I’m getting ready to choose the paint color for the interior of my truck.
The outside is some shade of Brewster Green (could use a good color code)
Is the entire cab painted the same color... inside and out? The outside color is used for the jams, floor, seat pan, inside firewall etc... underneath the trim panels?
Are the inside trim pieces, door panels, back wall panels, dashboard all painted the same color? What is the most common color?
How about the headboard? Was that painted the interior color? What would the color be? If not painted, what does it look like?
The instrument gauges are painted a tan color (or decal color). What color is the surrounding plate?
Should that be the same as the other painted trim panels and dashboard?
If I'm reading it right, with all cabs from 1940-46 all parts of the cab that were welded together as the cab assembly were painted the exterior color. The screw on panels at the bottom of the door openings were also the exterior color. The floor board and the toe board were painted black. Essentially every other strip and panel attached in the cab and to the inside of the doors was coated with the interior color, which in most cases was the difficult to describe color of "hammer tone" paint. There is no specific mention of the headliner or kick panels, but in my 46 they appear to be the same color as the rest of the interior. They are definitely NOT grey, brown, or black.
Gauges and the trim around them are another matter. I'm pretty sure the 1940's and maybe even the 1941's had a lighter shade of brown on the gauge faces than the later trucks. The trim piece around the gauge cluster I can't help you with, but I'll look at my 46 later.
Hi again I may be wrong but I think the cabs from 1940 to 46 were pretty much the same, and all may have even came from the same plant in Indianapolis. that said, I went out and took a look at my 46 truck and most of what the Jim Carter page says seems to be true. But I noticed a few things.
First, as said before, my gauge faces are the darker shade of brown (yours will be lighter), and the panel they are set in is a lighter brown. The bezel around the gauge cluster has the outer edge chrome (or stainless, not sure) and a broad strip of dark brown matching the gauge faces inside of that. That strip MAY match your gauge color on your truck.
The metal at the base of the seat and the strips screwed on at the bottoms of the door openings are definitely Brewster green as per J Carter.
Here's the strange part. Contrary to Jim Carter, the back side of the firewall appears to be lightly sprayed with the same hammer tone paint as the rest of the interior of the cab! It's hard to tell for sure without scrubbing things clean under there and better lighting but I'm pretty sure I can see a light coat of Brewster green covering the inside of the cowl area and behind the kick panels, with the hammer tone lightly sprayed on the firewall with overspray onto the green around the edges that are beyond where you can see without actually crawling in to look. If you'd like, I can crawl in there with some polishing compound to verify once farming slows down a bit, but this may be peculiar to the later cabs anyway.
There is another small peculiarity regarding the interior paint, but I want to look at it closer to determine if it is probably original before I say anything more about it.
I got called away before I could get more details such as color of the steering column and it's support, or if the gear shift and brake levers are all black, or what color the brake and clutch pedals are. If there is something else I can look at for you, or try to get pictures of, let me know. I will of course have to try to fit it in around harvest pressures! Ole
Hello again I took a few pictures of my 46 interior (excuse the dirt, grime and rust... it's pretty much untouched). Hopefully you can see the color of the firewall and the over spray onto the green in the lower left corner of the cab. Also the color of the headliner and kick panels. And the colors on my gauge cluster.
And here is one showing the steering column and support (yes I just replaced the speedometer), and one showing clearly how the doors etc are green, but the panels screwed on are interior color. Apparently they were painted laying flat and installed later.
I also found pictures on this page: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1946-chevrolet-6400/ of what appears to be a mostly unmolested 2 ton that seem to verify the originality of the paint on my truck. I hope I'm not breaking any rules by posting a couple of the pictures (at least I'm acknowledging where they came from). A couple of notable differences: The bezel around the gauges doesn't have the brown strip. And the steering wheel, column and support appear to be flat black. Mine are brown.
Maybe someone with more knowledge than me can please weigh in on these differences?
