Now we’re talking! There is nothing like a fresh coat of paint to move the excitement level a few notches. It took the craftsman painter on this project about 10 mixes before he nailed the color match on this 57 year old truck and it is dead on!
The Hard Suction rails are ready to be reinstalled.
How about those rear compartment doors? Sweet!!!
The Latch was real rusty in the recessed part where (where the chrome was just flashed where these were made with poor and inconsistent coverage) you can now read Eberhart in the recess. They taped off the good outer chrome and bead blasted and sprayed the recessed part of the latch silver and it came out great. The chrome is far from flawless and again it’s not a flawless truck so these will play the part fine.
Here you can see the rear doors installed and how it still flows with the rest of the truck. The wood bed was far too gone so it will have to be replaced along with repainting the tread plate decking but this is really starting to pull together!
The hose bed partitions were also restored and they will be reinstalled once the new wood is in place.
Even though there was thought of shooting the front flares black they stayed true to the build and a shiny coat of red was sprayed on them.
Here are the flares back in place and looking great! You might notice the two different red colors on the door. As mentioned earlier, the darker red was Howe’s color and the other was the Willys factory finish. It is incredible what was able to be saved on this restoration. Some of the prettiest “Patina” I’ve ever seen…
And of course the detail on these wheels is top notch! The split rings were painted silver along with the outer band on three of the wheels to mock the split ring look on the outer rear wheels and the spare. Awesome job!