New to the Forum and 1931 Closed cab pickup

[Mainiac96]

Last week I acquired a 1931 Budd cab wide body pickup. My only exposure to a Model A to this point had been when I was in high school back in 69-70 . My Latin teacher ( he was in his 80's, retired and just teaching part time) had a Model A truck that he had purchased new and still had. I got to drive it a couple of times doing yard work for him and since have always thought I would have one. Through the years I have been through all the muscle cars etc. but finally the stars aligned and this one came along. It's very original with some repair and paintwork and somewhere along in its life was converted to hydraulic brakes. I've heard it run and seen it drive but at the point I got it it wouldn't start due to the starter. I took that off and the bendix spring is broken. I have one ordered. I suspect the fellow I got it from tried to start it without retarding the timing?

Anyway, a couple of questions to start.. The truck appears to originally have dual spares. Passenger fender has a patch where there would have been a well. Is that likely? Also, the truck cab is red but the body is black as the fenders. Pictures I have seen of similar trucks the body is always cab color. The body shows no sign of ever being red.. just black over primer. Is this possibly original colors?

I'm just in the discovery phase of ownership. I am in hopes to just getting it driving and doing some touch up initially until I come up with a long term plan. It appears to be a very late 31 with the indented firewall and steel roof. The previous owner just got it from a collector who had bought it and kept it in his collection since the early 90's so it's been idle for a while.

Any thoughts or suggestions would surely help. Thanks! Mike in Maine