binfordm715 : Discovering your truck's original color

Discovering your truck's original color
Post by binfordm715 on Apr 8, 2006, 12:05am

Hmmm... I pulled the data plate off my dash board today and found the color behind it, and on the back of the data plate, to be darned near exactly like the sample Porkchop sent to me of the USMC forrest green.

I am going to assume that the factory painted these trucks either of the two (or more) colors, depending on which branch of the military they were going to. Is that a correct assumption? In that case, it would appear that my M715 was originally a USMC truck, based on the original color behind the data plate. (The Forest Service did a wonderful job of messing up every square inch of original paint everywhere else. And what they didn't mess up has been horribly faded and all.)

Does anyone know if this is a sure way of determining original color?

(Edited for goofy spelling.)

Re: Discovering your truck's original color
Post by beast on Apr 8, 2006, 8:42am

Another really good place to look is behind the front frenders where they mount to the cab. This area on mine was completely untouched after several paint jobs my truck had had. It was also protected from the sun and showed no signs of fading.
http://www.davidallenracing.com/DSC02701.jpg
It's the area in front of the door opening and below the cowl.

Re: Discovering your truck's original color
Post by brute4c on Apr 10, 2006, 8:45am

I have seen trucks that were originally painted both OD...for the Army...and the Marine Corps green. I have also seen 1 truck that was painted a slatee grey by the factory and went to the Navy. We used to have a pic of a USAF blue truck with original markings on it...though I did not see that truck in person and cannot vouch that it as factory that way or repainted at a leter time than the build date.

Re: Discovering your truck's original color
Post by shepsjeep on Nov 14, 2006, 9:56pm

This past week, I have spent stripping layers of paint from my M715. Here are the colors I found:

Brown - Not sure type.
Marine Corp Green
Red - Maybe a Fire Dept
OD Green - Army
Finally hit primer and bare metal

Another cool thing is that I found lettering on the OD layer. It was some kind of Supply truck at one time.

Rick

Re: Discovering your truck's original color
Post by fisherman on Nov 15, 2006, 11:03am

Stripping the paint is not really that difficult, kinda messy and labor intesive, but kinda fun. Use chemical stripper, and don't get it on your hands. Bix works well and is on the cheaper side of strippers.

Re: Discovering your truck's original color
Post by elwenil on Nov 15, 2006, 12:52pm

Mines is a funky white and blue paint scheme that the construction company that owned it put on, then there is the 4 color camo, then a brushed on layer of OD and then two sprayed on layers of OD. With the amount of layers of paint typically on a 715, chemical strippers are about the best bet. Anything fast and mechanical is just going to create heat and make the paint all gooey, with the exception of blasting which can get expensive.

Re: Discovering your truck's original color
Post by vrod02 on Nov 15, 2006, 1:12pm

Mine had 5 layers.Marine green base coat. Was it normal for the numbers to be engraved into the metal. Like someone traced the stenciling with an exacto knife? Pretty cool to see on bare metal.

Re: Discovering your truck's original color
Post by m725kid19 on Nov 15, 2006, 8:03pm

mine has a ton of paint on it (all layers peeling). at the moment i have OD green rims that were painted over with black, now completely peeling, i can see OD green on the hood and various other places that the cheap paint job failed to cover. Black bumper white front around headlights. The last coat that was put on before i got it was blue with a white roof. It appeared that they then tried sanding the paint off becuase there is bare metal along with the blue and green on the rest of the truck.

Re: Discovering your truck's original color
Post by elwenil on Nov 16, 2006, 9:01am

How common is it for a M715 to have the 4 color camo pattern? I haven't seen very many and I would assume that they should have been taking them out of service around the time they switched to the camo pattern. Should I try and document the pattern on my truck or something?

Re: Discovering your truck's original color
Post by elwenil on Nov 16, 2006, 10:48am

s far as I know it was done by the military or perhaps the National Guard or something. I can't see all of the pattern under the construction companies paint but from what I can see it looks authentic. One of the colors looks a little off, but it looks a lot like the shade used in the camo pattern used in Europe at the time so I'm not ruling that out. The passenger side of the bed is where it's more clearly seen and the white paint is flaking really bad so maybe I can salvage enough to be sure of it's origins.

Re: Discovering your truck's original color
Post by kwai on Nov 16, 2006, 10:59am

My '69 has the 4-color scheme. The PO got it from the forest service and started to repaint it but didn't finish. Don't know who would have painted it camo but my quess would be it came out of the military that way since the forest service/fire guys seem big on yellow, red and white.

Re: Discovering your truck's original color
Post by shepsjeep on Nov 17, 2006, 1:40am

Fisherman is right, not that difficult, but very messy. I used a product called " Jet Strip" I got it at O'Reilly's for about $21. I still have about 1/3 can left after stripping most of the paint off the entire truck. I stripped a little at a time over a few weeks. If you have access to a pressure washer and a nozzle called a "turbo"( it is used for removing loose paint from a house before painting), it will remove the stripper and paint goo from a distance. Water will neutralize the stripper and dries very quickly, just sand and then prime and paint. Caution: The smell will knock you out and burns really bad if it should touch your skin. Wear eye protection, clothes you don't want and a mask!

Re: Discovering your truck's original color
Post by barrman on Nov 17, 2006, 4:08pm

Mine was USMC green behind the data plate as well.