Painting underside of bed

[Tinker]

Tinker, I believe I had more fun restoring that truck than perhaps any of the other vehicles I'd done. Just plain fun

I get it. Some of us are more interested in the details and restoration. Some driving around in circles. Makes sense to me.


The theory is based on information. Now days we base information on hearsay. Pretty sure you are someone I trust for ford information.

 

[GB SISSON]

I tend to get bored with them after the project part is over. I think I've only driven the woodie twice this summer. Most of my spare time is spent on whatever current project is in the shop. For years I loved to build and rebuild boats. Then they'd sit in the water or on a trailer while I started something else. A guy could fall overboard or sink out there for God's sake...

 

[Tinker]

Gb you like building stuff. Maybe not totally so interested in all the shows. Or maybe so. I like and drive old cars. Not a big fan of being at shows. I have a problem. Guess I like the cars and not the show. I appreciate the fact that the shows give exposure.


But you like building stuff. I like that.


I could say, like everything. Building stuff. Chop up a nice 36 and put a new frame and drive train. Make it modern.


But you are not doing that.


Granted we are moving into to personal preferences and not how it was.


But you are not adding to how the bed floor was done either.........

 

[pistonbroke]

So the wood under my 41 is still ALL there. Wither it was painted or not seems irrelevant, as it was all covered with under coating , most of which is now peeling . Tim

 

[Kube]

So the wood under my 41 is still ALL there. Wither it was painted or not seems irrelevant, as it was all covered with under coating , most of which is now peeling . Tim

Relevant? Perhaps not to you. However, if you would read the original post, it is relevant to that fellow.

 

[expavr]

Just as a point of reference, in the mid-1930's at least, Ford painted, in the same body color, the entire big truck flatbed assembly after it was fully assembled. This included the underside metal ribs and wood floor. I know this is not the same issue you guys are discussing with pickups, but I just wanted to chime in that Ford did, for some models at least, paint the underside of the bed. The body color painting includes not only all of the steel framing parts, but the wood and hardware too as it was done after being fully assembled. The racks were also individually painted body color, fully assembled with wood slats riveted to metal stakes.
My opinion comes from studying lots of factory photos of truck beds at the Ford Archives as well as looking at several original survivor trucks. Thanks for this discussion as I learned something about pickup beds that I didn't know.

Attached are photos that show a wood bed support and a wood bed plank that were taken from the 40 Tonner. Both had been primed with a red material (Red lead?) and then were painted the green body color. The steel rails that held the bed wood to the support frame were also painted the same way (primer and body color). This would tend to support your observation that at least in 1940 Ford painted both top and bottom of any bed wood that would have been exposed to the elements. Based on the fact that there is color UNDER the location of mounting hardware I suspect that these pieces were painted prior to the bed's assembly. This is pure speculation on my part.

 

[art ebeling]

I know this falls into over restored but this is after one thin coat of spar varnish then a rub of ebony stain followed by two coats of spar varnish. I am debating on applying a little overspray of the blue paint on the wood. Art