The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Correct 54 GMC tailgate

Can anyone enlighten me as to which tailgate (lettering wise) is correct for a 54 GMC 1/2 ton? The one on my truck now, which appears to be original, has an elongated "M", with the G and the C on either side (hard to explain without a picture). I have seen pictures of this gate on other trucks, but have also seen the more standard "block" letters. To make matters worse, it seems like everyone that I ask has a different answer, and the catalogs seem to only have the block letter variety. Any ideas as to which is correct? If its the elongated version, would anyone happen to know of a source for them? Thanks.

The correct gate for the '54 is the one with the rounded GMC script letters and "elongated" M in the middle that's more rounded.

A '55-'59 gate will fit the '54 bed, but the letters are more block like. That is a one year gate basically.

'54 was the first year for the "grain tight" gate and flat top siderails.

I've seen a few on eBay, and you could probably locate one through the swap meet, but they seem to be fairly expensive, as they were only used for a year and a half.

ChevyDuty has it listed in repop for $200. I don't know anything about the quality.

My '54 came with the block letter tailgate but I have an original magazine ad for the '54 GMC truck that has the enlongated "M" tailgate so I believe the enlongated "M" is the actual correct one.