VIN Plate Cleaning

I was a little annoyed that one of the previous owners of my truck had painted over the VIN plate on the door frame, it's a simple thing to remove why cover it up.  I removed the plate from the door frame and began sanding the top layer of paint off. I hoped to find some raised lettering and if I was careful maybe be able to read it. I began with 150 Grit, then used 220, then steel wool. As I sanded I went back and forth between the grits. Eventually I sanded near the edge and noticed a definite straight black edge starting to form. I stopped using the sandpaper and steel wool.   You can see from the first picture there were many colors. Black, Metallic Blue, Red (probably a primer) White, Black, Gray (probably another primer).   I then began using razor scrapper and started shaving the paint, being very careful to keep the cutting edge very flat. I noticed some of what I thought was some gold lettering  (turns out it was the Chevy Bowtie). I worked my way around and found the letter "S" next. By this point it was 11 p.m. but I couldn't stop myself and I worked on it for the next 1 hr+. You can see my progression in the pictures below. I'm kicking myself because at one point I thought a little steel wool could clean off the paint on the word "GROSS". Unfortunately as you can see in the third picture I wiped some of the word "MOTORS" away.  I finished up with sandpaper and Steel wool to remove the paint embedded in the Serial No.  Using this tool VIN Buster I was able to determine the following information. I hoped I would be able to determine the original color of the truck, however with SN I should be able to do more research and find out. There is no paint on the door frame where the VIN plate attaches.

Serial #  : 3HP131904
Mfg Year  : 1950
Model     : 3100 1/2 ton
Wheelbase : 116 inches
Plant     : St. Louis, MO

Starting to clear off 7 layers of paint

Getting real excited now "a little too much"

All Cleaned, "well as much as it's going to get"