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Hello List!
'Think I'm getting mixed signals here so thought I'd post and (hopefully) clear some things up. My M37 has a DoD of July 1953. If I look under the hood, I can see a varitable rainbow of OD shades. Outside of the engine compartment, the truck was painted up in (faded) fire engine red with black frame, suspension, axles & drive line components.

I've read somewhere that M37s left the factory with black frames & axles and were assembled with "bright" fasteners. If the frame & axles were indeed painted up that way then how about the following; Springs, shock absorbers, bumperettes, towing pintle hook, frame brackets (cab & bed supports plus the stamped tie down eyes that bolt to the frame) gas tank, drive shafts,

There's probably something else under there that I've forgotten but if that's the case, I can always post again

My goal is to paint my truck up in either USAF Strata blue* or in the "late WWII" semi gloss OD which is what my truck was originally painted when new.

* I know that they (M37s) didn't leave the factory in strata. That was applied by the USAF when the truck arrived at the unit to which it was assigned.
Matt

My opinion is that you have to first decide how you want your truck to look, what is the story? What I mean by that is, do you want your truck to look like it just came out of the factory or are you portraying some other time period in it's history. A further step is to accurately reproduce a color scheme from some part of it's history, ie, if it never was an AF truck, then it never was Strata Blue. If you are going for a look that it might have had during it's service then it would likely have been depot painted, possibly more than once. Most photos I've seen aren't good enough to judge, but it looks to me that in service, most everything was green.

WarrenD wrote:My opinion is that you have to first decide how you want your truck to look, what is the story? What I mean by that is, do you want your truck to look like it just came out of the factory or are you portraying some other time period in it's history. A further step is to accurately reproduce a color scheme from some part of it's history,ie, if it never was an AF truck, then it never was Strata Blue. If you are going for a look that it might have had during it's service then it would likely have been depot painted, possibly more than once. Most photos I've seen aren't good enough to judge, but it looks to me that in service, most everything was green.

Warren
. It's my truck so if I want to paint it strata blue, OD green, fire engine red or canary yellow I'll do so. Not really interested in "telling a story." I'm not trying to be rude here, Just interested in finding out what color those components were from the factory.
Matt

As I took my truck apart I found the following base colors.

Frame and attachments: Satin Black
Axles and Springs: Strata Blue
Cab and Bed: Strata

I'm restoring to the following: Satin black frame and attachments, OD on the rest including the engine/trans/transfer/prop shafts/springs and axles. I will paint all the fasteners also.

Thanks, T.
Matt

So far this is what I've found out/remember reading, Starting from the front of the truck;

Front Bumper: OD*
Shackles: OD
Radiator;black
Engine: silver (if factory new) OD if rebuilt
Air Cleaner: black?**
Oil Filter: black?**
Tranny: Silver if new, OD if rebuilt
T-case: OD
Frame : satin black
Frame Brkts: ?
Axles :satin black
Drive Shafts: black
Gas Tank: Natural*** ?
Springs: ?
Shocks: ?
Bumperettes: OD
Tow Pintle: ?
Brake Drums: ?
Rims: OD

* Although I use the term "OD" I mean any color that the body of the truck would have been painted like Navy gray or Strata blue.
** These parts were black on my '44 WC 51 but they appear OD on my unrestored M37
*** Natural= was not painted?
Matt

My truck is a 53 and though I'm not restoring it to original it was a USAF truck and from what I can tell every thing that could be painted blue was painted blue. The frame, the springs, the cab, the bed, the shakles everything cept the engine and radiator. I remember having this talk before about AF Blue and Lifer had said that the AF got the trucks OD from the factory or where ever and they put them into a shop, pulled them all apart and painted everything blue and reassmebled. Which is why my data plate doesn't match my frame number. I pulled the glove box out and it was painted blue both inside and out and on top. The unders side of the cowl is painted blue. Those zoomies where really careful to paint every nook and cranny.

If I may I would suggest that if you chose AF Blue to paint everything blue cept the rad, engine, trans, and transfer case. If you decide to go OD then the frame, spings etc would be black, while the bumpers, shakles cab and bed would be OD and the engine what ever color you want.

Good luck with your truck and pictures are always nice.

k8icu
Thanks for the input. I remember posting a thread in the M38A1 forum over on g503 pertaining to M38A1s being painted strata blue. Was told that the jeeps arrived originally OD and were painted blue by the USAF. However, the paint job was a simple "scratch & shoot" in that the vehicles weren't completly dissassembled just partially.
Matt

Did any of these Air Force trucks come from the factory paint blue ?


Sal

Sal wrote:Did any of these Air Force trucks come from the factory paint blue ?


Sal

Sal
I don't think so but then again, I wasn't there. Think they probably came off the production line in "Army OD" with the USMC contract trucks being shot in forrest green? The Army & Marines were probably the two biggest users of the M37 so USAF, Navy & Coast Guard contracts would have been piggy backed onto larger production runs.
Matt

From 1948 thru about 1954/55 all the services were required to process their Tactical vehicle needs thru the Army procurement system as directed by the newly formed in 1948 Dept of Defense. This did not set well with the Navy/USMC and USAF and shortly after the beginning of M38A1 production around 1954 the USAF began ordering direct and in Strata Blue. I believe by the time the M37B1 was out they were shipping to the Navy in gray and the USAF in Blue.

I saw an old factory film of the assembly line process. Although the frames were supplied in black, at the end of the line they were showing the painting process. The guys were "hosing" down the truck with the OD. Not just the exterior body panels, they were crudely shooting the underbody and frame also.

Good morning all, I have a friend that was in the Coast Guard, in Vietnam. he admires my M but says if he had it it would be painted grey. He tells me that he was assigned to a 85' CG boat, that was stationed off shore. They would put him in a Boston Whaler and send him up the rivers to draw fire, then the 85' would return fire. Great job!!!

8543bob wrote:Good morning all, I have a friend that was in the Coast Guard, in Vietnam. he admires my M but says if he had it it would be painted grey.

Think there was a member on here who painted his M Navy gray. I've seen it done with both WCs and Ms and it looks very different when one is used to seeing them in OD. Think I'm going to end up doing mine in OD (late WWII S.G.-it's original color) although I like seeing them done up in other (Military) non OD colors. Think what I need is about 2-3 more trucks so I can have one in each color...
Matt

Sal wrote:Did any of these Air Force trucks come from the factory paint blue ?


Sal

My truck is a 53 and you would think it was painted Blue from the factory the way each part is painted. But I have found like on the frame where it is Blue and then black under that and then red ox primer under that. On the body where I've ground down to be able to weld I have found in order - top layer brown, then white, then red, then USAF Blue, then USA Green, then red primer, and then bare metal.

So in the case of my truck it was painted standard Army paint job and then the zoomies took it apart and painted blue and reassembled.