[Charlie Down]

From my research most LRDG 1533X2 trucks had the twin CMP seat arrangement. This required a riser plate on the fuel tank to give the CMP seats a horizontal surface to bolt onto. The original fuel tank protector strip slopes down towards the rear to accommodate the bench seat which were the standard fit on pre war Chevrolet trucks. It would make sense to use an existing riser panel for this, instead of making one specifically for just 200 trucks. I've been trying to find the cover plate and think I may have found it, or at least got considerably closer. The attached photos show close ups of the seats mounted on a factory fresh 1533X2 provided by Colin Alford on the main LRDG 1533x2 page. The last photos shows fuel tank cover plates from 2 different 1942 M6 Chevrolet Bomb Service trucks. I believe (hope) that they are the same plate on the M6 and the 1533X2, although on the 1533X2 it looks like they trimmed the edges back, which gave more room for the Lee Enfield rifles to be stowed beside the seats and it doesn't have the 4 protruding bolt housings on the front edge, using just nuts and bolts to secure the panel to the fuel tank protector. In the 1533X2 photos you can see an additional plate attached between the seats and fuel tank riser panel.
I've since found that production of the M6 Bomb Service truck started in late 1942, so the 1533X2 had the seat riser before the M6 existed. That means that GM/Chevrolet designed one for the 1533X2 and then used it on the M6, or they anticipated the need for a riser panel on a series of potential trucks and it was then available for the 1533X2 once the bench seats ran out.
Any comments/ additional information or corrections welcome!