Model manufacturers often paint the side door hooks Black, but I believe they were Orange.
> Dick Harley
Dick, a builder photo of R-40-10 PFE 42225 definitely shows black door hooks. A 1920's builder photo of R-40-13 PFE 35474 appears to show orange hooks, with a shadow as you described. So at least for a time in the 1930's, the hooks got black paint -- but this exhausts my PFE ice reefer builder photos collection. :-)
