Longtrial, I am by no means an expert on the history of these trucks, but itseems to me that maybe the earlier models had the shifter between the seats like yours. Then they used a linkage setup to the hump over the valve cover where it connected to the shifter. This is the way it is on my 46. I will look through my books and see if there is some kind of time line for the shifters. I think some of the other brands in this era also had the shifter between the seats
