During the Advance Design years, 1947-55, Chevrolet and GMC each changed their grill designs twice. GMC made the change at the end of the second year and Chevrolet made the change at the end of the seventh year.
Possibly to save tooling cost GMC, not Chevrolet, always used the same grill on all truck sizes in any one year. As Chevy used a similar but slightly larger grill on their 1 1/2 and 2 ton. GMC did not change the size on trucks between 1/2 and 2 tons.
In 1947-48 GMC used a three bar heavy gauge chrome steel grill. Actually, it was for the heavy weight for the 2 tons but fit in the 1/2 ton by using a smaller grill surround.
The big grill change for GMC was in 1949 when it was made as a four bar design. To the non truck enthusiast, it looked somewhat like the earlier years which is probably what GMC designers planned.
Current GMC grill reproductions are often sold as 1947=55. Actually they are the four bar type for 1949-55. The 1947-48 GMC owners get a surprise due to the modifications needed to fit the later reproduction grill into their early housing!
Click on images below to enlarge
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| 1947-1948 Three Bar Grill | 1947-1948 Three Bar Grill | C.O.E Four Bar Grill |
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Three to Five Ton Four Bar Grill
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Half Ton to One Ton Four Bar Grill
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Half Ton to One Ton Four Bar Grill
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