almost useless truck trivia

[Axle]

Noticed something I've not noticed in the past while swapping the mirror from my old '83 into my new '81 GMC.

The rearview mirror that was in my 81 GMC has TRUCK etched into the glass. My '83 Mirror has no such markings. The '81 mirror also has a rough textured day/night lever. Everything else about them is identical. Construction, Coloring (and discoloring* even), shape, size, viewing area, Made In Canada embosing on the bottom.

So I guess that begs the question, what makes the truck mirror unique that it needs to be identified from other mirrors?

Alex.
*the silvering has not degraded on the '83 mirror.

[Your41Plague12]

Funny, my '83 had the TRUCK mirror on it too. I'll be watching this one. Any chance someone swapped the mirror at some point on your '83?

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Axle

Noticed something I've not noticed in the past while swapping the mirror from my old '83 into my new '81 GMC.

The rearview mirror that was in my 81 GMC has TRUCK etched into the glass. My '83 Mirror has no such markings. The '81 mirror also has a rough textured day/night lever. Everything else about them is identical. Construction, Coloring (and discoloring* even), shape, size, viewing area, Made In Canada embosing on the bottom.

So I guess that begs the question, what makes the truck mirror unique that it needs to be identified from other mirrors?

Alex.
*the silvering has not degraded on the '83 mirror.

I'd ask the question the other way around: what makes the passenger car mirrors unique such that they needed to be distinguished from trucks?

Along about that time is when we started adding compass, temperature and electrochromic dimming to pass car mirrors. I would suggest the mirrors were marked as a result, especially for those plants that built both pass car and trucks.

K

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I'd ask the question the other way around: what makes the passenger car mirrors unique such that they needed to be distinguished from trucks?

Along about that time is when we started adding compass, temperature and electrochromic dimming to pass car mirrors. I would suggest the mirrors were marked as a result, especially for those plants that built both pass car and trucks.

K

Probably because our big ass trucks always keep blinding people in their tiny little cars.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Axle

almost useless truck trivia

"Almost useless truck trivia" is my game....



K

[Axle]

=-)

-Yes, it is possible that my '83 mirror got changed before it became mine.
-Both trucks made in Oshawa.
-There is no difference between the two mirrors I have save for the etching and texture
mentioned originally.
-No other difference I could see: same rivet heads, arms are the same color, markings stamped the same way, etc. etc.

Even if a p.car mirror, I see no operational difference. Unless the day/night "feature" has a somewhat different angle between the truck and p.car. Never use day/night anyway so can't comment if there is any night time difference. I dunno. Maybe I should have titled the thread: Nearly useless gm parts irregularities trivia. =-)

Alex.

[Keith Seymore]

Right - no operational difference, but if a pass car mirror has comp and temperature then you wouldn't want to accidentally put that mirror in a truck. Conversely, if the truck mirror was "dumb" then you wouldn't want it to accidentally find its way into a pass car that was expecting the additional features.

Hence the marking, especially in a plant like Oshawa that built both trucks and cars.

K

[Axle]

yeahbut, these two mirrors are physically identical. Thats where the, 'what IS the difference between the two?'
I can see making an identifier mark to indicate an item that is different in some way, but these are two regular day/night mirrors that... mirror each other... :rimshot:

Alex.

[truckfan]

I always thought a passenger car mirror was wider and a truck narrower so it did not hit the vIsors. Maybe not.