Were Henry J Kaiser cement trucks pink?

Answer 1

I thought they were 2-tone purple/lavender,..with a "Find a Need and Fill It" motto on the drum, in 2 places.

This answer is wrong. The correct answer is from the horses mouth, believe me.

In 1954 I was all hot to impress my soon-to-be wife and bought a titty pink '52 Oldsmobile convertible off a used car lot on Broadway in Oakland. It had been specially painted by a wealthy lady who lived across the Bay. The interior metal panels--dashboard and window sills--were pained chartreuse. The upholstery was black and white zebra striped. I had not yet dated my heart's desire but we conveniently often crossed paths. In fact, now days I, as well as a half dozen or so other admirers, would have been jailed for stalking. Finally I got my courage up -- I can't stand rejection -- and asked her for a date. And it wasn't long before we got married. It seems that her downfall was simple curiosity: the car said I was gay, but all other signals were contra.

In the meanwhile I was driving all over down town Oakland, and Mrs. Kaiser, wife of the man himself, who lived in a palatial high rise on Lake Merritt, saw the pink Olds and persuaded Henry to paint their cement trucks the same color.

Years later Dennis Quade, who played "the best pilot in the world" astronaut in Tom Wolf's The Right Stuff, drove a '52 Old painted the same color -- but without the chartreuse and zebra stripped interior. I'm pretty confident it wasn't a factory paint job.

Lew Warden. My wife, Nadja, died in 2004. We were together 50 years.

Answer 2

Good story Lew Warden!

However, I have a different answer: my father Edwin Collins worked for Henry J. Kaiser as an industrial relations manager in Oakland (CA) from 1950 to 1972. Dad told us kids that HJK's favorite color was pink, and that was why the Kaiser cement mixers were (at one time) painted pink. He added it was a very unpopular color among the drivers! Growing up in Berkeley, we kids saw many of these pink cement mixers and they all had the slogan "Find a Need and Fill It" painted on the tumbler.

During his employment, Dad was an MC for a birthday party given for HJK by his employees. He told us the birthday cake was the biggest he'd ever seen and covered in pink frosting with slices of strawberries. And all the plates and napkins at that party were also pink. Unfortunately, the one photograph Dad had of the party was in black and white.