Thoughts on RV Junior mirrors: What is correct and do they work well?

[weim55]

I’ve had my ‘65 SWB fleetside for well over 30 years and it’s my favorite vehicle in the old car fleet. I still use it as a runaround vehicle and light hauler anytime the weather permits. She still has the original stick mirrors with large rectangle heads. I have never particularly liked these mirrors as they tend to vibrate sometimes and the visibility isn’t that great. As my eyes are getting older, it’s becoming more and more bothersome. I was thinking about putting some factory RV Junior (I’m not even sure that’s the correct term?) They have much larger heads plus I could bolt small spot mirrors below the mirror heads for even better visibility.

Questions for you all: I donÂ’t want to go through all the trouble obtaining and drilling holes in the doors to mount these mirrors only to find no real improvement. Those of you that IÂ’ve had these mirrors: are they effective and do you like them? I attached a picture of what I believe are the correct factory items, are these the correct mirrors I should be looking for? Do these mirrors come in both painted and stainless versions from GM? Were these ever a factory installed mirror or only dealer install?

Steve weim55 Colorado

[cwcarpenter98]

I had a set of aftermarket chrome arms and rectangle mirrors. They worked fine at low speeds, but on the highway they vibrated so bad I couldn't see well when trying to use them.

I switched to some of the optional GM mirrors that you are thinking of switching to. Most people call them RV juniors, but I don't remember the actual name.

I'm really glad that I made the switch. On the highway, I can actually use the mirrors now and I have more visibility when using them. You do have to learn to look around the mirrors, but it's easy to get used to doing that.


All the chrome/stainless versions that I've seen have a Ford stamp on the mirror head. The painted ones did not have any stampings on all the ones that I've seen.

[factorystock]

There good, but they have the age old problem of the blind spot. They block your line of vision momentarily. They require extra rolling time to see whats on the other side. Obviously, the problem of switching to a different mirror is dealing with extra holes left in the door. May or not be a problem if the vehicle is under going a restoration and the body shop could fill up the holes. IMO, the ideal mirror, was the optional "bus type" mirror. Because you can see above the mirror, you have much less of a blind spot. Not mine, a vintage photo. They require no less than 6 holes in door. I believe there was another plate on the inside of door for a solid mounting.

[weim55]

That is great information guys, thank you for that. The blind spot is a good consideration to bring up. It’s easy to see why the below line mirrors were so popular on the square bodies. Factory Stock - those bus mirrors are an interesting solution. They are kind of ugly but they look super sturdy and it would be pretty easy to put larger mirror heads on there. I wish the newer below mirrors didn’t look so out of place on these trucks as they would probably be the best solution, I’ll toss these ideas around.

Steve weim55 Colorado