1972 Paint / Grill Questions

[scwillie1]

I just got a 1972 C-10 Custom Deluxe LWB. It has all the chrome down both sides. My question is....all the trucks I see pictures of with two chrome strips running down each side have two tone paint. A few have a white or light colored cab and maybe even the same white or light colored below the lower chrome down the side of the truck. Whats factory? Is a black grill factory?
Thanks!

[pdawg]

I've got a 72 Custom deluxe with the upper and lower trim down the sides and mine is just the solid Hawaiian blue - no two tone. I always thought that was a GMC thing to have two tone.? For sure that was factory as I still have the original paint ( what's left of it anyway !)
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[jocko]

scwillie, welcome(!) - all the options you mention were factory and available with upper and lower trim on the truck. a) Solid / b) white over solid / c) white over solid over white / d) white over solid over white over solid combos were all available from the factory with the upper and lower trim pieces you mention. What you could not get, for instance, was a 2-tone arrangement without the trim being ordered to properly separate the colors. So, a "3-tone" (obtion c with 2 colors) had to have at least the lower trim and a "4-tone" ( option d with 2 colors) had to have upper and lower trim. Option b simply required the rear cab bright trim to separate the paint on the backside of the cab.

To further confuse the issue - the white didn't have to be "white" - there are some odd factory combos out there (like medium olive over dark olive, black over red, medium olive over yellow, etc) - all depended what the owner ordered when new.

EDIT: oh, and a black grille is not factory - it was normally a satin silver (or gray, whatever you want to call it) - pic of correct factory color and correct black for a 72 below (the only black on a 72 was the part of the grille surround around the headlight buckets and the only black on a 71 was the same area + an outer trim strip of black on the whole surround):