The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline What Year did Chevy/GMC move pedals from floor to hanging from under dash?

Hello,

What Year did Chevy/GMC trucks move the clutch/brake pedals from coming through the floor to hanging from under dash?

Thanks,

I have a 59 they are thru the floor, i think in 60/61 they were hanging.

1960 was the first year hanging from the firewall/ dash. Up through 59 they came up through the floor.

That is interesting,
I believe on the 1954 Chevy car, the pedals came up through the floor.
On the 1955 Chevy car the pedals are hanging from the firewall/dash.
Sounds like the Chevy truck engineering department was lagging behind the car engineering department.
According to your reply the truck clutch/brake pedals did not transition from floor to firewall/dash until 1960,
where as the car transitioned from floor to firewall/dash in 1955.
It took the Chevy truck engineering department 5 years to get on the firewall/dash band wagon.

This doesn't mean the truck engineering department was "lagging behind". There could be several reasons for this. Foremost is probably that it was easier to access on a truck than a car below the floor, and it was unnecessary to change until 1960. That's my guess.

Most of the time when these changes weren't implemented it was a business/cost decision. Remember that trucks used to be purely workhorses.

That is a good point, but the truck body design changed with the 1955 2nd series truck,
but they still kept the same floor pedals as in the 1947-55 1st series trucks.
In 1955 the car body design changed, at that time they also changed the pedals from floor to firewall/dash.
Body design change in the truck did not effect pedal location but it did in the car.

Yeah the 59's down you can take the body off and still drive the frame, as it is all pretty much self contained.

That's it right there, Drivable Chassis. Basically, it makes it easier to adapt the bare truck chassis to different bodies without having to worry about pedal mounting. It's also the reason that the solid steering column was used through '59.

I think they took longer to move to the key starter on the trucks too. Did the electric wipers appear earlier on the car?

According to the 1929-1957 Master Parts Catalog MPC.
Chevrolet passenger car electric wipers did not appear until 1955.
Group number 10.150 Motor and Parts Windshield Wiper

Chevrolet Truck electric wipers did not appear until 1954. Regular Production Option RPO 320
Group number 16.064 Motor-Housing-Screw-Switch-Windshield Wiper

I guess you could say a Chevrolet Truck electric wiper motor was offered 1 year before the Chevrolet Passenger car.
One-up for the Chevrolet Truck Engineering Department!

Another observation about the 1954-1955 1st series Chevrolet truck electric windshield wiper motor.
Is that it would be the only 6 volt electric windshield wiper motor that Chevrolet ever made.
In 1955 the Chevrolet passenger car and the 1955 2nd series truck electrical systems were upgraded to 12 volts.
Prior to that Chevrolet cars & trucks electrical systems were 6 volts.
That's if the above information holds true.

I wonder if anybody has those original early electric wipers on their truck.

I have the 6V '54 motor on my burb. I used a Ron Francis VR-4 voltage reducer to power it.