The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk gmc 49 or 50?

I have a gmc 1 ton pick up with a 9ft bed, I just recentally found out it was in fact a 1 ton, now i am wondering if the truck is in a 1950 or 1949, How can you tell the difference?

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Is it a Canadian built truck? I don't know how the Canadian serial numbers work, but if its a US serial number you should be able to determine the year from the serial number.

You might get some good GMC specific info at OldGMCtrucks.com.

Gasdude,,,on your raditor,,they have it stamped what year the truck was made..i have a 50 chev...so they stamped it j-50...made in october 1950..yours should say something like that,,if it has original radiator...

Unless they used a radiator from the previous year, or it was changed to the same brand radiator but with a different year stamp. So that method would probably be little use.

ALL of the cast iron parts, block, head, gear box etc. should have a date code. Like D 11 9 (with A=Jan, B=Feb etc, 11=day of the month and 9 being the year, like 39 or 49 or 59 etc. You can nail year of mfg. down with this code or get close. Parts cast near the end of the year would be acutally used for next calendar year truck.

Get the serial number from the door post, go from there.

shoot off a few pics of the truck. i would like to see the bed. i keep wondering if the bed on mine is original with the truck, or aftermarket. and it is a 9 foot bed also.

Thanks, for the info, I will use the truck decal info from the old truck.com. As far as the 9ft bed, the rails and the wood were deteriated, so I removed all of it and put stained cedar, side by side with out the rails and zinc carriaged bolted it to the bed framing, perhaps I will get the rails sometime when I,ve got more loot, but right now theres plenty of other things to do.

demo man, I looked at your truck pic thats a cool truck the condition of yours is simmilar to mine, mine presentally has the front end off for wire wheelwheeling and engine parts clean and paint. The 9-ft bed on mine is with pick up box, where as yours is a flat bed, my suggestions may or may not been the answer. Cheers!

In 48 I think....the gas tank was under the bed, THEN in 50 they got vent windows on the doors. Thus, I think this is how I figured out a few years back that my GMC flat bed is a 49. It has the gas tank behind the seat, and windows on the doors are one piece with NO VENT windows. I found a webiste waaay back taht had the history of these in order, with pictures, with explanations of changes each year. I saved it and then my PC got a virus and as far as I know I don't have it anymore. But that is what I can remember. Good luck.

I used the vehicle decal code dycryptor from the oldgmc site and it explained that it is a 1950, and confirmed all other info, now I dont have to guess no more, the motor codes will help but this motor I am sure has been changed at some point, anyways thanks ,all you all!

'51 was the first year for vent windows. It was also the last year for drop-down door handles. They're the only AD doors that are really worth anything, being a 1-year-only item.