VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Trucks and Vans 1949 CHEVY TRUCK

Heres one for you Chevy truck guys on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4607621219&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT :cool2:

I saw that on E Bay but it looked weird with the sides down. Interesting truck though.

This truck would look better if it had the original black roll down curtins. Nice rare truck otherwise.

35 pickup man, surely you jest! Can you imagine this at the National Grand Junction Meet sitting in front of the judging field full of melons, tomatos, potatos, onions, apples, 'nannas, and cabbage? and a little bald headed guy with a nail apron making change and showing the produce...Wow!

Yeh but it is one of those modern vehicles, you just can beat an early 30's canopy for beauty. That truck is missing the hang down scales what kind of fruit vendor would leave home without it.

35 pickup man, I think that those hanging scales are an aftermarket accessory!!!!(unless they have a bowtie on the face)

If the scales were painted Bowtie blue would that count. You would hate to cover all that great interior with shelving to display all that fruit. If I could figure out how to get some pictures on this site I could show you some really fantastic photo's of original 34-35 canopy trucks and a picture of my restored 35 pickup with it's original canopy top option (original black curtins). My computor expert is up in Maine going to College so I am out of luck for time being.

I friend of mine did a good look/see on this thing. Here is what he said about this truck.


I looked at the truck today and drove it around for about 20 minutes. A few observations:

I love this truck! Engine started right up and the Rochester B didn't appear to leak profusely as they usually do. It shows extremely well from a slight distance. Look close and you will find a long list of issues - most of which are typical of these trucks and easily fixed.


Body has very little if any rust - however, dents / lower edges of body, fenders, etc. are not finished well, bondo in a few areas clearly not sanded smooth and no paint on the bottom edges of some body panels.

Lots of fasteners missing - no fasteners from the front fenders to the grill (grill side frame clip nuts are in some cases still holding remnants of bolts that were twisted off). Missing fender braces (front and rear) and underneath looking at bed mounts and rear body mounts are missing appropriate spacers / rubber, etc. Only surface of bed wood that is finished is the top surface. Board ends, edges and bottoms are bare wood - if it were brought to the west side of the cascades - bed wood would need to be removed and coated on all sides to prevent cupping.

Little mechanical work has been done to the truck other than pressure washing and painting of frame and components and minor engine work. Engine does have fresh gaskets and newer intake manifold, but looks like exhaust manifold was not planed before install and is starting to leak. Front wheels were loose (could be king pins or front bearings). Owner stated that previous owner had gone through brakes and king pins/bearings, etc. Could be just loose bearings and brakes need adjusting, as is, Brakes are marginal, engine and tranny have a krylon rebuild. Springs / shackles appear to be original with worn bushings, tie rod ends still full of dirt/grease and worn. Motor mounts broken down and hammering. Lots of antique rock hard grease and dirt that has been painted gloss black.

Truck drives typical of an old unrebuilt truck, wanders over the road and brakes do not give confidence. Engine needs valves adjusted, tranny shifts smoothly, throttle stiff and sticky, no apparent problems with rod/bottom end noise. Clutch is at the top of travel before engagement. Lever shocks all show signs of leakage and driving reveals that they are not contributing to the quality of ride.

Body rattles / squeaks / drivetrain knocks (motor mounts? u-joints?) are prevalent - the front fenders were attached without proper insulating gasket material, no rubber between radiator support and cross member, front radiator center splash pan missing mounting bolts at radiator support. Cab/bed separator panel not attached at base (missing angle sheet metal piece for attaching). Missing radiator support shims create poor fitting hood at upper cowl location (gap ~1/2"-3/4").

Repop bumpers, interior knobs/throttle/choke/door latch/striker/etc.

several missing details (side vent missing inner bezel latch for holding vent open, running board rubber splash guards are missing the sandwich piece of trim, rear gate latches are fabbed and missing return springs (or weak springs), etc.)

Not unsightly, but paint colors for interior and body details appear incorrectly applied (door interiors, jams, etc. are body color, outer grill frames should be body color but are white instead, masking of grill white / body color shows they were painted without dissassembly) Owner had before pictures that appeared to show that this was the factory combination with no evidence of repaints . . . I'd be intereseted in anyones comments on interior door panel paint schemes that differ from the standard champaign colors in 1949.

Wheels are Dodge rims with clips riveted on with 1-ton hubcaps - doesn't look bad, but caps look like they would pop off easily. Also, clearance to tie rods is tight although no evidence of scraping.)

Data Tag is gone - the owner explained that he had a fun time with the DMV getting it titled - sounds like he got the run around and they pulled the data plate and replaced with with a Washington ID tag - bummer! This is the kind of stuff that is almost impossible to get fixed at this point and gives people the willies at places like Barrett Jackson.


Now for the good - NO RUST! And as far as CE parts are concerned - it is all there. Anything missing is easily fabbed or found. If I am to bid on this, it would be with the understanding that this truck would spend a month of weekends in the shop getting things straightened out.

Definitely a very solid rust free example of a 1-ton. The paint quality is marginal - looks good, but when you really look at it, there are areas along the bottom with thin or NO paint - as if the truck body were sitting on or very close to the floor when it was painted preventing good access. This primarily affects the main CE body (not the fenders / front clip area)

Truck needs a complete mechanical refurbish front to back to be safe to drive. When I think of the cannon ball run from Boston to Auburn or driving to Baltimore from Portland - this rig would stay parked at home until a significant amount of work could be done on it.

Sooooo - kinda of a bummer that it looks so good in the pictures - no doubt the bids will go high. It certainly looks good in person, but the devil is in the details. The guy who owns it is a good guy - he doesn't have a ton of experience with older GM trucks and thought it drove pretty solid and tight - I would love to have him drive my GMC for comparison or turn him loose in Bill Miles truck - he would park his rig and get busy fixing it! Nothing inspires a front end rebuild like driving a solid/tight truck. Also, I tend to be more critical than the average duck and I doubt 9 out of 10 people would know the difference on most of these items anyway. Sometimes I hate being me . . .

At this point, I am of the opinion that the truck's worth should be considered in terms of what it could be with a marginal amount of work and $$$ rather than what it is today. Think in terms of what Bill Miles truck was like when he first bought it, beautiful, but in need of a lot of TLC mechanically and detail wise . . . invest some time and effort and this could be a sweet running and driving rig to go along with the good looks.

I took some pictures and will post tomorrow - after driving 500 miles round trip today - I am ready for the sack.
Posts: 1257 | Location: Yacolt, WA | Registered: Wed January 21 2004

Looks like your friend didn't even give the truck a second glance. HA! HA!

MT, Yeah, I think that was a good look/see it shore goes to show that pictures may be worth a thousand words...but they ain't even close to a good look/see.....from a good looker/seerer!! Have a good nap.

Doesn't anyone know the difference between a Pickup and a Canopy Express?

I guess not.

Lou - I have two CE's now and was thinking I might have a third - not to be this time around. Here is a link to the pictures I took.

1-ton Canopy Express