Beyond window sills you can comfortably rest your elbows on, reasonable hood heights, and the vent under the steering column, occasionally referred to as the ball chiller 9000, one thing I miss the most about old trucks is their paint options. Sure, fleet trucks were always solid white, but you used to be able to get a proper two-tone. After what feels like far too long, Ford is bringing it back and you don’t have to buy some limited-run special edition to get it, either.
This re-entry into the wide two-tone arena comes via Ford Custom Garage, an initiative by the Blue Oval that puts together dealer-installed accessory packages. Want a supercharged F-150 street truck or a big-turbo Maverick? This is the division you’re looking for, and its latest creation is an enchanting throwback play. The two-tone package is available on crew cab XLT and Lariat F-150s with the 5.5-foot bed, or essentially Ford’s most popular half-ton trucks. White, grey, and black midbands are currently available over any standard-order paint option, which really lets you mix-and-match.
Want a white band on a red truck, or a black band on a grey truck, or a grey band on a silver truck? No problem. The two-tone treatment even follows the dip in the greenhouse towards the front of the front doors, and the contours in the tailgate, and even leaves a relief for the stamped F-150 nameplate out back to let a little contrast poke through. It’s a charming nod to classic models, and a clever visual trick that works well with the latest trucks.
See, for the most part, two-tone paint’s been relegated to contrasting bands of color down the sills of certain trim levels. It worked fine in the 2000s, but there are a couple of problems now that all relate to modern proportions and surfacing. See, the towing wars have required huge radiators and coolers at the front of modern trucks, which means the truck hoods of today sit wildly tall. To keep things uniform, pretty much every manufacturer’s pushed the bottom of the greenhouse up so their trucks don’t look like Scrappy Doo, which means there’s a huge amount of metal on each door and bedside. Designers break this up with character lines, but using those for a two-tone break results in a truck that looks even more jacked-up than it already is.
Running a tall two-tone band visually breaks up this metal so it doesn’t read as tall to the naked eye, and it adds horizontal lines down the sides of a truck and across the tailgate. That might sound small, but it has the effect of slicing down the visual height of a truck, making it look sectioned without any structural modifications. Plus, keeping body-color sills means the wheels and tires don’t look like they’re floating in space. Overall, it’s a win.
While Ford is the first automaker to bring back this once-popular color split option, don’t be surprised if it goes further. The aftermarket’s slapped similar two-tone treatments on modern Chevrolets and Rams to great success, and Ford could also theoretically give the Super Duty, the Ranger, even the Maverick a similar treatment. For now, we get a sweet new optional look for the 2027 F-150. Excellent.
Top graphic image: Ford
Anything that deviates from the sea of white, grey and black vehicles is an improvement.
I would argue that modern trucks don’t need grills that are so high, even for towing. I recently had a Ram 2500 for a rental car and I was curious about how full the engine bay was. The radiator did indeed reach all the way to the top of the grill, but the bottom edge of the radiator was also above the bumper. Even though the bumper had a large opening in the middle, which looked like it was for cooling, it was completely below radiator. The radiator could be positioned at least 8 inches lower in the body, still have plenty of airflow, and plenty of ground clearance. As it was, the bottom of the radiator had to be at least 24 inches above the ground.
I can actually answer why. It’s because the engine bay needed to be designed to hold the naturally aspirated 6.4 Hemi, like what was most likely your rental, and also the turbo charged and intercooled 6.7 diesel. The intercooler is mounted below the front bumper which is why the bottom of the radiator is so high up for needed clearance.
Bring back real paint options.
So tired of the sea of grey.
I have a 2018 Ram 2500. It came two time black and silver. And apparently it’s been an option for years. A paid option. I’m 2018 it was $495 on a $62k truck. Given the ridiculous uptick in truck prices, I’m guessing this is like $800 now?
Meaning the reason you don’t see a lot of this is because nobody wants to spend extra money at 7% interest these days. On top of this, black out edition is what everybody seems to want in a truck these days.
When I ordered my Ram, the only two-tone option was an ugly pewter (beige) that didn’t really go with any of the primary colors available. I think that changed in later model years, but that’s why mine was a solid color (albeit blue, so I wasn’t contributing to the sea of monochrome).
There is a current model F150 in my town with the 2 tone paint job. Dark red with a white middle. Makes it looks like an 80’s model with that mix. Makes me smile when I see it. I didn’t realize how much I missed that look until I saw it.
Now just make them in some colors. You can get more different engines on an F-150 than colors. I remember when you could get a pink F150 and a color flip paint job from the factory, bring that back.
Yes, two paint camouflages the ridiculous bulk of American pickups, but the companies could also just make them smaller.
I’m giddy with anticipation for some bonkers wraps to cover all the otherwise blank Slate trucks. Locally there are some cybertrucks with some great wraps that look like something Donald Judd or Richard Artschwager might drive,
A fine idea. Since they’re the new Crown Victorias why not make them pretty? Coming next, vinyl roofs. Seriously, I love the two-tones.
The F-150 Brougham.
With a Landau top and opera windows for the back row.
Mmmm… I’ll take mine in orange creamsicle with white walls.
I’ll have what he’s having.
