Need all our GMC Historians help: 1963 Factory Black truck correct wheel paint?

[GMCNUT]

Hey guys; so as part of working the solid factory black 63 GMC in the previous thread to driving condition, I need to take the wheels to be sandblasted and re-painted. I asked Jon Krogh, a fellow GM truck history buff some of you may know, whether or not a 63 GMC that came from the factory painted solid Black would have come with White or Black wheels - he checked the 1965 GMC Data Book and shockingly it still shows "Crystal Green" to be correct on all solid Black trucks in 1965 - now, I am fully aware of the Crystal Green color being used on all Black GMC's from 1955 through 1962 because my 1960 factory Black GMC came with them too, and I just bought a set of 17" factory Crystal Green 4x4 wheels off an untouched never repainted 62 GMC so I know for a fact the Crystal Green Wheels used on Dark Green and Black trucks lasted at least through 1962, but to be honest, unless the 1965 GMC data book Jon has was possibly not properly updated to reflect wheel color changes decided only after production began, I always thought in 1963 or at least by 64 GMC had switched to solid White wheels on all solid color or two-toned trucks - is this not right? The original wheels came with this truck, but they appear to have been Black and have at some point been spray canned White. I can see Black under the white where the White is chipped off - so this could simply be the underlying Black EDP coating showing, or maybe they came painted Black on a Black truck only vs White on all other color trucks, but there is no sign these wheels were ever Crystal Green despite what the Data Book may say. So, some of you guys have been around GMC's your whole lives and should know if any Black ones after about 62 ever had Green wheels or not - the 65 data book also says ALL solid White GMC's through 1965 came originally with Strata Blue wheels so if some of you are a little weak on ever seeing or knowing much about any rarer to find solid Black trucks, then you guys would know if any White ones which are common, past 62 came with Strata Blue wheels or not - proving any of you for sure saw White trucks with original Strata Blue wheels would help validate the Data book being correct and Black ones after 62 would have had Crystal Green wheels whether you ever saw one or not. So, please share your knowledge GMC elders! Need to know what the recognized correct wheel color is here - Thanks!

[AZKen]

This is a load of new 60-61 trucks. I am glad I don't worry about this kind of stuff. It would drive me crazy. None of the color brochures from 1963 show black trucks. If no one here is absolutely sure and does not have documentation proof, that means no one on earth will know if it's right or wrong. Even a concours judge. So it may not make any difference. Very few, if any, color photos in 1963. All the 1963 brochures are artist rendered. Many times the artist got small things wrong. The brochures I see have white wheels. Some have matching color of the truck.
I have a 1963 photo at a dealership with a pretty dark 63 with lite wheels.
Gently and carefully sand the paint on the wheel. Make a wide featherd the area to expose all layers. There is no EDP in 63. Let us know what you find. I guess it could be lead base so use caution.

[GMCNUT]

Originally Posted by AZKen

This is a load of new 60-61 trucks. I am glad I don't worry about this kind of stuff. It would drive me crazy. None of the color brochures from 1963 show black trucks. If no one here is absolutely sure and does not have documentation proof, that means no one on earth will know if it's right or wrong. Even a concours judge. So it may not make any difference. Very few, if any, color photos in 1963. All the 1963 brochures are artist rendered. Many times the artist got small things wrong. The brochures I see have white wheels. Some have matching color of the truck.
I have a 1963 photo at a dealership with a pretty dark 63 with lite wheels.
Gently and carefully sand the paint on the wheel. Make a wide featherd the area to expose all layers. There is no EDP in 63. Let us know what you find. I guess it could be lead base so use caution.

