I've highlighted the areas that are different between 1938 and 1939 through 1946 dash bases.  The most obvious is the speedometer light switch.  38 has the knurled lever style whereas 39 and later has a knob (not shown) afixed to the shaft with a small screw.  The other main difference is the 39 and later bases have a spacer washer welded on each side at the side mount point.  The 38 base does not have this spacer.  Obviously, this impacts the fit of the upper cover in this area and the 39 and later cover has a completely different shape.  The side mount screws themselves are also different with 1938 using the same tapered #10 screw as 1936/37 and 39 and later using a self tapping style screw.  Finally the ignition switch is screwed directly to the base in 38 but sits on spacers starting in 39 (hard to see in the above photos, but visible under the one screw circled).  Spacer height differed from civilian on some military models.  Not visible in the above photos, 1939 and later used light shields that were bolted to the base via the mounting studs (these were replaced with cardboard tubes on some military models).  1938 used steel tubes affixed to the upper cover to shield the generator and oil lights.
 

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