Hello new to the forums, name is Tommy. As of yesterday I purschased what I was told was a 41 Chevrolet pickup cab. After doing some research myself on the internet I figured out it was a 42-45. Although I'm not sure how that works since the war was during those years. I'm leading towards it's a 45 but is it a military truck or civilian pickup? Looking for some help this is my first vehicle and it's pretty interesting because it's a Norwood, OH car which is where I live and also my grandfather worked at the GM plant there in the 60s. VIN I was able to get off the tag is 9MS38 16400.
'41 has a bolt-in metal framed back window, later trucks are held in with lock strip rubber. If it has 4 screw holes in a circle at the fuel filler, it's a '42 or wartime/early '46. Your truck was a civilian, & has been stripped of any bright metal it may have had which helps date them.
I noticed the welds are not ground down on the lower windshield post, they didn't grind and fill those on the war year trucks.
We sold a 1945 that was a old military truck. Found out that it was actually a 1943, military never had titles until they sold the trucks. So it was a 1943 titled as a 1945, which was the year the military sold it.
I had a 1942 that served time at the U.S. Naval Ammunition Depot in Hastings Nebraska. You could see the Navy numbers and letters on the doors and it had a tag on the firewall from the Navy.
We had a 44 Chevy 1 1/2 ton that my Dad bought new during the war. Civilians could purchase trucks if they had a need to help provide to the war effort, in my Dad case he had a bean warehouse and was shipping beans overseas, needed the truck to get them to the rail yards. Few things I remember about it besides the lack of bright work was no rubber weather stripping, had rolled cloth instead and a painted floor, never had a floor mat. Might be some remains of the weather strip in your cab, might help date it.
Seems to follow fairly close. Getting the chrome & stainless trim back into production seems to follow no pattern at all, and not many remain that aren't a mix of several trucks. Anyone know why the GMC w/s posts still aren't leaded & finished until the 2nd series '55s ?