bed wood color

[sodly]

I think I know the answer to this question but after searching I can't seem to find it here. Were there any GM plants that produced 60-66 truck beds in body color (rather than black)? I've always thought that black was the only way wooden floor boards came (with black metal strips) but I saw a truck on Ebay that is supposedly all-original with a body-color bed and strips. I called out the owner on it and he cited a book (restoration guide) that said this:

"The bed wood in the Chevrolet & GMC trucks was originally a southern yellow pine. The Advanced Designed Trucks bed wood came from the factory treated with a combination of linseed oil and lampblack, giving it a dull black color. The boards were held down by metal strips between the boards which were also painted black . The later model trucks (60-66, presumably) came with the bed wood painted the same color as the exterior of the trucks". Black, he said, was an option.

This is news to me and I'm assuming it's incorrect information. I have never heard of this before. Can anyone confirm/refute this? Or show pics of an original body-colored bed? I know some (all?) GMCs came with black fender wells but that was the only deviation I am aware of.

[BMERDOC]

According to my research bed wood and skid strips were not painted body color until '68. '67 was the last year for black.

Mar-K makes a very good argument for painting them black.
http://www.mar-k.com/wood_finish_testing_ii.aspx
http://www.mar-k.com/june_2010_update.aspx

[oem4me]

Yep, later ones were body color. I think black looks better.

[pimpston65]

Funny thing I painted mine black. wood and straps to match my matte black paint scheme not realizing I'm getting factory correctness out the deal...

[sodly]

Originally Posted by oem4me

Yep, later ones were body color. I think black looks better.

Bruce, can you elaborate? Later ones? I've never seen a '66 (or earlier) with anything but black boards.

[oem4me]

Originally Posted by sodly

Bruce, can you elaborate? Later ones? I've never seen a '66 (or earlier) with anything but black boards.

Sorry for the confusion. By later, I meant next gen trucks. I didn't realize '68 was the first year as Bmerdoc says.

[60-66]

Yeah, my 67 is all black boards and bedstrips .


Is this the truck on Ebay you mention ?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171247400843...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[BMERDOC]

Since my 67 is pretty much a one year only truck I did the research to find out what details made it that way. I learned a lot of it was actually carry-over stuff from 60-66 models. I swore that i would keep any of the 67 only stuff. When it came time to research what to do with the bed wood I found that '67 was the last year of the black bedwood. Ill use Mar-K's recipe to go back black. I heard the linseed oil and lamp black can get messy.

[sodly]

So I'm getting the message here that ALL 60-66s had black bed floors from the factory, right?

[BMERDOC]

Yup.

[NEWFISHER]

The RPO code was HF for "Henry Ford". You could have any bed color you wanted as long as it was black.