Ok,,right up front I'm a Ford guy and what I know about Chevy trucks is founded on what I have seen and been told over the years. A friend of mine is looking at a 1955 Chevy truck that is for sale and I thought I knew what a '55 Chevy truck looks like but I am at at loss. The truck in the photo looks more like the earlier series 1 48-54,,did Chevrolet have a mid year body style change? or did they produce two different trucks in '55? HRP
yes, early 55s where the exact same as 54 with the exception of an open drive shaft and I believe different color hood side emblem.
There might be some emblem changes etc. but in the old days we would look undreneath for the open driveline to see if it was a early series 55.
The pic the OP posted is a 1955 1st series. It still used the Advanced Design body with a one year only grill. In September 1955, they came out with the Task Force body, the 1955 2nd series. This is the body most consider the '55. Like this...
First series '55's were built until March or so before the second series was introduced. All efforts before that were devoted to introducing the new for '55 car.
All the '55 1st series trucks were 235 sixes (or 261 sixes in the big trucks). The other nice thing about the open driveline was the 3.90 rearend. '54 and older were stuck with the 4.11 diffy.
The Cameo pickups were built on the 2nd series of the 1955 trucks. I drove one as a daily driver for many years. Mine was not as nice as the one in the above photo ... but the 2nd series trucks were a lot more advanced ( IMHO ) than the earlier trucks. The 2nd series were open driveline, came with 12 volt systems and were a good bit roomier.
After the second series came out in 55, there were lots of angry people that bought the first series truck.
the big three did it all the time. GM and Ford did the standard and deluxe/Master in the 30's and when then new model aren't ready or the want to jump the competion 65 mustang came out feb 64. and the 63 1/2 galaxy's were another ford. Chryslers in 49. one that I never see is a early and late 70 camaro's
Early '47s were actually carry-over '46. The year on the title depended on the issuing state's disposition of the day! My brother has a panel van titled '47, but the same styling as the '41-'46 Art Deco trucks.
Here's a better pic of the front of a first series, I never cared for the grille as much as I did the earlier models.