The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Rubber Floor Mat Questions '52

most certainly later production was substituted when parts were quite similar but not identical, and that relates to the AD owners frustration with reproduction parts, as mentioned by Tim above .... the repro folks have a single part in good enough condition to use as a pattern, and that part is one of many thousands similar produced over a period of 9 years, no telling how close it was to the same part for other years or how well that mint 1950 part would fit your 1947 or 1954 truck

Bill

My 1949 1/2ton pickup has a total of 4 studs, 2 close to seat and 2 close to the firewall. It was made on July 15 1949 at the Oshawa Ont. plant in Canada.

I have a '48 Chevy 1/2 ton 5-window deluxe with a 4-speed floor shift.

This is the retaining stud on the passenger side:

http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/...ky/?action=view&current=DSCI0035.jpg

There is an exact match to it on the driver's side.

They appear to be original.

Hippy, is your truck a four speed?

Denny, thanks for posting that pic of your old floor mat. I was talking to and old Chevy friend of mine tonight and he told me there were more than one stud on the side.....which I did not know, but your mat "seems" to confirm there were IF we go by the holes punched in. My friend told me a couple other things but we'll see how all this pans out.

There are studs to hold the mat. I think that is now confirmed.
When it started, or when it ended, is still unknown. My friend has several AD trucks and hopefully will check every one of them this weekend....up thru 54's.

Greg,

Which floor mat will you use with your two-tone interior with Hydra-Matic?

Thanks for looking these up. I think you have shown a higher probability that the pins might have been there through 1949. And, I'd guess the pins were not used on Suburbans in any year (but, I'd like to know what the Suburban floor mat "under passenger seat - molded" looked like, especially in 1954 vs earlier years).

It looks like there was no special-colored floor mat in 54/55 for the two-tone burgundy/beige interior?

Tim,

This may disappoint you but my truck is going to be more of a "restification" A basic restoration with period correct modifications. It has had different wheels on it for as long as I can remember and that is all I have ever known. I like the looks and plan to keep them on it. I want stock style paint and colors, no body mods, stock driveline with period correct mods such as dual exhaust and carbs. I want the neat options that set 54 apart such as clock, and windshield washers. I guess what I am leading up to is that most likely, I will have a color coordinated carpet made for it with either "snaps" to hold flaps for brake fluid, battery, and trans dipstick access. I don't have that one fully sorted out in my head yet but again want something that has an appearance that it "could" have come that way. I hope you will forgive me for some added chrome and other touches.

A few years back, a set of "colored floormats" crossed ebay as NOS. I think I saved the info but have been through enough computers since that it may be tough to find now.

I do not have to fret over floor mat choices, Greg. It looks like it will be black for my floor.

I think I remember you pointing out those colored floor mats on eBay, I wish I had saved the photos.

Are you two saying that the "rubber" floor mats came in
different colors or, that a colored carpet was an option for
the last of the breed???
I've never seen anything but black in any of the ad trucks. I'd
like to see a picture or maybe you've got an illustration Tim?

I can't access your site or any of your links again even though
I've got the IP of both servers set to 8888 & 8844. That only
worked for the evening that we talked.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny,

I have never seen those colored floor mats that were used in late 1954 and 1955-1st two-tone interior trucks. I do not know if they were the full floor mat or, more likely, a smaller molded rectangular/square floor mat that was placed on top of the full floor mat. Greg might remember?

I do not think that I have a description or illustration of the colored floor mats in any 54/55 documentation, even where the two-tone interior options are shown or described.

I am in the group that has not personally seen them either. Word was that the deluxe cab option (two tone interior) may have had a colored floormats much the same as the colored windlace. I recall seeing one ONCE on ebay that was in an original box and claimed to be NOS. I think I asked wdoftexas about them and he thought they may have existed but could not confirm. (This is from old memories on my part and I may have facts incorrect) (I think I checked with him on them).

It would have been my understanding the they would have been the standard floormat but in a different color. In my opinion, if you look at the colored windlace sold for the trucks, they do not appear to be blue or green as much as they do grey.

I recall taking the original floormat out of my truck. It was torn but not as broken up as the one Denny showed. I was probably 17-18 years old and stupidly threw it away thinking a replacement would be to big trick to get. It's backing was holding water from a leaking heater core and I felt at the time, I was doing the smart thing. I am pretty sure that mat was black.

