Right Drive, who’d have thought, thanks Bill.
Why those little details? Guys, those are what make an otherwise boring subject come alive. Like you say John, "ultimately it's not a huge issue" and if your object is simply to see what's in the back of the truck then you could hang the medicine chest door from a couple of hooks screwed thru the roof. Some people are only interested in keeping one of these trucks running as long as the shell looks original as it passes by. There is a big difference between Practicality and Preservation.

There is a certain segment of us who‘s goal is “Preservation“. When a new truck like my '54 comes into my life I feel in a small way like an archeologist, digging up the past. Learning about and documenting what I find is my way of preserving and passing a little history on to the kids that aren‘t even born yet.

What I’m trying to say is, what use would the Science & Industry or Natural History Museums be if we put a blonde wig on the cave mans wife simply because we assumed she had hair of some sort, or fit Barney up with a nice new set of false teeth because we thought it would improve his smile. We could make much better use of the pyramids if we opened up the insides so we could host a rock concert or soccer game, much better than wasting all that room just to house one guy. King Tut’s mask might look better to the California crowd if it were chromed instead of gold….and those chariots would handle a lot better with wire spooked wheels and Michelin’s rather than those wooden wheels…. well think you get the picture.
I find the evolution of all things from the natural world to the machines that man made quite interesting. I depend or trust in those people that gathered up those collections to preserve those thing just as they were created.
Alvin, the reason I had some doubts about only putting a machine thread in the reinforcement was that there would only be enough thickness for one or two threads so like the four 10-32 screws they would need a nut captured in the front chrome strip.
Ah these little details, they do make a difference to some of us.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

And my buddy did go out of his way to look at his 1953 GMC five window after lunch. And he reported that it has the 986875 bracket that Tim linked us to earlier in the ‘53 accessory installation manual. He didn’t check to see if it had a deluxe day night mirror mounted to it but he said he would take a picture of it tomorrow. And even thought it’s a deluxe cab, it does not have the 5th hole in the window divider post.
Bout the only idea we have left at this point is the California connection. I’m not sure if California was as safety conscious back in the early 50’s as they’ve become today and I‘d bet the legislators didn’t have all that much clout with GM back then either. I do have to say that in 1965 when I was stationed at McClellan AFB in Sacramento, CA, in order to have a car on base I we had to attend a California Highway Patrol safety class and have a safety sticker. They were quite safety conscious even back then so it’s possible that the state may have mandated inside rear view mirrors for vehicles sold in state 10 or 15 years earlier.

Denny G
Sandwich, IL