Custom 6-Wheeler: 1959 Chevrolet Apache
Look, I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that this 1959 Chevrolet Apache didn’t roll off the production line looking quite like this. It seems that the custom work on this pickup was performed some years ago, but it does look as though it has stood up well over the ensuing years. I have to really thank Barn Finder Tracy H for spotting this incredible vehicle for us. The Apache is located in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, and is listed for sale here on Facebook. If you want to add the Apache to your life, you can do so for the price of $10,500.
Judging by the age and look of the paint, I am pretty sure that this conversion has been kicking around for quite a few years. Before we examine it any further, let’s look at the condition of the rest of the pickup. Here, the news looks to be quite promising. It looks like there might be some rust in the cab floor, but areas like the bottoms of the fenders and the cab corners look really good. The story is pretty similar with the frame. It looks like it has a coating of surface corrosion, but it does appear to be solid. The bed is an interesting item. The addition of the third axle has necessitated the custom wheel arch work and bed extension, but whoever completed that work seems to have done a very nice job. There is a small area of rust above the arches on the passenger side, but this looks like it would be fairly easy to fix. There are also a few odd dings and dents, but once again, these look like they’d be pretty easy to fix. The bed will also need a new floor, but I think that a nice timber one would suit the vehicle rather nicely.
The interior of the Apache is complete, but there will probably be a few changes to be made, depending on the new owner’s personal tastes. The seats aren’t original, and the red upholstery was probably appropriate when the external paint was nice and shiny. Given the fact that the cover on the driver’s seat has some tears in it, this is a real opportunity for the new owner to stamp their own mark on the vehicle with colors and accessories.
Under the hood is a small-block, but I’m not sure what size it is, and the owner doesn’t tell us. We also know that the transmission is manual, and I think that it might be a 3-speed. The owner says that the Apache has been driven over 100,000 miles, but doesn’t specify whether the vehicle runs and drives now. Still, given the fact that the additional axle is a dead-axle, that means that the rest of the drive-train is pretty normal Chevrolet fare. Even if it needs some work, parts should be a piece of cake to source.
You certainly couldn’t ever say that this 1959 Apache is a vehicle that is going to blend into the scenery. After all, it’s very hard to blend in when you are driving a vehicle with 50% more wheels than the manufacturer intended. It is something different, and it looks like the custom work has been performed to a relatively high standard. Just what pathway the new owner chooses to follow will be down to personal taste. For me, I’d probably return the interior, paint, and wheels to standard, give it a fresh coat of paint, and enjoy messing with people’s heads wherever I went. How about you?
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Comments
Bring A Magnet. That right rear quarter looks like it’s filled with Bondo…
Filled is an understatement. If you put a grinder on that rear quarter it would likely disintegrate once it hit all of the Sunday newspaper stuffed in behind it all the bondo. I would not put one dollar of my hard earned money towards that but I could see somebody thinking it might be worth 3500 to have as a conversation piece that would be about the top line, just a pile that looks interesting when you first look at it really has nothing to offer aside from headaches and an empty wallet
I would guess about a Gallon of Bondo on Each side!!!!! Forget the magnet! It’ll NEVER stick!!!!!!!!!
I looked at the truck. Lots of bondo in the bed sides, and the rear leaf springs are for a trailer axle, not a pickup. Spring hangers are homemade from c channel. Would be a nice novelty, but would require a lot of work to be road worthy and safe.
Ruined a pretty nice truck,really, I see no advantage to this whatsoever. Can’t see the rear suspension, but it appears the planks are holding it together. Driven 100K miles? Like this? I don’t think so.Nice try, whatever they were going for, but return to “normal” for best results.
Not sure if I understand the “dead axle” thing. All the work and no live one? Why…?
Mah peekup is longah than y’all’s…
This is redundant, but I can’t resist.
“Yarrrr.. Them thar bedside’s r so wavy, it be makin’ me sea sick!”
Judging by the red overspray on items in the engine bay, I’d say this truck is much worse than it appears. Spray-bomb-special paint job is reminiscent of the flat black a lot of people spray on bondo filled project cars to make them look what they are not. Conversation piece…yes, money pit…absolutely.
Something about that truck makes me want to throw sauerkraut all over it.
Pretty nice (no pun intended) twenty-footer. But totally useless.
Say those cheesy wheelcovers do add a bit of flair…NOT! Imagine parking this thing would be a headache and may just knock all that filler from the swiss cheese rear quarter panel! Might make a nice match to the stretch 57 Chevy from last week.
That concrete parking brake is a nice touch.
The first task would be to undo everything that the customizer already did. I’d pull the bed and put the frame back to its proper dimensions. The box might be salvageable but it might be better off to turf it and find a stock one. It’s a good truck otherwise…
You would need a couple of football fields to find room to do a u-turn in this thing.
I agree with geomechs. Cut it back down to proper dimensions, and you would have something.
If this truck project is welded properly I’d say it’s a rather cool conversion after all! OK, so he screwed up an Apache many years back, but possibly it would be screwed up anyway. Seats seem to ce out of a 88-94 C/K so the conversion is maybe a couple decades old.
I’m sure it does not have the best grip on wet surface and driver will experience much binding during cornering, especially with heavy load in the bed!Not to mention that massive overhang…
I understand many people would claim this is a ruined Apache, but the conversion project might also be what saved it back then
Would make a good Hearse in Arizona!!!!!!
The majority of the 100K miles were probably pre-conversion. This truck is ridiculous, but someone out there’s gonna like it enough to buy it. More power to ’em.
Reminds me of the Beatles Mystery Tour movie bus, only in reverse. Steerable four wheels fore or aft on this Apache would make it like a really unique GM prototype…of course this is not the case!
There was a carpet layer that had a Ford PU extended like this in the 70’s in Anderson, Indian, Gene (Windy) Benfield. It only had 4 wheels though.
It’s terrible, but if the modified bed can actually carry a heavy load, it would be cool to build a homemade redwood camper/tiny house on the back.
There used to a similarly modified truck running around Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Same color even…i never got close enough to it to tell but it might be the same truck…owner said it was built to haul a 3/4 midget race car.
Looks like he same truck, I’ve seen ads with it being for sale
I see a stretched slide in camper for this truck. Finally, it has a purpose.
How darn long is that bed? I have a hard enough time, parking my F350….
Ah, no…
I think that’s stretching things a little too far. LOL
I am trying to think of a inexpensive durable non dumb way to get that added back axle to be alive. The dumb way would be to mount equal size motorcycle chain sprockets to the outside of the rear wheel hubs on both sides. A loose chain, & chain tensioner would be a must.
This truck sat in Sapulpa, Oklahoma at the Salvation Army church and sports complex about 10 years ago. I looked at it several times. I’d did appear that it was done fairly well except that it was in the exact same condition it is now. The bodywork was decent but the places between the wheel arches had about as much bondo turning loose as it does now. Great to see it again. How it made it across the U.S. is got to be a story with hearing. I never saw it move and it sat there for months.
Guess again hillbilly this is sitting in my yard I owned the truck you can bring a magnet by anytime you’d like