1 ton cab & chassis questions

[bobs409]

I have a few questions about the 1 tons, primarily when ordered as a cab & chassis. 1969 is the year.

1) Were the wheels always painted black?

2) Were there any hub caps or chrome wheel simulators for this year?

3) What kind of door mirrors would they have? Any chance of one coming with the sport mirrors that attach with 3 bolts and has the metal plate inside the door?


Trying to find out what should be on the Custom 30 wrecker I'm restoring.


Thanks,


Bob

[Joesjunk]

The wheels were black, no chrome centers or anything like that. Standard mirror was a painted long arm mirror. Not sure how to describe them.

[special-K]

I call them "stick mirrors". They are the ones with a oblong triangle mount and about 1/2" diameter tube arm. That was standard and highly useless on a dual wheel truck. They are the last of the traditional standard truck mirror. Your teuck could have been ordered with below eyeline mirrors that attach with a single arm up top and two longer arms below,camper mirrors that use a triangle tube top support and two longer lower arms,or senior west cost mirror...the trucker style mirror. I would thing a tow truck would have those. Most all dual wheel trucks do. With all the backing done with a tow truck I would think those were on it. That's what came on my '71 tow truck. That's what my '70 Custom Camper/30 had.

[yuccales]

Originally Posted by special-K

I call them "stick mirrors". They are the ones with a oblong triangle mount and about 1/2" diameter tube arm. That was standard and highly useless on a dual wheel truck. They are the last of the traditional standard truck mirror. Your teuck could have been ordered with below eyeline mirrors that attach with a single arm up top and two longer arms below,camper mirrors that use a triangle tube top support and two longer lower arms,or senior west cost mirror...the trucker style mirror. I would thing a tow truck would have those. Most all dual wheel trucks do. With all the backing done with a tow truck I would think those were on it. That's what came on my '71 tow truck. That's what my '70 Custom Camper/30 had.

THAT is one good looking work truck!

[bobs409]

The reason I asked about the mirrors is when I cut the old door skins off, I found mirror plates on the inside as seen below. The bolts are in them so I guess they just ground off the heads and putty'd over them? So either it came with different mirrors or these doors were changed. I can see no signs of them being a different color so if they were changed, maybe they found the same color doors.

I guess it's black for the wheels then. I want it to look factory.

[Joesjunk]

Those are the plates for the standard dual wheel truck mirrors

[bobs409]

Thanks! I guess the doors are the originals then.

I'll have to check the top frame for any holes there.

Now, since it's a Custom 30, would they have been stainless or still only painted white?

Here's what was on it when I got it. All along I thought these were the correct ones:

[Joesjunk]

Im pretty sure they would have been the color of the truck. The two original paint trucks I have had with those mirrors were color matched

[bobs409]

Anyone have a better picture of these mirrors? I searched all the 1 ton threads but I see most have other type mirrors. ?

Going to start my junkyard searching but don't want to come home with the wrong ones.

[bobs409]

I did a little digging. The bolts were left in and then brazed over as shown below.

Does this look like the correct bolt pattern for the mirror pictured above? (top bolts are about 3-5/8 inches apart on center) I checked the door frames of both doors and could find NO holes in them. Did the top of the mirror frames clip on or did it have bolts?

I checked some junkyards today and couldn't find anything with this style mirror or bolt pattern.

Really need some better pics so I know what I'm looking for.


Thanks for any help,

Bob

[special-K]

Are you referring to the mirrors I showed? Those I can take pictures of my tow truck's bolt holes if that's what kind you mean. My tow truck came with the type shown on my gold service body truck pictured and now has K-mart mirrors with the original holes still there. I bought a set of originals to put back on. I can take a picture of those if you want. The medium duty trucks also used the same mirror.

[bobs409]

Yeh, the gold truck above is the one I was trying to compare too.