I have heard others talk of the colored mats but evidence of them seems to be pretty scarce. I wonder if Josh H would have any info on them.

There you go Tim, that makes more sense to me. I worked as a
Chevy parts man in the early 60's and sold a bunch of those
small colored accessory floor mats.
I also started out as a greaser/installer and saw a lot of the
full mats in trucks and they were all black.

Talked to a buddy of mine who is mid-term on a 1953 GMC 3/4 ton
P/U. He ran out in this bitter northern Illinois weather to
check his floor boards for me and reports that there are no pins
back by the seat and and doesn't appear that there ever were
any installed in the truck.

I feel confident in saying that '49 was the last year that GM
used the floor mat pins back by the seat. The rear holes though
seem to have been in the mats right up to the end of the run
for the AD trucks.

Oh, and one other thing I wanted to throw in here about the
original mats. You can see by this picture
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/148491995
that the part number
for the '54 mat was 3709557 but you won't find any reference to
that in the parts books. More evidence that the factory
installed parts were not exactly the same as the replacement
parts listed in the parts books.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I have no idea if the 54/55 colored "molded" floor mat was a small mat or a full mat, but another clue that supports the colored mat being smaller is the price. The price of the colored mat was a little less than the price of the regular mat. This leads me to believe that the colored mat was smaller. However, if the colored mat was a smaller mat, why would they have a different mat for 3-speed and 4-speed?

While I am pondering, I wonder why they had a blue, green, and brown mat, but no burgundy mat? Also, it looks like you were SOL for a brown mat in a 4-speed truck? Hydra-Matic equipped trucks would have used the 3-speed mats.

Hi MR. Lang, it is a 3speed column shift ( 3 on the tree)

Tim, I would like an explanation of how often parts books came out and what constituted the changes. The book I quoted had fewer choices, lower prices, and no color options. I will try and scan that page and send to you.

In the back of it is a section on "outdated numbers". I think I will check it for Denny's part number to see if it is superceded. (it does not show as a "discontinued part number" as ofMarch 1, 1954)

Tim, if the mat was the kind that went across the full width of
the floor then that would account for the difference between
the 3sp, Hydra-matic and four speed.

I work for Chevy dealers in the Chicago suburbs for five years
Greg, '59 thru '64, which is when I went into the service. I
worked at four different delerships in that time also and all
of the parts books that I worked out of were loose leaf. A
regular chore when things were slow was changing out the
revisions that came in on a regular basis. Sometimes once a
month sometimes once a week. Although I've seen original issue
bound soft cover parts books at swap meet book sellers, I never
saw one of those in any of the dealerships that I worked in.
The bound parts books that the vendors are selling are copies
of these. I'm sure the reason we never used them in the part
room was because they were already out dated before they were
delivered. I don't have any idea who would have used them but I
doubt any decent parts room would have them on the counter.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I understand Denny. I grew up around the local Dodge dealership and spent a few years in the parts dept.

Part number changes and price changes were a way of life. People don't seem to understand that the manufacturer doesn't make all of their own parts. That they contract other companies to run various parts. If a vendor could not supply a quanity on time, it was not uncommon to go to another supplier. That may or may not have constituted a number change or minor differences. Also, when they ran out of parts on the assembly line, they were not going to stop making cars until they got there. They would grab whatever was close and keep on chuggin. The whole parts ordeal was quite an experience.

I have a '48 4400 Loadmaster 1.5ton, manufactured July 1948. It has the 235ci with the SM420 four speed. There was nothing left of a floor mat when I got it, in 2009. However the dampening material is cut out around the floor mat pins in my kick panel. There are also 2 pins in front of the bench seat, one on each side.
In front of drivers seat floor mat pin
Drivers side kick panel 2 floor mat pins
Passanger kick panel 2 floor mat pins

Also seen a 46 1 1/2 ton at a show today and with the door standing open I could see the pin in front of the drivers seat at the corner. Just saying...

In reading this entire (old) thread, there was question about whether to put the mat under the lower windlace retainer on a later model AD. The retainer for the later models screw in thru the top of the door opening, making it necessary to unscrew them to pull the mat out to access the master cylinder and battery cover. You can avoid this by using a windlace retainer from the earlier models that are screwed to the rocker panel on the side rather than the top, thus making it easy to tuck the mat under the early model retainer without dealing with screws. Been there, done that, liked it.