What year is my truck?

[southbounddee]

Does my serial # or vin# tell me what year my truck is,i was told it's a '52 the dmv issued me a title for '52 please help.

[mylow53]

we need more info if you have a 52 you should have the door handles that rotate down, a split front windshield and no wind wings... can you post a picture?
GT

[southbounddee]

do have vent widows,door handles are push button type i think the doors might have been changed,do have split windshield,the bed and the cab have the factory red.

[MrTucker]

How about a serial number? It should be on the driver side door jamb.

FYI, my '53 looks just like that

[Steve@OldSub.com]

Originally Posted by southbounddee

Does my serial # or vin# tell me what year my truck is

The truck should have a serial number but it only has a VIN if some state has assigned one sometime in the last 30 years.

Its not a '54 or later based on the split windshield.

The doors say '52 or '53. From a picture of the drag link I could tell you if its a '53.

Since the doors might have been changed you really need to post a whole lot more detail photos of the truck, or the cab serial number to support telling what year it is. Just seeing the passenger side would help a lot. Seeing the front suspension would help too.

GMC serial numbers are not easy to explain and do not have a single structure across the years these trucks were made. You can visit OldGMCTrucks.com and you may be able to sort it out from the documents there.

Since it apparently had a Chevy motor in it, you have to wonder if its a Canadian truck. If it is the serial number decoding is completely different.

[mylow53]

thats a 54 bed possibly 51/53 doors. you may have a mutt. no not the dog the truck
GT

[southbounddee]

the serial # and the plate says manufactured by gmc truck & coach division general motors corporation pontiac, michigan, u.s.a. horsepower 90 at 3200 r.p.m. gross weight 4800 lbs

[Steve@OldSub.com]

Its a '52 long box 1/2-ton. The original motor was a 228 and the truck was made in Pontiac MI.

The '10' tells me 1/2-ton and the '2' says wheelbase is 125, thus the long box.

The '22' means 228. If it were '24' it would mean a 248.

The 'P' tells you the truck was build in Pontiac.

The rest is the production number and distinguishes your truck from all the other 1/2-ton trucks made in Pontiac in '51, '52 and '53. Production numbers 1001 through 28735 were 1951, then to 49332 were '52. Higher than that is '53. And no I don't remember all those numbers, I have a cheat sheet on my computer.

And for 1954 GMC changed the coding again.

[southbounddee]

thanks for the info '52 it is, my title says '52 so that's my story and i'm sticking to it, but what about those flat bed rails,did they do that in '52? the red paint is factory on the bed and the cab.

[troy54gmc]

Man Steve you know alot of info about serial #'s. I know who im asking if i ever need info. you da man.

[Steve@OldSub.com]

Originally Posted by troy54gmc

alot of info about serial #'s

Thanks Troy,

I've got a good handle on '47 to '54 GMC's only.

I have a feel for the '55 to '59 numbers but after that they are wacked until about '82. '39 to '46 are similar enough to '47 to '50 that I can usually figure them out. '18 to '38 I have no idea at all beyond they are different.

[MrTucker]

no, they went to flat bed rails in '54. It's possible your truck came as a flat bed, or was made into one - then someone slapped a 54-55.1 long bed on it.

[Steve@OldSub.com]

Originally Posted by MrTucker

no, they went to flat bed rails in '54. It's possible your truck came as a flat bed, or was made into one - then someone slapped a 54-55.1 long bed on it.

Have you ever seen a standard length pre-'54 1/2-ton with a '54 bed on it? Because of the higher kickup over the rear axle the bed ends up higher and doesn't match up to the running boards and the filler panel the way they should.

It just screams that something is wrong.

On this truck I don't see any sign of that problem. I've always wondered if the 102 frame is more like the 101 frame (116 inch wheel base), or more like the 152 frame (3/4-ton 125 inch wheel base).

The fact that the later bed looks okay on this truck suggests that a 102 uses a frame similar to the 152 which is flat over the rear axle instead of one with a kickup.

Southbounddee is there any chance of posting some pictures of the frame?

But as I think about it, we don't really know if this is a '54 frame with a '52 cab on it, so we.

[southbounddee]

i did some checking on the bed, the post pockets have been cut and the rails have been flatten, neat trick i guess.

[dwcsr]

One thing to remember with trying to date the older trucks is they did a lot of half year changes so a 51 could have push buton and trun down hanldes and a 53 could have flat rails on the bed. But a 54 would not have tip up rails and a 52 would not have turndown handles. Its not like today where 2001 and 2002 and so on are the changed on the year. The only sure way is the vin providing its original to the truck.

[99 to Life]

Definitely not a 54' that is out of the mix for sure.

Also 51' is the only year that had vent windows and pull down
handles. Never push buttons.

52' some have pull handles and push, so I have read. but a good
note on the 52' would be the hood emblem, it would just say chevrolet
not the 3100 or 3600 and so on.

also if you look on the inside of your grille they will be white or red
perhaps, red being older. I think in 52' they did away with the chrome
grille and metal emblems because of the war. So if you grille hood are
original that will help.

There are a lot of determining factors even the wood strips in the beds.
But some states registered these by engine numbers not vin plates.

It is best to read up on it, a lot of this stuff gets twisted from one person to the next. What I am saying here is just what I remember, I didn't have time to go and double check and find sources, though they where from good websites.