Was thje 265 V8 installed in the 55 first series PU?

Was having a discussion with a fellow car guy today and he mentioned he sold a 1955 265 to a fellow restoring a 1955 first series pickup.
I was under the opinion that the V8 265 didn't come out till the body changed in the later 1955 second series.
He said they looked at the tag on the truck and it indicates that it was an original equiped V8 truck.
Not that I knew for sure, but was I barking up the wrong tree and they did supply the V8 earlier in the year on the old style truck in 1955?
Thanks

 

I'm just gonna jump in with just my 2 cent with no facts to back it up. I say no. All that I do know is Chevy fell behind in getting the 55 Truck out because they concentrated on getting the Car out. It was all new and differant and made for delays. Rather than delay the car, they delayed the truck. The truck was differant also. So to add mods to the 54 run over to get a V8 in it I think would be more work for Chevy and that would make for more delays.

 

I agree. The '55 SECOND SERIES trucks came out in March of that year, and were known as the "Task Force" trucks through 1959. The 265-2v was the only V-8 available from mid-55 through '57. The 283 was used in '58 through '62 or '63, then the 327 became an option as well.

Merry Christmas, Tim

 

No V-8's factory installed in AD series trucks, TF's and newer only.

 

Yep, what oldcarfart said. V8's were were only installed in Task Force trucks. 1955-1/2 and later.

 

Kinda what I thought, but one of those things one can't prove.
Will be a discussion I can't win.

 

Did some 55-57 Chevy/GMC trucks have Buick V8s from the factory?

 

see what chevy says on the subject, they might know

http://www.gmheritagecenter.com/gm-heritage-archive/vehicle-information-kits.html

here's the chart that lists the available engines for the 55-1 trucks. don't see no 265

 

Some of the big chevy trucks (mostly school buses) had the Buick 322, and the GMCs used pontiacs

 

V8 truck VINs begin with a V. Six cylinder trucks do not have that first character and thus have shorter VINs.

 

One change that did occur to at least some '55 1st design trucks is the use of an open driveline. I have a '55 GMC AD and it had the '55 2nd design style driveshaft and rear axle. However, I feel quite certain that V8's were not available until 2nd design trucks were produced.

Ray

 

If you look at design changes on Chevrolet you can almost predict what is going to happen next, for example the 1928 Chevrolet with a four cylinder engine and a shroud and a long hood. The inline six from 1929 will go right in. Look at a 1954 Chevrolet pick up and the cross member for the bell housing mount. A later V8 bell housing bolts right up. But to answer your question, no the 265 V8 did not come from the factory in the first series 1955. It wouldn't have been hard to do if GM wanted to.

 

Did some 54-early 55 GMC come through with PONTIAC or OLDSMOBILE driveline? I remember relation of mine had an early GMC with a "HYDRAMATIC" transmission.

 

Some of the larger series GMC trucks of that era had an Oldsmobile engine.

 

55 and newer GMC was available with Pontiac Stratostreak V8 and Dual Range Hydromatic transmission

 

Depending on year and the truck GVW and model some GMC primarily could have Buick, Pontiac, Olds, or even GMC unique engines. Both GMC and Chevy could be had with a Hydra-matic. As far as I know, pickups had open drive several years before the cars did.

 

nope, 54 chevy pickups were closed driveline. Bigger trucks had open drivelines.

 

IIRC, hydramatics were offered as option on '53 and later GMC pickups and on Chevy pickups starting '54. In those years they were of course, 6 cylinder. Starting with 2nd series '55's hydramatics were available with V8 or 6 cylinder. The last of the Chevy Hydramatic pickups was '59. Thereafter they had Powerglide and later on Turbo hydramatics.

A good friend of mine has a '59 3/4 ton, 6 cylinder (don't know if it's a 235 or 261) with factory hydramatic. He has owned it for many years, having acquired from a family member who bought it new.

Ray

 

Guy I knew had a '56 GMC with Ponitiac 347 and automatic.

Wish I could have had it

 

A friend had a 56 GMC Suburban PU (Cameo) all original it came with the Pontiac and hydromatic. 1st series 55s did not come with V-8s.

Pat

 

Regarding the Pontiac in the GMC truck, around 1967 my father traded off one of our racing 389 Pontiac engines for some carpentry work for a LI guy that ran oval track modifieds for his race car.

When the carpenter got out of racing that same engine ended up in his mid to late 50's GMC panel truck that had a Pontiac from the factory and probably had at least 3:90 or more gears in it from the factory.

That sucker would really leap when you hit the loud pedal.

 

This is a photo from a collection by a long time GM regional parts manager.Shows a very early small block in a 53 Chevy truck done being done up by GM engineering.Notice the differences in the block and the later production 265's.

 

^^^^^Could you post/type the words that are writen below? Do you have any photo's of the 55 test car vehicle that was fitted with 54 sheet metal so spy camera's would not get a glimps of what was coming.

 

if the tag indicates a v8 then it did. A handful of 55 Corvettes had the 235 inline 6. Maybe the buyer special ordered the truck.

 

The caption below the photo says it's a pre production 265 engine,the heads are stamped "dummy" meaning they have no internal passages,the leaf springs means it's a truck.
This is most likely something mocked up by Chevy engineers in a "skunk works" lab for a "study". It appears there is no X stiffening stamping on that truck firewall,is so it would be a 1948 AD truck cab.So the truck was a few years old at that time ???
The introduction of the V-8 was a big deal. Chevy was always a very conservative car with no performance image and now it was going to compete head to head with Ford in the entry level V-8 class.

 

You were correct. If the tag indicates a V8 then most likely the tag was swapped from a second series (Task Force) truck. The Advanced Design trucks did not come with V8s...period. I would love to see a photo of the tag.

 

"Guy I knew had a '56 GMC with Pontiac 347 and automatic."
If it was a 1956 GMC PU it had the 316, the 1st and only year of the 347 was 1957.

"The last of the Chevy Hydramatic pickups was '59"
They were actually used in PU's until 1962.

 

Interesting, Chevy doesn't admit to that...

http://www.gmheritagecenter.com/gm-heritage-archive/vehicle-information-kits.html

look up the powertrains available on the different models, I only see the Hydro available in step vans in 60, and after that it's gone. Powerglide replaced it in pickups in 60

 

not wanting add anything but my 54 GMC's two piece drive shaft is closed to the cross member and open to the rear. is that what Chev did on the 55 AD?

 

You probably have a 3/4 ton, long wheel base truck, right? I saw that mention made in an earlier post and knew there are exceptions, just not on the 1/2 tons to my knowledge.

Years ago (a lifetime, it seems) I was the lube guy in a Chevy/Buick store in rural America and clearly remember servicing a 3/4 ton (maybe 1 ton) pickup with a short section of enclosed driveline to a crossmember, then at that point the driveline transitioned to open driveshaft. It was an original old farm truck, not modified or cobbled together. But it also had a full floater rear end and 8 lug wheels too.

'55 AD 1/2 tons had open driveline all the way from the back of the trans to the rear end. No enclosed sections. Same for 3/4 ton and up as well, for that matter.

Ray