Beyond window sills that you can comfortably rest your elbows on, reasonable hood heights, and ventilation under the steering column, sometimes called the 9000 ball cooler, one thing I miss most about old trucks is their paint options. Sure, fleet trucks were always solid white, but it used to be possible to get two suitable shades. After what seems like too long, Ford is bringing it back and you don’t have to buy a limited edition special to get it either. This re-entry into the broad two-tone field comes through Ford Custom Garage, a Blue Oval initiative that brings together dealer-installed accessory packages. Do you want a supercharged F-150 street truck or a big-turbo Maverick? This is the division you’re looking for and their latest creation is a lovely piece of retrospective. The two-tone package is available on XLT crew cabs and F-150 Lariats with the 5.5-foot bed, or essentially Ford’s most popular half-ton pickups. Currently, white, gray and black midbands are available over any standard paint option, really allowing you to mix and match. Do you want a white band on a red truck, a black band on a gray truck, or a gray band on a silver truck? No problem. The two-tone treatment even follows the slope of the greenhouse to the front of the front doors and the contours of the tailgate, and even leaves a relief for the stamped F-150 nameplate at the rear to let a bit of contrast show through. It’s a charming nod to classic models and a clever visual trick that works well with newer trucks. Photo Credit: Ford Look, for the most part, the two-tone paint has been relegated to contrasting color bands on the sills of certain trim levels. It worked well in the 2000s, but now there are a couple of problems that relate to modern proportions and surfaces. See, the towing wars have required huge radiators and coolers in the front of modern trucks, which means the hoods of today’s trucks are tremendously tall. To keep things uniform, almost every manufacturer raised the bottom of the greenhouse so their trucks wouldn’t look like Scrappy Doo, which means there’s a lot of metal in each door and header. Designers break this up with character lines, but using them for a two-tone break results in a truck that looks even more elevated than it already is. Photo Credit: Ford A tall two-tone band visually breaks up this metal so it doesn’t look so tall to the naked eye and adds horizontal lines along the sides of a truck and along the tailgate. This may seem small, but it has the effect of reducing the visual height of a truck, making it appear cutaway without structural modifications. Additionally, keeping the sills body-colored means the wheels and tires don’t appear to float in space. Overall, it’s a win. Photo Credit: FordWhile Ford is the first automaker to bring back this once-popular color split option, don’t be surprised if it goes further. The aftermarket has applied similar two-tone treatments to modern Chevrolets and Rams to great success, and Ford could theoretically also give the Super Duty, Ranger, and even the Maverick a similar treatment. For now, we have a cool new optional look for the 2027 F-150. Great. Graphic image above: Ford
