Hot rodders won't care about this, but the restoration crowd might. Since I
have one
foot in each camp...
The lists have had frequent discussions as to what is correct/stock and that
goes down
to paint colors as well as mechanicals. I've been aware for years that dealers
way back
when were willing to install just about anything on any vehicle, but the
National
Corvette Restorer Society (NCRS) has been documenting what used to be known as
factory
special orders. [NOTE: NCRS is probably the most anal retentive "the car must
be
correct" bunch I've run across.] While this info applies specifically to
Corvettes, it
shows a general culture in Chevrolet at least thru the 60s that you could
really get
anything you wanted if you knew who to call.
This included some pretty radical modifications including engines that weren't
on the
books until the following model year, special engine tuning/blueprinting,
alternate
paint/striping schemes, different engine/transmission combination schemes,
different
option combos, aftermarket wheels (American Racing Wheels as delivered from the
factory!), special tires, six tail lights instead of four, etc, etc, etc...all
as
factory and not dealer modifications.
What this means to the old truck crowd is that while we can say what the
published norm
was for a specific model, that not only did the dealers sell new vehicles
modified per
customer request but that Chevrolet also modified vehicles, sometimes
radically, per
customer request. I would assume that this could be extrapolated to GMC as
well.
Makes it kind of hard to know for certain what is or isn't stock...or user
modification...so we need to be more open about the possibilities.
Mark Noakes
58/56 Chevy Suburban, V8, 3-speed + OD, restification project
58 GMC NAPCO 1/2 ton, wideside, 6 cyl, 4-speed, orig PS, stock resto project
KnoxvilleTN
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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