The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Did 56 Cameo use a different front crossmember than 1/2 ton?

I bought a frame with a big window cab and a GMC 270 which appears not to be original. The cab had a dash like a 56 chev. The guy I bought it from said it was originally a cameo. The front cross member is definitely not GMC and does not look like chev either. There are pictures on the old gmc site. If there is a difference in a cameo and a regular chev frame, I should probably keep it intact instead of cobbling 3 parts pickups to make a daily driver swb step side. If anyone can recognize the difference in front cross members. I can email a picture.

welcome to the garage crenwelge, the 55-59 Chevy truck dashes are all the same, and the Cameo was just a dressed up 3100 [1/2T short stepside] .... not a great pic, but this is the 55-59 1/2T front frame, pickup, panel, burb, cameo ... if it was originally a V8 truck, there would be a pair of roughly triangular brackets riveted to the back of the front cross member

Bill

This front cross member looks like mine. I asked the same question on old gmc and it looks to me like cross member they call chev may have been from a 47.2-55.1 instead of 56. I'll proceed with my building. Thanks

no suprise, the old gmc site is primarily concerned with the 48-54 models, 55-59 is too new for them

Bill

55- 59 chevy trucks used the same crossmember. the 55-57 and 58-59 gmc trucks used different crossmembers than the chevy. They are the same for the year groupings I noted. The major difference with the 55-7 and 58-9 xmembers is the radiator is supported by the crossmember on the earlier gmcs, and not on the later ones. Maybe you can find a serial number stamped on the frame to tell you for sure what you have.

In regard to the dash - GMC had a model they sold that used a Chevy dash. It was called the fleet model and used single headlights in 58 - 59.

I'm quite sure that it started out being a Chev. It has exactly the same crossmember as the picture red58 posted. I have several 55 GMC's which use a different crossmember and a 59 with another crossmember yet. I have seen pictures of fleet option GMC's but never recall seeing one in its time. We had a very strong GMC dealer here right after WWII and he sold a lot of pickups. Then came the drought of the 50's and very few pickups of any kind were sold in this area. The GMC dealer died young of cancer and when the drought broke, there was a very aggressive Chev dealer here. Very few mid 50's GMC's were sold around here.