Plain Jane 1952 GMC Pickup Truck Art

by Reid Callaway

Title

Plain Jane 1952 GMC Pickup Truck Art

Artist

Reid Callaway

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Plain Jane........by Reid Callaway
1952 GMC Pickup Truck Art

1952 was at the height of the Korean War and in late 1951, 1952 and early 1953, nickel and copper which are used in the chrome plating process, were in short supply. As a result, during those years almost all chrome trim was eliminated from these trucks making them a true "plain Jane" which to some makes them even more appealing and underscores their utilitarian use. So in 1952, instead of chrome, the GMC and Chevy trucks had painted grills, hood badges, hub caps, bumpers and dashes.

The pickup trucks of this era were honest, no nonsense, hard working trucks with GMC being marketed primarily to farmers, who didn't want and could not afford frills. It was advertised as being "Built like the big ones" with a full pressure oil system in the engine which was standard to GMC long before Chevrolet introduced one. This particular truck came with a few optional features and accessories which we consider essential today, items such as an inside rear view mirror. They came from the factory with only an outside cowl mounted rear view mirror and the inside mirror was dealer or owner installed. The rationale was that the pickup bed would be filled with produce, feed or livestock and you wouldn't be able to see out the back window so why provide a mirror. Other accessories on this truck were the heater/defroster and locking gas cap. A right hand tail light and rear bumper were factory options. In 1952 GMC pickup trucks didn't come with a rear bumper because farmers had complained that they couldn't back up all the way to a loading dock at the local feed and seed because the rear bumper interfered with the tail gate dropping all the way down vertical. So GM's solution was to eliminate the rear bumper. This truck came with a "radio delete' plate in the dash as the radio was another accessory.

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Uploaded

July 5th, 2015

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