color differed and pinstripe were (optional) and there was a additional cost to polish the paint. There are some members from my car club that say you can paint a commercial truck any color you want. They say it can because ford sold fleet trucks and they would paint the truck for you in your color .I know that the judging standard states that there were no metallic paint was offered Please advice what is correct and if my car club members are correct. Please tell me where I can find and verify this information . Thank you for your time and knowledge in advance.
Joe
 
The club members are correct.

I might add that should you go to colors other than the four standard above, you might want to mark the door with some commercial marking to lend credence to the "fleet" designation.

General Electric is known to have had "white" trucks, possibly with the nose painted black as it may have started out as a commercial chassis - and had the cab and back added by Ford to complete the order.

Utility Yellow is not that widely known for the time period. More likely would have been to have a utility truck in some shade of brown or sand color. Or more likely Rock Moss Green. Someone on the board had a truck done up in Georgia Power & Light which caught my eye.

Grey was a standard for years with the US Navy. And olive drab likewise for the Army.

Truthfully I think you're giving this too much thought though. If you like a Ford truck you've seen (google Model A Commercial Vehicles in Google Images to see many) then just do it.

Joe K
 
I've never run across anything indicating special fleet colors prior to 1931. However that doesn't mean it couldn't happen if a large company was purchasing hundreds of vehicles. In reality, I suspect the majority of large companies that insisted on standardized colors would have a shop under contract or their own shop 'in house'.

In either case it would include all the appropriate company signage. There is no way a non-Ford color would be appropriate on an otherwise unidentifiable truck.
 
Here's Hemming Motor News Pix of a General Electric White Truck. This th"e limited production "deluxe" pickup.

I think the green "Truck Book" includes pix of an earlier GE truck done up in a "utility box" style (even sporting an "condenser coil" on the top?)

SIA-RancherosGranddad_01_lede.jpg


Joe K
 
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Thank you guy I think I understand thank you so much for your help and your knowledge I don't what this forum would be with out guy like you .
 
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Hello. I realize that your posting was a couple of years ago but, I am faced with the same color choices you were faced with now. What did you finally do about your color choice. I too am restring a 1929 Ford Roadster PU (Commercial). I am not totally sold on painting it one of the five choices specified in the Paint and Finish Guide. Is it ok to deviate from the guide if I am not going to compete the car or have it judged? I am leaning toward a light color because I did my own body work. It turned out pretty well for an amateur. I only want to paint this truck one time and I need to be confident it will be an 'acceptable' color in the event that I sell the truck. I restored the 30 Cabriolet shown on my Avatar and I plan to drive the heck out of it. So, the truck is not a keeper.
 
IMHO, an Open Commercial painted a color other than Rock Moss Green or Gunmetal Blue will be discounted when you decide to flip it. Yellow was a trendy pickup color a few years ago. What happened to those?
If you paint it "Resale Red," the go-to color for car folks wanting to hear the gavel when their creation crosses the block, it will cost you, for sure.
Again this is MHumbleO.
 
Bruce said:
IMHO, an Open Commercial painted a color other than Rock Moss Green or Gunmetal Blue will be discounted when you decide to flip it. Yellow was a trendy pickup color a few years ago. What happened to those?
If you paint it "Resale Red," the go-to color for car folks wanting to hear the gavel when their creation crosses the block, it will cost you, for sure.
Again this is MHumbleO.
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I agree with Bruce. IMHO you will get less for the truck if it is not one of the traditional factory colors but otherwise stock. With that, it is your truck to paint it any color you want.
 
if you plan to keep it, paint it any color you want. If you plan to resell it be aware that anything other than standard color will cost you money. Wayne
 
We went with commercial drab it's not as common and it came out great thanks for the interest Scott . I am on the iPad tonight I will try to post a couple of pics tomorrow
 
I painted my 1929 CCPU Casino Red, which was a pinstripe in 1929. So Ford had it in the factory. The company was going to place a big order, but the economy dropped and the order was canceled after this one truck. And that's the story I am sticking with.
 
As far as I'm concerned, you can paint your truck any color you want, but the only correct color is RED! :)
 

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It sounds like you picked a period appropriate color.Unless the rest of the truck is up to snuff as far as being original,being correct in every way,I wouldn't give a second though if I was trying to sell it.I've sold quite a few A's for other people,more than a dozen but probably not a couple dozen.The color has never been an issue for those cars.None were point cars,and most were 60's,or 70's restorations.They already have 300 incorrect things to begin with.A couple have tried to use the color as a chiseling point,but was never a problem for the serious buyers.Wives and kids like shiny,and at the end of the day they are the important ones in the decision to buy.I think the pool of 'correct' buyers is tiny compared the the lake of,'just want a Model A to drive around town in' buyers.
 
Keith True said:
It sounds like you picked a period appropriate color.Unless the rest of the truck is up to snuff as far as being original,being correct in every way,I wouldn't give a second though if I was trying to sell it.I've sold quite a few A's for other people,more than a dozen but probably not a couple dozen.The color has never been an issue for those cars.None were point cars,and most were 60's,or 70's restorations.They already have 300 incorrect things to begin with.A couple have tried to use the color as a chiseling point,but was never a problem for the serious buyers.Wives and kids like shiny,and at the end of the day they are the important ones in the decision to buy.I think the pool of 'correct' buyers is tiny compared the the lake of,'just want a Model A to drive around town in' buyers.
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I agree..but, most people do not want something that looks like a hot rod! No yellows, reds or oranges! Wayne
 
Keith True said:
It sounds like you picked a period appropriate color.Unless the rest of the truck is up to snuff as far as being original,being correct in every way,I wouldn't give a second though if I was trying to sell it.I've sold quite a few A's for other people,more than a dozen but probably not a couple dozen.The color has never been an issue for those cars.None were point cars,and most were 60's,or 70's restorations.They already have 300 incorrect things to begin with.A couple have tried to use the color as a chiseling point,but was never a problem for the serious buyers.Wives and kids like shiny,and at the end of the day they are the important ones in the decision to buy.I think the pool of 'correct' buyers is tiny compared the the lake of,'just want a Model A to drive around town in' buyers.
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I have had the same experience with the ones I have sold over the years. I never was asked if it was a correct color. Some were and some weren't
 
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