Good point on the lack of a primer base - so maybe these were indeed Black after all. I am going to try sanding them and see what feathers out - thanks

[GMCNUT]

Originally Posted by AZKen

This is a load of new 60-61 trucks. I am glad I don't worry about this kind of stuff. It would drive me crazy. None of the color brochures from 1963 show black trucks. If no one here is absolutely sure and does not have documentation proof, that means no one on earth will know if it's right or wrong. Even a concours judge. So it may not make any difference. Very few, if any, color photos in 1963. All the 1963 brochures are artist rendered. Many times the artist got small things wrong. The brochures I see have white wheels. Some have matching color of the truck.
I have a 1963 photo at a dealership with a pretty dark 63 with lite wheels.
Gently and carefully sand the paint on the wheel. Make a wide featherd the area to expose all layers. There is no EDP in 63. Let us know what you find. I guess it could be lead base so use caution.

So Ken, I didn't see a reply yet from Ed Snyder or Pete giving me any direction regarding Green on these, so I went and date coded my wheels and every single one is dated Mar-April 1963. All 4 are painted Black originally on back and inside where the tires mounts and the white spray paint is only on the outside face and its chipping off revealing the Black underneath. So from what I can see, these wheels came Black originally.

[Ed Snyder]

Originally Posted by GMCNUT

So Ken, I didn't see a reply yet from Ed Snyder or Pete giving me any direction regarding Green on these, so I went and date coded my wheels and every single one is dated Mar-April 1963. All 4 are painted Black originally on back and inside where the tires mounts and the white spray paint is only on the outside face and its chipping off revealing the Black underneath. So from what I can see, these wheels came Black originally.

I've never claimed to be an expert on the GMCs from the '60s, but I have seen hundreds of them over the years since my Dad bought the one ton Suburban in 1965. I've never seen one with green wheels, only black or white. The one ton Suburban came from the factory with white 17" wheels.

[jrmunn]

I changed the wheels on my 64 GMC 1500 long ago, but my fading memory recalls that the originals were black on a Palomino Tan pickup. In keeping with the dark theme, I painted the replacement wheels "Midnight Blue" that puts just a hint of blue into an otherwise black wheel. However, the spare (that I still have sitting in my back yard) is black and rusty on the back and sprayed white on the clips side. The white side is chipped and shows black underneath, while the white overspray is clearly seen on the back side. So I am not sure what standards GMC was using or if they even knew or cared what colors were going out the door. Adding to the GMC color confusion, the tubs in my bed were Palomino Tan instead of black.

JRMunn

[AZKen]

I don't think a black truck looks right with white wheels unless it is two tone with white top. but I don't know what GMC thought. It does seem like there was not much of a standard. You can look at brochures for sale on EBAY. That's what I do when I want to see what was "original". I saw no black trucks in the brochures and wheels were colored same as truck color. Don't know if that was convention or artists idea. It would make more since for production reasons to have wheels come in to the factory one or two colors. That way you never run out of red or blue or whatever. If you run out of white, you use black and vise versa. Stocking a bunch of wheel colors is a pain in the arse. That's my guess. That's how I would have done it. You have proven that your wheels are 1963 and were black and may have come on that truck. That would look good with chrome caps.
See post #52. http://6066gmcclub.com/showthread.ph...=wheels&page=6

Ken

[GMCNUT]

Thanks guys - That worries me a little about the Palomino Tan truck having Black wheels but sprayed White on the fronts identically to mine - makes me wonder if that is the only White part of a GMC wheel - the face. But like Ken said, White wheels on a solid Black truck is not as appealing to me personally, so I have decided to powder coat these original wheels a "factory" looking semi-gloss like was used on the trucks' frame and underhood to closely match the trucks' patina vs high-gloss wheels. I still do not understand why the GMC Data book shows Crystal Green as the wheel color for Black and Dark Green truck as late as 1965 when none have ever been seen by anyone on here as coming that way, so all I can think there is the change was made to go all-white and maybe some Black ones but the Data book was not updated correctly to reflect that change - appreciate everyone's input

[jbgroby]

GMCNut,

Check this link out, notice how many have black rims, including a solid black truck, most Chevy but none the less.

http://speedsociety.com/2-3-mile-tru...eld-brand-new/