Do I love Chevy Advance design pickups/trucks? I’ve called them America’s and my favorite truck before, and I haven’t changed my mind yet. We’ve seen dozens here before, but I think this is the first pickup with a 9′ bed, which were always fairly rare. Nifticus found this fine example in Penticton, BC., and I’m more in love than ever.
This one is doing just what it would be if it were in my hands: hauling stuff. A bit high up, for my taste though, but that goes along with that heavy duty rear axle and those tall wheels and tires. I can just hear its six working though the gears now. Soul music.
The “Advanced design” is what I picture in my head when I hear “old pick-up” to this day. Just like when someone says “Vintage Ford” I picture a Model A. Some designs are just that enduring. (and I grew up in the ’70s!)
I’m surprised that no one has brought back the 9′ or maybe even a 10′ bed for the fleet versions of their HD trucks. From what I’ve seen the various greater than 8′ beds were only available on the heavier trucks. It is not like they don’t have long frames ready to go like in the old days. Stick a regular cab on a frame for a super cab 8′ bed or a super cab on a crew cab and use the extra space for a longer bed. If they did it like the old Longhorn GM’s it would be cheap to do the stamping to add that extra length even if that is not the best looking way to do it. You think there would be a few fleets that would give them a shot.
I would guess that long wheelbase vans are filling the gap that trucks like this once filled.
Also, the BBC dimension of new trucks is a couple of feet longer than in the 50s.
Wow that thing dwarfs the Sierra behind it.
GM UK cloned these into their Bedford truck range that we got in various sizes well into the late 70s, we got the Chev pickups too but in smaller numbers due to the govt tarriff on US goods being much higher. Great old trucks that looks like a one ton version.
Nice find! A friend of mine had one of these 9 footers when I was a teenager in the early 2000s. We met while driving the opposite direction on a busy road during a Sunday cruise night. My baby blue Gremlin caught his eye and his spray can yellow ’48 Chevy caught mine. We met up a little later at a roadside parking lot, got talking and were soon friends. He was probably the only guy I knew who purposely drove something weirder (and older) than me.
Except for the wooden bed frames, it looks exactly like the one that is parked in front of a fish market/seafood restaurant on RT 9 in Freehold, NJ as part of the store`s permanent display.
That is Paul’s dream right there….
What a nice looking truck!
Somehow it does my heart good when I see an old workhorse still on the job instead of being restored and relegated to garage queen status.
What a neat truck. I do like them, why? I can’t say; I just do, even though I’m a Ford truck guy. This one would look (and work) killer with a NAPCO 4WD conversion…..
Im’ with you 100% Paul,
These are the most durable vehicles ever. I am constantly amazed by their survival rate. I’m talkin’ unrestored daily drivers too. Stock with the stovebolt six under the hood is the way to go!
I love the Advance Design pickup trucks also.
However that 9ft bed kind looks awkward on that truck (yes i know that those trucks were meant to work ) but to me it looks odd
There is a AD pickup truck doing duty around my way. It is faded gray but still looks good
The 9 foot beds were usually found on the 1 tons, but could be ordered on the 3/4. There is one of these awaiting restoration not far from my work and I once owned a 58 GMC 1 ton with the 9 foot stepside. It had 2+ feet of bumper behind that and the front bumper was ahead by about as much to clear a Braden pto driven winch. With over 200′ of 3/8 cable, there wasn’t much I couldn’t move. Dodge LA 318 powered adapted to the GM trans. The Plymouth Transaudio AM radio from the donor car even worked. Ugly as all get out but a fantastic truck.
What’s the badge underneath the Chevrolet badge on the hood over the fender? It looks kinda like a number?
Very neat to see a 3/4-ton with the 9′ bed. I had always thought they were one-ton only. And 9′ was the only bed option on one-ton trucks until crew cab/8′ bed models, IIRC.
Ford made a Styleside version on the third-gen F-350 that was later used on fourth-gens through 1966, and Dodge had a Sweptline version for just a few years in the late ’50s, but GM always stuck with the Stepside/Fenderside bed (and IH, but that almost goes without saying). Looking at a few Dodge 9′ Utilines, it seems they may have had a DRW option, but that might also be a non-OEM conversion; I can’t tell.
The last year for GM’s and Ford’s 9′ beds was 1972; they were for all intents and purposes replaced in the all-new ’73 lineups by the Big Dooley C30 and the LWB F-350, respectively. Dodge hung on with its 9′ Utiline through at least the first year of the ’72 D-Series, if not 1973, but it was gone by ’74.
It’s not visible clearly, as the badge seems to have fallen off. The photographer did not take a close up of it.
I made a stab at it being a 3/4 ton, but it may well be a 1 ton., although the info I have, which is from the GM Heritage Center: https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/docs/gm-heritage-archive/vehicle-information-kits/Chevrolet-Trucks/1951-Chevrolet-Truck.pdf doesn’t show either a 3/4 ton with 9′ bed or a 1 ton with that. The 1 ton appears to come in a longer wheelbase only, which this does not have.
it would take a good brochure to clear this up, which unfortunately is not readily available.
That badge says 3100
oops…I was wrong…see below.
That badge says 1430
Doesn’t make any sense. The 1/2 ton was the 3100 series; the 3/4 ton was the 3600 series. There was no 1430.
Could it be 4430? The leading 1 could be the “stem” of a 4.
A quick Google search suggests that 1430 was the Canadian designation for a 3100 (hence 1 ton). Makes sense if this truck is in BC.
1430 kg x 2.204 lb/kg = 3151.7 lbs
So that makes sense.
Except that the 3100 series in the USA was the “Half Ton” model.
Except Canada wasn’t metric in those days. The nominal weight rating would maybe have been in CWT (112 lbs) or perhaps stone (16 lbs).
What a great old truck, and it’s even better to see it still earning its keep. I’ve never seen one with the long bed before, though I saw (and photographed) a Chevy half-ton of similar vintage and the same faded red paint in my neighborhood several years ago. I’m not sure that many modern trucks will still be hauling the goods like this one 65 years from now – in fact, I can picture this one still showing them how it’s done.
Nice truck and not a version with the 9′ bed that I can ever recall ever seeing. I’m assuming it has all of its hubcaps and that in itself is amazing. The spare tire carrier is distinctive and clearly made to handle the big 16″ (?) tires.
Look at the panel gaps on that thing. No sagging doors or gimp hood hinges; this truck is obviously well cared for from a functional standpoint.
It’s also a tribute to its builders. The fact that it still looks solid today means that it was built right the first time.
My grandfather had a ’53 3600 long bed in the same faded red color, but it was a Custom Cab with the rear corner cab windows.
The five window cab was called ” Nu-View ” (SP I’m sure!) and GM pushed it heavily as a safety item, back in the day there were scads of base models with these windows,, Yard Goats etc. too .
The 9′ bed was pretty popular too, I imagine mostly they got worked to death .
I was looking at one from WI. Saturday morning, unrestored, just sitting as a display .
-Nate
Oops ~
I forgot to add a photo of my old ’49 Chevy 3100 Series AD pickup, it was built in Oakland, Ca. and somehow wound up in Los Angeles where I bought it .
Mostly stock, it had a 1957 235 C.I.D. i6 engine and 12 volts, still had the Torque Tube and vacuum wipers, I drove it every where and worked it very hard , never left me afoot .
-Nate