The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Gauge differences 50 vs 52 Chevy???

Hi Everyone,
I'm in the process of restoring my truck gauges. I grabbed the gauge assembly from my Dad's 1950 Chevy parts truck to use on my 52'. Once I got home I realized that my 52' temp gauge only goes up to 212, and the 50' gauge goes up to 220. I'd like to use the 50' gauge set (since it's in great shape) and restore my 52' speedo. Was there a color difference in the speedo vs. the gauge assembly in these years? Should I get a gauge decal kit for a 47-51 to use on my 52' speedo? Thanks

The 220 temp gauge is from a GMC, Chevrolet used a 212 until I believe 1953.

Does the gauge have Amperes (GMC) or C/D (Charge/Discharge) (CHEVROLET)?

Does it say Fuel (GMC) or Gasoline (CHEVROLET)?

There are other differences, but this should help decide if these are truly chevrolet gauges.

The gauge reads Gasoline and the battery reads charge and discharge, so that tells me it's a Chevy gauge. Looks like new temp gauges read 220 for the Chevys now.

I just verified with the parts company that the 47-51 chevy gauges are a brown color where as the 52-53 gauges are a grey color. Now the question is, can I replace my 0-90 mph speedo decal with a 0-80 mph speedo decal? Will my speed be accurate?

Just wondering
What parts company gave you that information?


if you put a 0-80 decal on your 0-90 gauge your speed will not be accurate. Also the high beam indicator light will not be in the correct location.

This is information from one who is no longer with us, he was a wealth of information, WD Foster.

1947-48 Chevy the brown back ground is a little grayer. the letters are white the needles are painted red and short. 212 temp gauge and 80mph speedo

1949-51 Chev the background changed to a different shade of brown, the needles are painted white and longer than the 47-48

1952-53 Speedo changed to 90mph and temp gauge increased to 220

Thanks, interesting
sounds like the parts supplier got the info backwards and the years mixed up.

So the 49-53 gauges were all the same background color? My concern was when I replace the speedo face for my 52, that it won't match the face of the 51 or older donor gauges. Guess I'll just replace all of the gauge decals. Why then does my 52' temp guage read 212? Looks old and original. Maybe someone swapped it out back in the day.

The original temp gauge in my 52 Chevy was 212.

Chuck