GPW 14518 * Proper Frame Primer Color

[17thAirborne]

I own GPW 14518 STAR. It has an estimated DoD of 8-ish April 1942 and is a standard Ford frame with Ford front crossmember. I know that the Midland frames left in Gloss Black and either Midland or Ford painted them with Zinc Chromate, ZC, and then OD.

Did Ford use Gloss Black under ZC also, or did they use the ZC alone followed by the OD for Arpil 1942.

It is established that ZC was used by Ford at least into mid 1942, possibly beyond, so it would be correct for this frame. I just wasn't sure if it was over gloss black or ZC directly on the frame.

Also, I am not sure what plant this came from. No original data tag is available.

[17thAirborne]

Here are a couple of shades listed. The first is RAL 1018 Zinc Yellow

1018.jpg (829 Bytes) Viewed 2285 times

The second is another method by which colors are categorized for mixing.

zc.png (9.42 KiB) Viewed 2285 times

Rustoleum makes a Zinc Yellow, 450 VOC Alkyd Enamel, Zinc Yellow. Color code 960402

960402.jpg (1.78 KiB) Viewed 2285 times

[m3bobby]

The chromate on my gpw body is a little greener than the 960402

[17thAirborne]

The chromate on my gpw body is a little greener than the 960402

ZC comes in a yellow, a light green and a darker green. I am planning on using the yellow shade.

Was your frame painted with ZC over black or was the ZC on your frame directly on the metal?

[m3bobby]

The chromate on my gpw body is a little greener than the 960402

ZC comes in a yellow, a light green and a darker green. I am planning on using the yellow shade.

Was your frame painted with ZC over black or was the ZC on your frame directly on the metal?

The frame was just satin black with OD over the top, no chromate between. Only the body had yellow/green chromate with OD followed by yellow chromate followed by a different shade of OD. This then had a multitude of civvy Paint on top. The odd thing is that the USA number had been completely removed back to bare metal in all 3 places before the yellow chromate was painted on. No idea why.

[17thAirborne]

The frame was just satin black with OD over the top, no chromate between. Only the body had yellow/green chromate with OD followed by yellow chromate followed by a different shade of OD. This then had a multitude of civvy Paint on top.

So your GPW is 6008, making it mid-March 1942. I am assuming it is an Midland frame. Interesting the body had two overcoatings of ZC.

I suppose I would not be wrong to go with Satin Black, then OD on my April 42 frame.

[17thAirborne]

Here is a Quote from Stingray from a while ago:

"Tom, We restored GPW-713 back in 1990 so we went through all the pics we took during the restoration and found two that confirmed the zinc chromate primer. Here are a couple of the pics. Will continue to search for you to fill in the blanks. GPW-712 has yet to be restored so we will check the primer on it as well. As a note we believe that the early frames built by Midland Steel for Willys and Ford we shipped to the plants in a black primer or paint. This is just our observation of GPW-713 and two slat grill frames which had black primer/paint as their first coat.

GPW-713
Frame -black,zinc chromate,od"

[m3bobby]

Yes a midland frame.

Regarding the body, I think it may have had a second life after leaving the service as a service persons or contractors vehicle. There were many aircraft parts (switches, terminal blocks, clamps and wiring) on the body along with the yellow chromate over the OD. I was doing some work on my inner wheel well and it doesn’t have the yellow chromate so it appears it was only external. Hopefully I can post this photo of the paint schemes from inside the vehicle. Interestingly (to me) there is a dark green OD as the first top coat and a red oxide primer which isn’t on the outside. It almost appears it had an internal repaint at a different time to the outside.

[m3bobby]

I also meant to mention that the front and back half’s appear to have been primed before assembly as the front half is a greener primer than the yellow rear.

[17thAirborne]

That is a great image and it shows the history of the vehicle's paint. That is a big help, thanks.

[17thAirborne]

Finished my research and have ordered a gallon of Zinc Yellow, 450 VOC Alkyd Enamel, Zinc Yellow. Color code 960402 from Grainger. I plan on doing the priming myself once I get the blasted tub, hood and fenders back. They are going to need some heavy metal work. There was lot of bondo and some riveted sheet metal. I've got my work cut out for me.

I selected this as it is compatible with the RAPCO enamel paints that I plan on using for the OD overcoat. I also like the rust inhibitors in the paint. That yellow will look ugly while the sheet metal work is ungoing, but that's how Ford did it.

[signsup]

I wonder what color AC Ford used on their B-24 bomber production lines? Knowing the history of Henry, I presume he would rather use one primer than two different ones for two different projects.

Do you know where your GPW was assembled?

My April 9. 192. 14280 was assembled in Chester, PA

[17thAirborne]

I do not know where. I started another resto thread and will post the frame no. Perhaps someone will be able to ID the plant.

[Fabrizio]

Hi all,

On GPW 3606, the Midland frame has very clearly:
-steel
-black primer
-ZC primer
-OD


The ZC found on the frame but also on body, seats, and a lot of accessories is absolutely not yellow, rather a light « yellowish » olive drab.
I have got a nice Pantone chart match if needed.