The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 49 pickup with 48 engine

I think the answer to my question will be no but I'll ask anyway. I recently purchased a 49 3100 pickup that was thought to be all or mostly original by the second owner. It's in great shape with some restoration but very little. But the engine serial number is a 1948 (216) but truck is suppose to be a 49. The ID plate is missing so I don't have a serial number for the truck. The gas tank fills behind the seat in the cab consistent with a 49.

Did Chevrolet ever put "leftover" 48 engines in the next model year truck or has the original 49 engine most likely been changed/replaced?

If late months (nov-dec) on the 48 for engine it could be the start of the 49 production run.

interesting, I wondered if anyone thought that might be possible
thanks

What code is used on your registration/title?

Here are locations for date casting codes for the block and for the head. That will tell you a little more about the "age" of the engine

Do you push forward or pull backwards the inside door handle to open the door?

Pull backwards. I will check title but when I initially looked at it, the VIN listed did not look like anything that resembled a serial number for a 48 or 49 pickup. The serial number on the block Is FBA582893 Indicating 1948 engine, made in flint Michigan

Thanks

Pull back handles supposedly started in early 1949.

A few changes were made in mid 1949.

This is very interesting. In 1984 I bought a '49 3100 deluxe cab, and when I looked at the engine block, it had a "48" stamped in the block. No big deal. When I got tune up parts at NAPA, they were wrong. So I got the distributor number, and the parts guy said that they were for a '48. Maybe it was an early '49??
Long gone now, what a great truck that I used and enjoyed for ten years!

If a 48 was stamped on the block (behind the distributor) it was probably/possibly an engine/block that was later installed in replacement for the original engine/block.

Hard to say for sure which year the truck is. My understanding is and as others already indicated, left over parts from a previous year model were sometimes, maybe often, used during early production runs of the following year. It may be worthwhile, certainly interesting, to check cast and/or stamped numbers on the manifold, tranny, rear end, starter, and generator too? Is there a date code on the door glass for these models?

Yes, original door glass (L-O-F, I think) had date codes. Decoding them might not be obvious, but info on decoding might still be available on-line.

The original radiator would have the year on it.