I haven't seen one of those for years. The box on the floor is a control valve for a hydraulic spreader control. The spreader would slide into the dump body and connect through the valve body to a hydraulic pump mounted on the engine. The knobs control an auger belt that feeds material to a spinner at the rear. Spinner speed controls the throw of the material. The lever turns it on and off, down was on. There was an accessory box that wired up to a speed sensor and controlled the material feed according to vehicle speed. Pretty advanced for the day. You may still find some hydraulic lines running along the truck frame out to the back. We had a few of these contracted to the state to spread sand and salt on icy winter roads. During the summer they could be used to spread lime or fertilizer on farm fields. The 2 knobs under the dash would be for the dump body, one engages the PTO mounted on the side of the transmission and the other connects to a hydraulic valve to raise and lower the dump body. Like I said, that was 30+ years since I built and operated these.