The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Panels 'N Burbs TRUCK DOOR HANDLE EARLY AND LATE

A friend of mine has a 54 panel, but it has one door with the early style pull down handle on it. the door is in excellent condition but just the handle is wrong. we would like to change the handle to the later model push button like the other door. can we simply bolt the push button handle in and weld up the hole for the key lock in the door.
Jay D.

No.

The key word in your question was "simply". Converting that door to a push button handle door requires a lot of cutting, fabrication, and welding. Original doors are hard enough to make work correctly. It is not something I would try to do, and I have done some pretty creative things.
If your pull down handle door has a vent window, it is a '51 door. They were a one year only door making them scarce. You should have no trouble finding a buyer for it, then you can buy a more correct door for the '54.
'52 through 55.1 will work. The '52-'53 use different fasteners to hold the cardboard door panels on, but that is very easy to accommodate.

Hmm, I'm working on what I believe is a '51 Panel, (VIN # 6JPB 4443) the rear door handle is a pull down type but the cab doors are push button type... Very solid body/frame for it's age so a little hard to believe both front doors have been changed out... It has been repainted a couple times and is not what I think is the stock color (light blue) so should know more once we start prep for new paint, if the doors are not the same blue under all that paint they must have been swapped I guess. At first I thought perhaps it was a mid year change or something strange... Ha ha.

Your truck may be a very late '51 or early '52 (more likely). It wouldn't be unusual for the pulldown handle on the rear to be a carryover. the VIN does indicate it to be a '51, but panels might be a little different than the much more common pickups.
BTW, you probably should have started a new thread, since your topic is slightly different. Forum etiquette says don't hijack someone's thread. But you're new, so you get a pass.

Okay, sorry about using this post as you noticed I'm new here... I seen that there was 137 pages of threads so thought it best to keep discussions going rather than starting new ones when possible, but I can understand about the hijacking. Thanks for the heads up!