It was time. As the end of the decade neared, Chevrolet’s tough-ass line of pickups, the 3100, had grown old. In 1959, Chevy introduced the C and K series of trucks. Owners reported it rode as much like a car as a truck. “C” meant light-duty, rear-wheel drive. The “K” designation meant four-wheel drive. IfContinue reading “No. 136: Something New!”
Category Archives: Trucks
No. 135: A Little Paint and a Lot of Prayer
It’s easy to overuse “iconic” when discussing American steel, but if it fits, use it. And the word certainly fits here. Ford Motor Co. held on to prewar car and truck designs in its hurry to answer pent-up public demand for any kind of transportation following World War II. But even as plants in DearbornContinue reading “No. 135: A Little Paint and a Lot of Prayer”
No. 132: Go, Devil?
This quarter-ton hauler was built in Toledo, Ohio. The earliest it could have left the Jeep assembly line at the Kaiser Willys plant would have been 1946, when American manufacturers hustled to make vehicles for the civilian market. That year, Willys produced a Jeep that was a lot like the model that became famous inContinue reading “No. 132: Go, Devil?”
No. 129: Angling for a New Life
The Model T was a hit in Great Britain. The public snatched up the cars just as avidly as their cousins across the pond. But when the Model A debuted, in 1928, Brits didn’t get as excited. That led, ultimately, to Ford Motor Company’s decision to create a new line of cars for the BritishContinue reading “No. 129: Angling for a New Life”
No. 124: Along the Mother Road
Steinbeck called it ”the road of flight.” Desperate people, “refugees from dust and shrinking land,” found the highway and headed west. Folks still do. After negotiating a herd or burros, travelers may come across a 1952 3/4-ton Chevrolet pickup*, its metal dulled by the sun and the dust, by the relentless tramp of time alongContinue reading “No. 124: Along the Mother Road”
No. 123: The Surprise Around the Next Curve
A 1954 Chevrolet half-ton, a proud representative of the 3100 series of trucks,* thrusts an inquisitive nose into the fall air on a Georgia highway just beyond Atlanta’s outer ‘burbs. Harbins, 33 miles northeast of Atlanta. (Photo by Junkyard Correspondent Intern Sam Davis) *The Greatest Pickup Of All Time
No. 120: Jets and Trucks
Those were good times. The F-1 had debuted to an eager public in 1948, and small wonder: The truck represented a styling change from the models that had preceded it – was a rolling reminder, too, that the United States of America was moving happily away from the dark days of a world war. NewContinue reading “No. 120: Jets and Trucks”
No. 115: Forgotten Ford
No. 113: Abandoned in Apalachicola
Who bought this one-ton hauler from the Chevy dealer 65 years ago? When did its stake bed vanish? What sort of work did it do? Did it travel the slight rolls of north Florida from field to dock? Surely, somewhere along the line, this ’52 Chevrolet 3600 trucked oysters. Apalachicola, Fla., 345 miles south ofContinue reading “No. 113: Abandoned in Apalachicola”
No. 110: A Rare Machine
Like other U.S. automakers, Studebaker hustled to re-tool its plants to answer the demand for new cars and trucks following World War II. In 1949, the South Bend-based corporation introduced the 2R pickup. It was a stylish thing, with lines that flowed more than the Fords and Chevys of that era. In a remarkable stylingContinue reading “No. 110: A Rare Machine”
It Was Running When I Parked It 