'47-'54 Chevy truck production...

I stopped to get gas yesterday , and a guy pulled up in what I thought was a '54 Chevrolet truck , I asked him what year it was , he told me it was a '55 , I questioned him , due to the one piece windshield and the descriptive grill on the '54 , I asked , why is it built on the '47-'54 body style and not the '55-57 body style? , he tells me that this is one of the early '55 models , before the body change , he says the early '55 had this body style for the first 2 months of production , I personally feel like he's full of **** , he bought this truck out west on ebay , and was told this , he acts pretty knowledgable in talking about vehicles , but , I kinda feel like he got dupped on this , anyone know of any"special '55" chevy trucks built early on a '54 body style?

 

A'54...and then a '55...

 

...the guy's right!....they did the same thing in 47, most looked like 46's, late ones looked like 48's.
...quickest way to tell an early 55 is by the open driveshaft, if the truck hasn't been modified.

 

He is right. They built AD's in 1955 before switching body styles. The AD body style for '55 is called the first series. The Task Force style for '55 is the second series.

 

What's an AD?

 

AD stands for "Advance Design",...the term used by GM for these trucks.

 

Wow , I never knew this , I guess he was right , I kinda thought that someone had switched a bogus ***le and serial plate on his truck and he didn't know any better , guess I'm the un-knowledgable one this time...learn something new everyday...

 

Ford also did an early/late year body/ch***is change on cars and trucks. There are early 47 Ford cars which use the 46 style trim and parking lamps etc.
Chrysler did the same thing in 1949 when the early cars looked just like 46-48s and then the "NEW" 49s came out.
Heck, Ford introduced the "new" pickup in 1948 which include the new flathead 8BA/8RT engine before the "new" cars came out in 1949.

 

thanks I wondered what ad meant. 47 was the same I have a late 47 cab.

 

Did they do the same thing with the cars too? , you know , a '55 chevy made like a '54?

 

Nope.

 

Another interesting thing about those trucks is that the what I call Forest Service Green was the standard color for all those years too. Any color other than that was special order.

 

1st series AD trucks (late '47-'54) were produced into the beginning of 1955. Thus you can have a 1st series '55 that looks like a '54.

 

All the focus was on getting the new '55 Chevy cars ready for production so the trucks were put on the back berner. The 2nd series trucks were ready for production I believe in March of '55. The first series differ from the '54 with a open drive shaft,differant rear leaf springs and the hood emblems are different.

 

He's right.

 

i also have a 55 1st series. The guy is correct.

 

There were even a very few 1st series ***embled with 2nd series rear fenders & bed sides. Never saw a 1/2 ton version, just 3/4 tons.

 

I find it odd that you think the guy was full of ****,when in fact you know very little about old chev trucks.
Rusty1:this is by no means a dig at you, AD,,stands for Advance Design,not Advanced Design.I just want to futher squeaky's education

 

Thats why '55's are referred to as first or second series.

 

this stuff is elementary, Watson. On a similar note, 69 Camaros were built into the first half of 1970 and are ***led as 1970 Camaro. The next Gen Camaro was then listed as a 70 1/2.

 

..yup, I corrected that, you are rite.

 

yea and anyone with a 54 or 55 AD truck knows getting your dash parts and fenders and little odd and end pieces is kind of hard. Yep, still gathering parts for mine glove box door!!!! Not the same as 47-53. Got a new grille, repaired my fenders got an ash tray, but the glove door is proving to be hard to come by. Can find plenty of 47-53 glove box doors anyway didnt mean to highjack the thread for a wanted ad just adding in some other differneces I found between the different years between me and my dad we have a 47, 50 and two 54s and they all got diffferences but we are going to end up with two nice trucks.

 

Might be a dumb question but I have a first series 55 3600. You say the fenders are different from the 47-53? What exactly is different?

 

The fronts have a recess for the parking light & holes for the grille parts to bolt onto ...

 

Keep an eye out on ebay... I saw one sell there for about 25$ ( I was out bid) about 6 months ago... I was able to straighten mine out enough for me. Some idiot pried it open before I got the truck!
mike

 

Just to add another little twist, here's my '55 1st Series (with '54 paint scheme) right hand driver. It has '53 style cab and dash, I guess to save on tooling for RHD components.

 

They did that all the time...
In 1936 you have "Hicab" and "Low cab" Chevy trucks. In mid year when they used up all the 33-35 taller wooden based cabs they switched to the new lower steel cab for 36-38.