hey guys, i am in the process of throwing a 52 pickup together and have got hold of a tidy cab from a 3ton 50 model, whilst cleaning the dash area i noticed that in the speedo there was a high beem indicator and left/right indicator lights, we didnt have electric blinkers at that time instead they had a mechanical hand that would fold out.
did u have electric blinkers in 1950 in the states on these vehicles? or perhaps in canada.
cya...gary

 

Turn indicators were certainly avalible at the time, and certainly if your instrument panel has them then sometrucks must have had them from the factory.

Michelle

 

I don't think American cars ever had that ... or if they did, they were really rare. From what I gather, electric blinkers first showed up as dealer options and aftermarket add-ons, and then became required equipment.

I know what you're talking about though ... last time I went to a car show there was a 1950 VW Beetle with those turn signals. "Semaphores," he called them.

 

You could well be right I was only 5 years old at that time. However I do remember that our neighbor had a 48 Buick what factory turn signals, and I remember my Dad bought a 52 Ford new that had turn signals, and my 55 F-600 had factory turn signals or at least dealer installed it had the canceling cam in the steering column and the turn lights combined with the parking lights. Perhaps and this is just a guess. May be the above mentioned turn signals lights in the instrument panel were dealer installed and the panel was part of the kit. Or maybe it was just something that was available for larger trucks. Whit out written record it would be hard to guess exactly what was or not available.

Michelle

 

This box is on the bottom of page 65 of "Hildy's 1949 Blue Book". There is no picture of the item but I hope this might help in this discussion.

 

Aside from the above post I looked in my 1948 to 1956 parts and accessories catalog and low and behold it shows turn signal parts for 48 to 52 model Ford trucks.

Michelle

 

my 51 only has front blinkers

 

It is interesting that you say that because when I was looking in the parts books last night I did see a part number for rear turn signal kits, I was wondering what the meaning of rear turn signal kit was.