New Member with 1955 GMC 424V

Welcome to SS That truck could come in handy around here.Al

Nice MV

You should consider a two speed rear end if you do replace it.

x2 on keeping that V6. Those old GMC 6 bangers don't spin up real high but they have gobs of torque. A lot of the older heavy duty trucks had 2-spd. rear ends to help make up for the lack of RPM. Those V6 motors would outpull the Chevy 283 V8s when both were in half ton pickups. If you look around they also made them in larger displacements up to 478 cid if my memory serves me right. All were big block GMC V6 motors and should share bolt patterns (mounting and transmission).

Very cool. Thanks for sharing. We have a 1955 Chevy that looks identical to yours, but with slightly different hood and grille. Our was a military truck too; My father bought it in 1984 from a surplus dealer. Did not have a bed on it. We built a flat bed and used it on our farm to haul hay. The truck was an ex army truck, and was then used by the state wildlife department at a fish hatchery in Tishomingo, OK. It is OD green and had Army stencil markings on the interior and dash. Has a 4 speed sm465 Muncie trans and an inline six gas engine. Foot pedal on the floorboard actuates the starter. Very neat to get to drive it as a kid growing up. Wish we had a bed like yours, I really like that.

I drove by a truck just like that all the time on Hwy 9. Always wanted to stop and look at it.

Hello and welcome to the site from North Georgia.

Hello Gents - Beginning to do a little work on this baby. I am interested in selling the bed if you know anyone interested.

Please PM me. Thanks, Josh

The Same Truck - That is where I bought it!!

I subscribed, but forgot to give you a Virginia welcome:

- So here it is

It'd be great to get some more pics of the truck if you got any.

I just purchased a 424v truck to at an estate sale. It says right on the title that mine is a military vehicle straight from the us government. When i bought it about a month ago the farmer i got it from was the 2nd owner and on the top of the title it says us gov department of defense. Im turning mine back into an army flatbed tribute.

mattbaker24 said:

I just purchased a 424v truck to at an estate sale. It says right on the title that mine is a military vehicle straight from the us government. When i bought it about a month ago the farmer i got it from was the 2nd owner and on the top of the title it says us gov department of defense. Im turning mine back into an army flatbed tribute.

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Welcome aboard from Nevada.

Forgot to mention:
- Welcome from Virginia.

41 GMC said:

​Welcome to the wonderful world of old trucks, that truck has a lot of potential indeed. Now you have a valid place for all of your spare money to go to.

Thanks for posting the pictures.

Sincerely,
Dennis.

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Thanks for the great pic. I just love it! Not something ya see every day.

Hey Oldfart, check this truck out. Since you were working at GMC Truck and Coach mid fifties can you shed some light here?

Another angle is that the dash tag identifies it as a G2768 (I think, print is kind of vague). That's a specific quartermaster corps number that presumably has documentation wrapped around it.

jollyroger said:

Hey Oldfart, check this truck out. Since you were working at GMC Truck and Coach mid fifties can you shed some light here?

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I never saw any like that while working there....... However just a few years ago I ran across three of them in a save pile at a scrap yard along with some other military stuff. I tried to buy them, but never could get a firm price. They are a K18 Signal Corps truck that had a companion trailer both of which were set up as airport radio stations. The idea being they could operate at remote front line airfields to provide a semblance of airport control.

Oldfart said:

I never saw any like that while working there....... However just a few years ago I ran across three of them in a save pile at a scrap yard along with some other military stuff. I tried to buy them, but never could get a firm price. They are a K18 Signal Corps truck that had a companion trailer both of which were set up as airport radio stations. The idea being they could operate at remote front line airfields to provide a semblance of airport control.

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My apologies. I assumed the poke from Jollyroger was about the K18 pictured in post before. Upon reading the entire thread, I perceive it is about the 1955 GMC V6 belonging to the original poster. I did in fact see some of these V6 trucks while I worked for GMC back in 1957. The military used them much the same as they currently use Internationals and other brands of civilian vehicles for non tactical duties. They were plated and Identified as military and for the Department that ordered them. I note that the Y in the vehicle serial number does designate 1955. The GMC V6 was a brute of an engine. I can't recall the exact displacements at the moment, but sticks in my mind that they ran from 300 something to the 400 something range. I did also see several of these engines ganged together to make V12's and V18's for stationary applications. I went so far as to enquire why not longer and I was told the combined torque would snap the crank closest to the load. Although I have never seen one, I do know that the V6 block set up was actually cast as a V8 again for stationary power applications.

Another post about my last post. I just got online to check the cubic inch displacement for GMC V6 big blocks. They ran from 305 to 478 C.I. However, several sites list them as appearing in 1960 and I know absolutely they were being used in 1957 when I worked for GMC. If the original poster's truck is an inline 6 then as a civilian truck it would have had either a 248 or 270 cubic inch engine. The 302 cubic inch was military and has some different casting features. I am trying to recall stuff from the way back machine and some of it is fuzzy, but I do recall something about the 302 I6 only being available in military trucks (at least in 1957). At that time, the GMC trucks used either an Oldsmobile 324 or Pontiac 336 for their V8 engines. The Olds engines tended in the heavier trucks to slip a tooth on the timing chain and were replaced with the Pontiac engines.