And finally... I found this: http://classicoldcars.net/1940-chevrolet-truck/photos.htm I can't say how authentic the interior on this truck is for 1940, but the gauge cluster appears to be as I understand it should be. The gauge faces are a lighter shade of brown than later ones like mine, and the brown strip on the bezel matches that color. Hope this helps.
Good shots of the truck. At least I now have a handle on painting the cab. The correct interior paint still alludes me. There are so many different opinions out there. And even finding the “correct” color or textures seems daunting. I contacted Jim Carter’s and they have colors for 1939 and 1941 but no 1940. And I can’t even get a sample of those colors without buying a quart of the paint at about $60 a quart!!
Hi Mike That's kind of strange. The 2 Jim Carter pages I linked to above say the color for Chevrolet truck interiors was the same from 1940 right on through to 1946.
I have one of their catalogs in hand and they list the hammer tone interior paint in rattle cans with part # PT106ES for $17.95. They list the same paint in quarts as part # PT106 for $58.95. I called some time back to ask about the rattle cans for use on new headliners and at that point they said it was on back order and unfortunately they couldn't ship it across the border into Canada anyway.
Your truck is a Chevrolet and not a GMC right? I ask because they list a paint color that covers 1941-46 GMC's which suggests that GMC trucks had a color change between 1940 and 41.
I also just noticed that the Carter catalog lists a brown paint for steering wheels and columns for 1946 only, and the catalog says that for 1941-45 they were black. That validates the color on my truck, but leaves me wondering about the pictures of the 2 ton I posted above? I wonder then if the wheel and column were both black in 1940 then as well?
I'd call Jim Carter again and ask about the rattle can PT106ES. Maybe you were just unlucky and talked to the wrong person the first time. Ole
No PT 106 on their website. I called and asked if it was different from the 1938, 1939, or 1941-1946, they said yes, and it was no longer available...... mmmmm...... and they do not have the formula for it..... it was sold to the paint company when the sold that part of the business.... and of course, they went under.....
I think I read somewhere that the 1938 and 39 cabs had the "brown crinkle" paint, so they were definitely different.
It's only a couple of weeks since I talked to Carter's and ordered parts. At that point they said they still listed the paint but were out of it and it was back ordered. And they sent a catalog with the parts that has the paint in it. So apparently there have been some developments since then! I was going to have paint sent to a relative across the border and drive down for a visit and pick it up. So I guess that's out.
So has anyone found and used another paint they were happy with?
I asked around a while back and Chevy Nut replied with this.
“The 1940 truck was the first to have an interior in a color. The Engineering Manual says the instrumebt panel is dark gray with a mottling of pearl gray over the top. the steering wheel and column goodwood biege, That color is about the same as a 1940 passenger car.”
A dark hammer tone product from Rustoleum seems to be the closest I can find to that description although it is not very dark.
I have sent a PM to him asking to clarify the paint issue for me.
Many years ago, I acquired an all-original (except for one exterior re-paint in the same color) 1940 1/2 ton pickup. The interior colors were very much what Ole has outlined in his posts above and has shown in his pictures. Unfortunately, my interior paint, while good enough in many places to show the original colors, was generally a mess, so I decided to re-paint the interior. I bought a quart of paint from Jim Carter and happily it matched very closely the original color. As I said, this was many years ago, and as I recall, Carter simply called it "hammertone."
I'm not sure what has transpired with Carter in terms of this paint, but I can tell you of a more recent incident with paint from Carter. I am currently restoring a 1951 Suburban and in restoring the heater, I noticed that Carter advertised the correct "hammertone" paint for the heater--$14.95 for a rattle can. I ordered the paint, thinking that it would be a special mix prepared specifically for matching the heater color. When I received the package, I was shocked to see that I had paid Carter $14.95 (plus shipping!) for a can of hammertone Rustoleum that I could have purchased at the local Menards for $5-6?!?!??!? Carter had placed a small label on the can, saying "1947-54 Heater Paint" or some such thing, but it was simply one of the now standard hammertone shades of Rustoleum, available in most any good hardware store. I should say that the color was, indeed, a very close match to the original--so it served my purpose, even though I didn't appreciate paying $10 extra for the simple information.
