What year did the body change?
Are 1952 different than 53?
Have a friend that swears his truck is a 53 but looks different than mine.

 

53-55 basically the same. 56 has a "wrap around " windshield so the doors are different.
The title might have been swapped at one time.
56
https://www.google.com/search?q=1956...x-a&channel=sb
53
https://www.google.com/search?q=1953...x-a&channel=sb

 

48-52 is the same body style with some detail changes, like revised grille and larger back window for the 51-2's. 1953 was an all new truck. In some places, leftover vehicles got titled as the model in the year it was sold. So it's possible he has technically a 52, but could be titled 53 if it was sold late and someone messed up the paperwork. That could be one explanation for your friend's stubbornness.

 

Also, some states titled based on calendar year sold. I have a '51 that has title as a '52. I have the old title going back decades and there's no evidence the truck was ever screwed with. Stu

Wayne types faster!

 

Opps, I see you made an "edit" on the year.
As the above posters mentioned.

 

The manual has a quick reference... Colorized by a member here, I think

 

48-50 Monkey face
51-52 Manure spreader
53-55 Anniversary style
56 THE pinnacle of Ford styling and design

 

Wayne is correct. Before the late fifties there were distributorships who bought their motor vehicles directly from the manufacturer and their were dealerships that in some states could only buy their motor vehicles from the distributors and not directly from the manufacturers. Each state was somewhat different with some having no franchise laws and others having some laws but certainly not what we have today. In some states when the manufacturer came out with newly designed vehicles the distributors and dealers merely said that anything on their lot was the next model year regardless of its design. This was OK as long as the designs did not change radically year to year like the Model T but as sales competition and modern, nationwide advertising techniques became more prevalent it became very hard for the distributorships and the dealerships in states that still had no laws against this practice to get away with it. Customers became smarter. I don't know when the federal law became the standard but I think that it was in the mid to late fifties as Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards became mandated (laminated glass windshields, seat belts, etc.). So Vinford it is entirely possible that your friend or you have a 1952 truck that is titled as a 1953. Ross's chart should help you decide who has the later design.

 

Poor ole F1's.....we get "monkey and manure" and the 53-56's get "anniversary and pinnacle".....

 

The 53-56 guys are just jealous.

 

Only the 48-50 versions were classic enough to last more than one year.

 

But 51-52 have three teats up front... how cool is that?!

 

The only thing cooler than three teats is the five teats some of our trucks are sporting.

Brad

 

before significant stylistic and functional improvements were introduced.

 

That were faint echoes of the original iconic look.