I did a search on google and found a few trucks with that style mirror but found something that doesn't jive. (see pics below)

I put my door picture next to 2 truck pictures I found. Notice where the lower bolt on my door is indicated by the yellow arrow and look at the truck on the left where it's lower mirror arm bolt would be. Every truck I found had the arm bolted much lower than where my bolt is. ??? The trucks I found have that lower bolt down about lock level and notice mine is way up, just above the door handle level. (sure hope this makes sense) Add to that the lower top arms seem spaced apart more on the trucks I found. My top bolt holes are only 3-5/8 apart.

So I'm confused.

Do your mirror arms bolt to the top of the door frame? Mine have no signs of any bolt holes there. ??

Thanks,

Bob

[bmfm64]

I'm pretty sure this style mirror is what those holes are for, but you are looking for the long arms not necessarily these exact mirrors but this style...

http://www.lmctruck.com/features/cb/cbmir.htm

[bobs409]

Thanks but those are the 1/2 ton style. I have them on my stepside.

This does have a triangular bolt pattern but bigger.

This should be an easy one for you guys.

[Joesjunk]

I know the exact mirror you truck had,but I can't find any pics to show you
Posted via Mobile Device

[bobs409]

Thanks Joe. Can you describe it at all? Is it a hard to find mirror or were they common?

I don't even have a clue what they should look like.

[coops714x4]

Bob go to my profile and look at my 71 that is the mirrors your truck originally had BUT with that being a wrecker I would put the west coast (TRUCKER) style mirrors on it. with the short leg mirrors you WILL NOT be able to see very good, and just my personal opinon they just wont look right go with the trucker style mirrors you'll be glad you did CORRECTION mine are different BUT if you look at mine see how close they are to the cab yours will be the same way Coop

[slomotion]

I agree with the above. I can respect your desire to rebuild the truck the way it came from the factory, but from experience the west coast mirrors are your best bet. They wouldn't have to be the full size ones, they could be the Jr's which work pretty well on our trucks.

[bobs409]

Coop, your mirrors look like the ones that were on it when I got the truck as shown above. The mirror plates inside are for some other type of mirror. "The great mystery".

As long as I can stand the looks of whatever type it was, I'll probably go with them for originality sake. This truck won't be hauling many cars and besides, it's easier to just turn my head and look out the back window than to back up using the mirrors.

[67_C-30]

I have the winner!!!

Here's what your truck came with.


What do I win?

[Joesjunk]

I did some digging and found the truck I was looking for. These are the mirrors your truck had

[coops714x4]

Joe I think your right but OH MY GOD those look like fly swatters!!! Bob I certianly hope you dont put those on your pretty wrecker and I wonder how hard those will be to find? Coop

[bobs409]

Ugh! I can see why they were changed!

I don't want to make any changes from original but this may be the exception!

Thanks so much Joe for helping with this. I can see why it's hard to find a picture of them.

Flyswatters!

[special-K]

Those small west coast mirrors were 67/68s. In 69 GM started offering the below eyeline mirrors as jr. west coasts. The standard mirrors your truck had rarely came on a truck. They almost all came through with senior west coasts for the sake of functionality. No one cared that they looked like fly swatters. It was a matter of excessive vibration and poor view for backing. The guy I got my wrecker from didn't like the look of the senior west coast mirrors and slapped on a set of K-mart mirrors. I think it looks like it "needs" bigger mirrors from my truck guy point of view. I also think the truck would look better w/o the damaged drivers door from him backing up hanging it open so he could SEE . It's got the typical "caught the door and sprung the hinges damage"...go figure . Maybe he needed better mirrors? Dual rear truck generally ran bodies that were wider than the cab,so the senior west coast mirrors look just right when looking at the overall vehicle. I'm surprised Vic didn't order the good mirrors. Maybe be bought the truck off the lot.

[special-K]

For some strange reason I have no "edit" option. So,here's another post to show the picture I just ran out and snapped of the bolt hole locations for Sr. West Coasts.