My L didn’t come with mats, just the same paint on the deck of the operator station as the rest of the tractor. I thought that was kind of cheap looking and was planning to Rhino line it as I’m not enamored with the moisture retention and rust possibilities posed by mats on an open station machine. (BTW,
@mcfarmall posted pics of his back then and it looked great.) But a few days before starting that project I parked the L behind the 1939 Farmall H as usual and got to thinking the Farmall hasn’t had anything but paint (or lack thereof due to wear) on the operator station deck since 1939 (way before I was born) and that never bothered me, so why was it bothering me on the L?
Granted the operator deck on the H is a rather heavy casting and the L deck is sheet metal. They both live inside when not working. Still, I never could answer my own question to my own satisfaction so part of the L operator station deck is orange. Part is bright steel polished by the dirt on our boots. Same as the deck on the H except the remaining paint on it is McCormick IH red.
Nothing wrong with protecting/coating the deck. Just another viewpoint…