The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Is it a 50 or 51

I'm new to all this, but look forward in learning from the Pro's. I just made my dream truck a reality. I happen to have a very nice 1950 5 window 3100 Pickup in very orginal shape very little rust and running.....The vin number tells me it was manufactured in Kansas City in July of 1950. All the old paper work shows the truck as a 50, but many items on the truck tells me it may be a 51. ie Vent windors on the driver and passenger doors. Is that not a 51 change ? I guess the question is when or which month of year back then did the assembly plants change to manufacturing the next years model.

i'm not total sure your year but if you got the paper work i would say a 1950. but welcome to the bolt

A lot of people over the years have changed doors. You can have 52 doors on a 49 or any other combination. If you have the vent windows you should not have the side cowl vent in front of the driver's door. Do you have push button door handles or cranks?
You see a lot of "1948" trucks in car shows BUT they do not have the side cowl vent. A lot of hot rodders put the one piece windows on later model trucks and then call them "48s" so they can meet the year cut-offs for some shows.

I have the side cowl vent on the drivers side and cranks for the door handles. The young man told me he bought it brand new in the fall of 1950 right out of college and it has had no body work in all those years. May be not....

If it has the side cowl vent, it definitely isn't a '51. Would have to be a '50, or earlier.

Sounds to me like you have a 50 but the doors or at least the window assembly in the doors were changed.

they could have used left over 50 cabs and put 51 doors on it. july is mid year, so back then who knows what they did to elimnate the stock.

Welcome to the bolt, Michael

This has come up before. Apparently some states used the date of registration rather than the manufacturers year model. A lot of states didn't issue titles back then.

I don't believe that is the case here though. Since the cab has a side vent I'd say it's a 50 that has had the doors swapped.

Gents,
Thank you very much for your input ...The learning curve is gaining altitude.

what does the title say?

Welcome Michael! Let the learning..begin!!

What seat adjustment is there cable or rod?

my 1950 5 window had wing window doors on it when I got it too, As stated above, it is very common to have changed doors over the years. Also stated above, a good indicator at this point for you (and me both) is that they do have the drivers side cowl vent right behind the fender. That indeed makes it older than a 1951. I am confident your truck is a 50 with 51 doors on it.

By the way....welcome

Thanks to everyone !!!! One input off line was that the truck may have been assembled in O'Canada, even thou the Vin # says Kansas City. With such a high production run during the summer of 1950 a number of our trucks were mixed with 51 production items as the vehicle came down the line. Some assembled plants just ran out of their 50 stock and just graped the newer 51 items to keep the line moving. This is a new purchase for me and once I get the time to get down to the hangar, I'll give her a closer inspection.