Mike,
I respectfully beg to differ with you, but GMCs were equipped with the foot-actuated mechanical shift starter well after 1949, and the first key-operated electrical shift (solenoid) starter in a GMC truck was applied to the models equipped with an automatic transmission.
If your 1949 GMC does not have a foot-operated mechanical shift "stomper" starter, then the starter motor has been swapped out to a solenoid operated electrical shift starter drive. Further, if your truck has an automatic, instead of a manual, transmission, then that, too, has been swapped out and would explain the key-operated starter.
