VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Trucks and Vans 1946 Suburban Carryall colors

What color should I go with for the 1946 Suburban? I believe all of these are roughly speaking original colors. The 7th option is painting it to match my pickup - Brewster (dark) green & black. I am leaning towards one of these but am curious what the masses think. My second chouce is to match my pickup Brewster Green. They are in no particular order.....

I cast one vote for #4.

Down here Red cars go faster but I would be inclined to go with the original color for the vehicle. In saying that it IS YOUR vehicle.
Tony

#4 would be my vote, but if I were in your shoes I'd want it to match the pick-up. Don

I vote for the original color first. I am stuck on as much original as practical. Second choice is no. 1. Way too many retail red or racing red in my opinion. I used to be a "red" person but have mellowed in my advancing years.

I believe the original color was black but I just dont care for painting it black. There is nothing that indicates what these were originally based off the ID tag or any other methods so I am going to go with a color. I tend to agree on your comment on the red and am lening towards the Omaha Orange at this point but that may change ten times between now and the time I order paint.

I like red on many vehicles, including some of the older ones in the 40's. But I think red would be way too "jazzy" for a 46 Suburban. Going with the original color is always a good idea; but, as you say, NOT in this case. Black just wouldn't do anything for your 46. (Except maybe for the fenders!)

I think matching your pick-up would be really neat. Fortunately, from my point of view, that leaves the orange color at the paint store. Even tho you asked, all this is my 2 cents. What really matters, of course, is YOUR 2 cents.

My initial thought was to match the truck with Brewster Green and black fenders but I know there are at least two other 41-46 Suburbans out there that have been restored using Brewster Green. I have also seen the red one that is (I believe) at the GM heritage Museum in addition to a couple other red ones as well. I have never seen an orange one which may be what draws me to it as much as anything. I also have to consider re-sale so that needs to be factored in as well (which pushes things back to swift red).

Tim,
I thought the Burb was going to remain "as is". What's up?

Mike

After running around in it over the summer, I came to realize that although it is extremely solid, it really is at that stage in it's life that it needs and deserves to be cleaned up. The clam shell tailgate in partcular scares me a bit and once I tear into that to clean it up, I will never be able to come close to matching the repaint from the 60's. Both the exterior and interior were painted back in the 60's. In addition, the syncros on the 3 speed need to be replaced and there are quite a few "repairs" to the wiring harness (it is pretty brittle). I figure that if I am going to clean up tailgate, replace the wiring harness, bring the interior back to the correct color (vs the current brown), pull the engine and tranny for clean-up and maintenance, then I may as well just do it right and restore it.

I guess I can sum it up as: the "newness" of getting the old suburban gave way to the reality that I have a 66+ year old vehicle. I also found myself enjoying the drive in my restored '46 pickup far more than the unrestored suburban. I'll drive my truck anywhere and am nervous as heck when I drive the suburban and never know if I will get home (although it always got me home - and I took some long drives this past summer).

So that's the story at this point. I hope to crank through this restoration over the next couple years. I will do most of the deconstruction this winter, mechanicals in 2013 with body and paint happening in fall '13 and assembly over the winter of '13-spring - '14 in hopes to be driving it in '14 before the snow flies again.

My 2 cents:
Red with black fenders seems to be fairly common. In restoring my '46 half ton I've given thought to going back to its original Swifts Red color, its now a "brewster green". I now am leaning toward the Dark Blue (Boatswain Blue?). I think that is the one shown in No. 2 of your post. Judging from the comments received from several of my car buddies the dark blue seems to be their consistent recommendation too. Their fairly consistent comment has been that "...46's were all Red with black fenders and it was boring". I've considered all red too. Lot's to do yet before that stage. In the end it's your project and your call; as it will be mine when I reach the hard decision point.