I think it's worth noting that over the past 10 years or so, Rustoleum has developed many paints beyond their standard offerings, such as this "hammertone", which is actually VERY close to the original color used by Chevrolet. I think you would probably be pretty close going with their bronze colored hammertone (not sure of exact paint name) for the interior of a 1940. In that connection, I can say the same for 1937-1938 interior truck cabs. I have restored a 1937 and a 1938 truck, both of which originally had "brown wrinkle" paint. When I did the 37, Carter offered a brown wrinkle paint that you had to apply, then apply heat in order for it to "wrinkle." I managed to achieve a pretty good finish, though almost asphyxiating myself in the cab of the truck, while trying to apply sufficient and uniform heat to make the paint wrinkle. Many years later, when brown wrinkle paint was nowhere to be found and I was doing my 1938, I discovered that Rustoleum had come out with a "textured" line, and that one of the shades of brown (if I recall, it is called "Autumn Brown") was remarkably close to the original wrinkle brown. It came out beautifully, and it was a million times easier to apply than that original wrinkle paint. So, bottom line, Rustoleum has increased its product line to include paints that are very close to original Chevy colors (and textures)--so much so that even Jim Carter can sell it as an "original" match!
Chevy nut : “The 1940 truck was the first to have an interior in a color. The Engineering Manual says the instrumebt panel is dark gray with a mottling of pearl gray over the top. the steering wheel and column goodwood biege, That color is about the same as a 1940 passenger car.”
I have found this gray under the glove box moldings. Could the dashboard be a different color from the rest of the truck?
If not, I’m confused now as to the color I should use. We’re there different colored interiors?
It also seems that 1940 trucks could be different from 1941-?
The instrument panel COLOR could and probably was used on the instrument panel only as it was too complicated of a color process to be used on other areas.
So, to beat a dead horse, if I use the dark hammered grey as the interior and dashboard color to simulate the old gray texture, I should paint the instrument panel a similar but non textured gray.
The steering column and steering wheel should be Goodwood beige or a medium tan.
Hi Mike I just bought a rattle can of Rustoleum Hammered paint in "antique pewter" and one in "rosemary" and held them up to my interior. Don't know how close the actual color will be to what's on the outside of the can, but neither is very close. I'm going back to get the bronze colors and check them out. I also just got new headliners from Jim Carter's in "pearl beige". The originals are slightly darker than the original hammered paint on the metal surfaces, and the new ones are just slightly lighter than the paint. Good enough for me. The old ones may have darkened from dust and dirt etc anyway. So... back to beating that dead horse... :-) Assuming the 1940 and up cabs were the same interior color with the exception of the instrument panel... and just now seeing how lighting can play tricks with my perception of color... every removable part inside of the cab appears to be more of a very light bronze than a grey. That would include everything except the metal under the seat (which of course isn't removable) , the door sills, and the floor and toe boards, the steering column and wheel, and instrument panel. And the headliner and kick panels match but don't show the hammered texture. Steering column and wheel are the dark tan (almost a brown to my eye) Mr. Schneider describes above. This color is also on the trim around my 1946 instrument panel but I think yours will be different. Probably lighter. Gauges themselves are a lighter tan and lighter than the gauge color used from mid 1941 to 46 according to my parts books. Instrument panel and the trim around it I can't help you with. Mr. Schneider says it is grey (a flat grey I assume)*, which surprises me given the gauge color... unless the 1940 interiors were indeed more of a grey hammered paint than a bronze. What color was the instrument panel in a 1940 car? Was it possibly the same? Anyway, minutia can be fun can't it? Sometimes. Ole *See my post below
Last edited by Stovblt; 10/07/2004:05 PM. Reason: sometning added
