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I have just acquired a 1952 GMC 1/2 ton was wondering if they had pin stripes on the wheels and cab as did the Chevy. All the pictures I have seen do not show any. Was the GMC intended more for the commercial consumer as the interior paint on the dash seems to be a little more sedate than the stainless steel on my '50 Chevy truck. I know the '52 and '53 models of both eliminated the chrome finish on the bumpers and hub caps.

The GMC was the low end of Chevrolet and were mostly work or farm trucks. They didn't get all the frilles as the Chevrolet.

Frank
Cox Custom Cars

I always thought the GMC was the heavier duty truck not "low end" pretty pin stripes don't make for a better truck. The "low end" would infer that the GMC was an inferior product to the Chevrolet and my opinion is that the opposite is true.

Today I received a pin-striping instruction sheet from Jim Carter which states that both Chevy and GMC cabs had pin-striping on the beltline. No pin-striping was placed on the GMC grill. To the point about GMC being more of a commercial work truck, I changed the oil yesterday for the first time and was surprised at how much oil it took to fill the original 228 engine. It has the optional oil filter and was surprised that it took over 9 quarts of oil for the dip stick to register full. I recall it only takes a little more than 5 quarts to fill my '50 Chevy with a '54 235 engine in it. So what I am learning is the GMC may not be as showy but it has guts.

Is that from a GM sales brochure, a Chevrolet sales brochure, or a GMC sales brochure?

1949 GMC Painting Regulations.

Pinstripes were applied in all light-duty and medium-duty GMC standard color combinations. (GMC 100 series = 1/2 ton; 450 series = 3 ton)

That's why GMC had more chrome and offered an automatic transmission two years BEFORE Chevrolet.

Can you name even one frill that was standard or optional on a Chevrolet that was not also standard or optional on a GMC?

GMC was positioned back then as the Buick or Oldsmobile against the plainer Chevrolet, as the nicer better equiped truck with the bigger more durable motor.

You've got the relationship between the two brands exactly backwards.

Originally Posted By: countilawThe GMC was the low end of Chevrolet and were mostly work or farm trucks. They didn't get all the frilles as the Chevrolet

Pretty funny statement. Amazing how the low end chevy (gmc) could have gotten a full oil pressure engine 15 years before the high quality counterpart. I guess if you like babbit bearings and engine rebuilds that include lineboaring every 60,000 then the chevy certainly does cost more than a gmc to keep on the road.

The statement is also inconsistent with GMC trucks being sold at dealerships carrying the upscale brands rather than with GM's entry level brand.

Anyone have a price book for both brands? What do you want to bet GMC trucks were priced higher?

What a ridiculous statement. A simple side by side comparison of AD/ND trucks will tell you the GMC trucks were stronger and better built. Compare engines. Compare carburetors. Compare the dash gauges. Compare fuel and brake line routing. (clips on Chevys, clamps on GMCs) The list goes on.

I'd say the transmission shaft roller bearing in the GMC engines as opposed to the greased bushing in the Chevy engines says it all.

Pilot bushing - just remembered the name.

Back then, Chevy & GMC were two completely different trucks.
Even the frame on a GMC was heavier gauge steel than a Chevy.

I've heard that many times, but have been unable to find a GM document that confirms it, and those frames I've measured are not different.

As an example, a 1-ton '50 Chevy and a 1-ton '54 GMC both have a frame made from 7/32nds material. Its the same guage.

I know this because I own both and have carefully measured them. They are the same.

While its possible there are differences in the lighter trucks I did a measurement comparison on 1/2-ton trucks once and concluded there was no difference. I don't have the numbers in my head though.

The claim may originate in an improper comparison. Chevrolet's biggest truck at the time was a 2-ton. GMC made larger trucks with the same cab design. Its likely a GMC 3- or 3-1/2 ton truck has a thicker frame rail than a 2-ton Chevy or GMC.

In a recent discussion about fenders someone else pointed out that the fenders used on both Chevy and GMC 1/2-, 3/4- and 1-ton trucks '47 to '53 have the same GM part number. It would be interesting to see how many parts that is true of.

There are many differences between the two and some are obvious such as grills, hoods and motors, but some of the differences people talk about I've never seen substantiated and the evidence does not seem to support it.

That engine alone is a big enough difference in itself. Almost nothing at all inside the block is interchangeable, and is built to last longer. There's lots of other little detail stuff as well, such as seat material and stitching (mentioned in the Jim Carter catalogue). I've been digging for a year or so to track down every difference between the two. It's interesting, and sometimes very frustrating, when you own one and need certain parts.

This page at oldgmctrucks.com states most of the bigs differences:

http://www.oldgmctrucks.com/page0375.html