Not a bad choice, but I like my orange a little burnt. The coppery orange that Nissan and some others have would be exquisite.
Like the idea. Hate the execution.
A cheap, easy way to add another $2K to the price. What took them so long?
Not just trucks, cars need to go back to proper two tone, or even tri-tone options besides just the roof. I’m not saying we need to go full Ruxton, but at least mid 50s Packard
Insert Michael Scott GIF were he slams down the counter and says, “Thank You!”
More colors the better. Hope this becomes a trend.
Now we just need more colors on the inside of modern cars and trucks as well.
And do the whole interior in colors, steering wheel and dash liner included, not just the seats and door inserts. I want red, blue and tan steering wheels again!
Multiple color interiors!
Yes!
And black is not a color.
I’m not crazy about burgundy or avocado either. A burgundy and avocado pattern would be acceptable though.
What makes me happiest is that this is available on the lower-, not higher-end, models. Ford is targeting a specific sort of enthusiast, not a check all the boxes trophy buyer. That’s a pretty neat throwback itself.
Here’s hoping the Mustang GTS (or for the Fox body crowd, the Mustang LX V8) makes a reappearance soon.
It’s definitely very annoying that 2 tone paint is usually hidden behind the most expensive option packages.
Hopefully Ford will offer this on low end models in Canada as well, as we usually get less choice when it comes to options.
Thumbs up for the obscure Mustang reference.
Regular cab trucks look better in two-tone than those out-of-proportion crew cabs.
https://content.homenetiol.com/55b38662ae064d62a5fefba3356bdf7a.jpg
Just my 2¢.
A harlequin crew cab as long as it has all those doors.
Now I want to two-tone my regular cab ’97 F150. It’s already red and has achieved beater status, though I have no idea if it would even look good on the “jellybean” body style.
Here’s something close:
https://cdn.dealeraccelerate.com/ab/1/1107/46250/1920×1440/1997-ford-f150
I love this so much.
my first car was a Mazda pickup, two tone teal and silver. Agreed this needs to come back, but I feel like truck companies today it would only be available in the most butch/masc colorways. Army green and black, Black and ‘thin blue line’ blue, White and MAGA red oh oops guess they already did this one 😉
Ford sells the King Ranch with the accent stripe, only in Marsh Grey, and it looks great. This new style, retro, looks even better. Too bad I don’t need one, but when I do, its this. Well, so long as its paint and not a wrap.
I support this but something about it is off.
I have a friend with the early 90s squarenose F-150 with the two-tone white & red that this is emulating. That truck is perfectly rectilinear and the two tone lines follow the body lines and creases. It works well.
Here, it’s not following the character lines. It’s in conflict with the drop in the front window and the character line in the middle of the doors. Not bad, but not as good as that squarenose and it grabs my eye.
They also used to do two little stripes just past the top and bottom of the main stripe, which gave it a lil visual kick to blend the two sections together (like here).This is so stark.
Yes! I love the idea, but something was bugging me about the execution, and it is that the paint isn’t following the character lines.
That said, I still love seeing two-tone paint coming back.
Spot on. It needs to be cut to follow the character lines and I think it would look way better. The Bishop needs to get on this
There is a body line to paint to and they just fucking didn’t, I will be forever bothered by this. Thanks, Ford
I skipped to the comments just so I could agree with the headline.
It is, in fact, damn time trucks started offering old-school two-tone colors again.
Need to do this for cars, but we’d probably get shades of silver, gray, and black somehow.
It might not be all bad – check out the ’87 Mustang GT for how cool two tone gray scale can look.
I’ve seen it. I was bemoaning the l Henry Ford style color palette offerings of most manufacturers today.
Ah yes, but the modern equipment is “any color you want as long as it’s white.”
Ford needs to make a tribute to the Menace to Society Mustang!
When I was shopping for a truck in high school, I really loved the look of the Ranger in black over gray with the red stripe between.
Monochromatic just doesn’t get my **** **** anymore.
Screw that the white red color combo fucking rocks. Enough said
https://content.homenetiol.com/55b38662ae064d62a5fefba3356bdf7a.jpg
Since this is being done by Ford Custom Garage, is this a wrap rather than actual two tone paint?
I think so. Not ideal, but also not the worst thing. It’s amazing how it goes a long way toward shaping the F-150 look as strong and dependable again, instead of antisocial and mean.
Bring back friendly trucks! Happy trucks for all!
But then how are men to show off how tough and virile they are to attract a mate?
…yes, those of us who actually understand women (to a point) know they appreciate a man who doesn’t feel like they have to put up a front, but they won’t listen…
The white middle of my 74 F100 was tape. You could tell from the evidence of idiots flinging their nearby doors open.
I agree not the worst thing. I just wish the article would say how Ford is accomplishing this.
It’s laser-guided paint.
Painted at the factory according to Road Ethos:
https://roadethos.com/news/fords-two-tone-f-150-is-real-factory-paint-not-a-wrap
Other interesting details:
-It also requires the Chrome Appearance Package
-It cannot be combined with the spray-in bed liner or the multi-access tailgate.
-Ford has not announced pricing, and the outlets that have asked have not received an answer.