1949 Chevrolet 3600 Pickup: Two Peak Experiences In One Day

I spotted this superb old Chevy pickup in the little New Mexico hamlet of Arroyo Seco on the way to Taos Ski Resort, where the trail to Wheeler Peak starts. This one is just so perfect and the way I love these, with the honest patina of having spent a productive live in the New Mexico sun. As I was taking these pictures, its owner came out and told me how she had rescued it from a field thirty years ago, where it had been sitting for decades.

She expected to have to tow it home once it was pulled it out of the hub-deep mud and dirt it sat in. But on a whim, they connected a battery they had brought along. It started up and she drove it all the way home. Is that so surprising?

I’ve had a major thing for “Advance Design” trucks ever since I first saw them…in Opel guise back in Austria in the 1950s. The first new Opel Blitz arrived in 1952 using the Chevy cab and front end clip, but updated with a slightly more modern grille. They even had inline gasoline sixes, although it was a smaller 2.5 L Opel unit but the sound was all-too similar to a genuine Chevy stove bolt six at work.

I instantly recognized the similarity to all of the older Chevy pickups in Iowa after our arrival there in 1960. It seemed like every second farm had one sitting in the gravel driveway. In the 1950s, Chevrolet had a huge lead in market share over Ford, International and Dodge. And when I moved back to Iowa City in the early ’70s, all the hippies and back-to-the-land kids were snapping them up.

 

At the time when Dylan and rock music were all going country, this was the cool ride to just be seen in or for hauling a load of manure to the organic garden. The placid hum of their 216 cubic inch “stovebolt” sixes was as much a part of the aural background then as Working Man’s Dead. And like the Grateful Dead, these too seem immortal in their appeal. They age so gracefully.

 

This is a 3/4 ton 3600 series, with a 125″ wheelbase and an 87″ long bed (inside dimension),

Here’s the three common sizes of these trucks, in 1/2, 3/4 and 1 ton versions. The one tonner is not commonly seen as a pickup; more often with a stake bed or such. The stake bed version was ideal for hauling livestock; some neighbors of the Mennonites where I used to spend summers had one like that, primarily for hauling dairy cows.  Or me, on the one occasion I was over there and he needed to go to town. I always rode in the back, but preferably without the cows.

 

As soon as I saw this one it was pretty obvious that the rear body sides and the cab-over part were also for hauling livestock. That was confirmed by the owner, who told me the original owners used it for hauling their horses. Well of course.

 

She pointed out that the cab-over section was there to hold a bale or two of hay; perhaps for the horses while underway or if needed where they were taking the horses.

 

There are two tiny square cutouts in the corrugated steel panel right behind the rear window. To make sure the horses were still there?

 

This truck spends most of its time here in retirement now, in front of this shop, but it does still get out once in a while. Are these the same tires that were on it when it got pulled out of that field 30 years ago?

Although it is of course extremely original in every other respect, the seat upholstery was obviously redone since its resurrection. Maybe the mice or rats chewed the old one up?

We’re looking at the business end of the four speed transmission that had a very low first gear, just the thing when hauling a couple of horses from a start on a rough old New Mexico road back in the day. Or today.

Wanda and I spent the night in the van at the trail head for Wheeler Peak as we wanted an early start. Stephanie decided to stay in Taos and see the sights in town. We headed up through the trees in the shadow of a chilly November morning. The sun was starting to light up the higher elevations. Wanda was very perky, and chased several pikas and marmots back into their holes. Do dogs feel the altitude?

The views at the top were stellar. It was chilly up here at 13,160 feet, but fortunately the wind was quite cooperative. A few other people showed up and we had a lively party for quite while. There’s something about the camaraderie on a summit.  And who wants to leave a setting like this and go back down to the rest of the world?  Not me.

By far the most animate one the group was this guy originally from Uzbekistan who now lives in New Jersey and is on a quest to stand on the points of highest elevation of all 50 states. He had just climbed Guadalupe Peak (Texas’ highest spot) the day before and he’s planning on Denali next summer. I’m actually thinking about doing that for the Western states, as I have no desire to go to Illinois and climb 1,235′ Charles Mound, the most modest of all of them and which is located on a private farm. I already have Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico in the bag.

 

I’m glad I pulled over to pay my respects for this fine old Chevy; it’s a cultural artifact at this stage of its life.

 

My paean to the Chevy Advanced Design truck is here:

Curbside Classic: 1951 Chevrolet 3100 “Advanced Design” Pickup – America’s (And My) Favorite Truck