Tailgate Color?

[Texas63GMC]

I especially like the fender flares. Big Block what is the story on those?

[bigblockv6]

It's a Fenderside dually! Back then wide off road tires were not around so my father got adapters to convert to dual rear wheels for his off road and hunting trips. After he would come back home the dually's would be taken off after a few days. By late 1965 wider tires started coming around and he switched to those and never ran the duals again. Here's a pic from 1966 with wider tires spare and all, he even had the right side rear fender cut out and mounted a second spare tire.

[Ed Snyder]

Originally Posted by bigblockv6

Here's a pic from 1966 with wider tires spare and all, he even had the right side rear fender cut out and mounted a second spare tire.

Why the white paint on the leading edge of the hood, Pete? Do you remember what size those tires were?

[bigblockv6]

The white paint was my fathers idea, he thought that would look good together with the white grille because there was too much green every where else. I was 6 years old then and the tires really looked big to me. I would say they were roughly a 30x10 size tire.

[bigblockv6]

Originally Posted by bigblockv6

It's a Fenderside dually! Back then wide off road tires were not around so my father got adapters to convert to dual rear wheels for his off road and hunting trips. After he would come back home the dually's would be taken off after a few days. By late 1965 wider tires started coming around and he switched to those and never ran the duals again. Here's a pic from 1966 with wider tires spare and all, he even had the right side rear fender cut out and mounted a second spare tire.

Or possibly a 31x10.50 size.

[GMCNUT]

Originally Posted by bigblockv6

They were painted argent silver PPG # 8568 period. For the skeptics out there I will post a pic of my father 62 K1000 fenderside that he bought brand new in one solid color Delta Green with white hub caps, wheels and grille. From 1955-69 the argent silver was used. In 1970 silver was replaced with white. Trucks are old and even repainted but after many years of weathering it can be hard to distinguish if it's original paint or not. If the letters are white then 99.9% chance it was repainted the wrong color. What I see is a lot of little details in paint background behind the grille and upper hood grille completely lost. Years ago on Jolly's site all these details were brought up to attention and now it's all forgotten.

With respect to your considerable knowledge and experience of 60-66 GMC's being greater than mine, I am going to have to disagree with you bigblockv6. I spoke to Barry Charon about this (another well-respected GMC historian and former member of this group) and I believe we can produce proof that some two-tone non-custom GMC's did come with White tailgate lettering instead of Silver. (this would explain why your Father's solid color truck had Argent lettering instead of White too) After some pondering on the subject, I thought it could be that difference is limited to say 1960-61 only when the upper body on all two-tone trucks was White (our smoking gun) or it could just as easily be a 1966 only variation, when other changes were made such as the addition of backup lights and seatbelts, which is also the year glare-reduction measures were first taken. Some degree of study will be required to discover the truth here. So, in my opinion, if a pull off tailgate is discovered in a barn loft with 100% of its factory paint on it, and it has White lettering on it from the factory, and other original non-repainted examples have been observed or can be discovered, then there is certainly enough reason to at least consider this could be true. There are a million variations to old trucks and many times we are too quick to consider something to be a fact - lets explore this further and I will share photos as I dig them up. Barry is digging in his many tailgates and pics and I will share what he finds as well. More on this subject soon....

[RustyNut]

YEEEEEHAAAAAA!!!!!!

Another Pissin' Contest!!!!!!!


LOL

Rusty

[1960HDGMC]

Originally Posted by bigblockv6

It's a Fenderside dually! Back then wide off road tires were not around so my father got adapters to convert to dual rear wheels for his off road and hunting trips. After he would come back home the dually's would be taken off after a few days. By late 1965 wider tires started coming around and he switched to those and never ran the duals again. Here's a pic from 1966 with wider tires spare and all, he even had the right side rear fender cut out and mounted a second spare tire.

Another great picture BigBlock, Your dads truck appears to have every external option know to man, and then some. This truck would make "The Fall Guy" proud. Do you remember what interior options it had? AM Radio, etc. Also, Do you know if it is a J or G Series truck? I have read that the orange lenses in the hood started in 1963. He could have swapped them in along the way. I love the twin spotlights. It looks like he was no stranger to the GMC Accessories Counter. Any prayer that this old truck is still among the rolling? GM

[bigblockv6]

The truck went away in Dec 1967 as part of agreement with the dealer that he would buy a new truck they would sell the 62 and it sold immediately. The new owner would be running back and forth from California to Mexico. 3 months later we took delivery of the new K-2500 and a couple of weeks later my father took it back in because the transfer case seals were leaking, the 62 was back at the dealer too with four flat tires and a mismatched spare. Looked like the truck was being run hard that was the last that was seen and heard about it, I suspect it probably became a piece of road debris somewhere in Mexico. The 62 was a K-1000 series with standard Cab and was called the deluxe seat. Came equipped from the factory with AM radio and clock, a Bat-O-Meter and Warn Hubs were added upon delivery. Over the next two years some dealer accessories were added like an inside rear view mirror, grille guard and a switch to amber signal lamp lenses. About two years later the spot lights were added along with roof clearance marker lamps but those were not done correctly because there were only 4 rather than 5. My father's needs for a truck were exceeding the capabilities of a 1/2 ton and he was breaking it often. It was time for a new bigger truck so the 68 was ordered and with the same accessories the 62 had but this time all in one package.

[bigblockv6]

Here is the 68 which is mine now and as you can see it has the same accessories as the 62 but the roof clearance marker lights were factory installed, it also came with two spare tire mounts inside the bed from the factory specially ordered.