Former Tomato Farm Truck: 1949 Chevrolet Thriftmaster
One of the problems we have in this country is that we often fail to preserve the most important parts of our history. From the 150-year-old house downtown, that gets plowed down to put in another McMansion to the many remnants of our once proud industrial and agricultural past that too often end up in the scrap bin, it becomes hard to tell our story without artifacts. One category of artifacts that we can save is commercial trucks. This 1949 Chevrolet Thriftmaster stake body truck for sale on both Barn Finds Classifieds and eBay in Polk City, Florida is a very nice example of a ubiquitous part of our past. This dual-wheeled truck spent most of its life on a tomato farm in California before being uprooted and sent to sunny Florida. Now it is looking for someone who will appreciate it and perhaps show it off to a generation who has never encountered a vehicle without air conditioning and an automatic transmission. Are you willing to pony up the $18,500 Buy it Now price to preserve an important part of America’s history?
That is what makes this 1949 Chevrolet Thriftmaster’s existence all the more remarkable. The seller tells us that it was purchased in California in 1949 and used on a tomato farm. Curiously, a title wasn’t issued when it was sold, and one had to be secured in the state of Florida when it came into the possession of the seller. The great state of Florida required a full mechanical inspection before they issued a rebuilt title for the truck. The seller tells us that it is in remarkable shape inside and out and that it is mostly original despite some minor updates. By the looks of the truck, the main update seems to be the welded-up flatbed and provisions for the removable sides. It also has a set of modern cargo boxes welded under the bed behind the cab and a genuine set of NAPA mudflaps installed.
Another interesting claim is that the truck has always been stored indoors by both the seller and the previous owner. One would have to assume that the tomato farm offered no such niceties. However, the claim that it is mostly original most likely means that it wasn’t modified much from how it left the Chevrolet factory in 1949. The interior is in fantastic condition and surely reflects a proper restoration sometime in the recent past. We are told that the “doors, hood, horn, emergency brake, lights, windows, wipers, and gauges work properly.”
Under the hood, the ubiquitous Chevrolet “Stovebolt-Six” is still present and is said to “run strong with no leaks or problems.” The transmission is also described as one that shifts smoothly with no leaks or issues. A look at the photo above reveals an engine that looks to be completely original. The only thing that stands out is the brightly colored wiring. This may reflect a recent rewiring of the truck, as I believe that cloth-insulated wiring would still have been used by Chevrolet in 1949. If a reader can shine a light on when the shift was made from cloth to plastic for wire insulation in automobiles, please let us know in the comments.
A look underneath reveals that, other than surface rust, this truck is in very good condition. One interesting part is the canister next to the exhaust pipe. I believe this is a brake booster, but I’m looking for confirmation from one of our more expert readers. You can also see that some insulation has been wrapped around the exhaust pipe to protect it from heat. Other than that, we see that the battery box is still in good shape and the rear end does not look to be a standard rear end. Is this truck equipped with a two-speed rear end?
In all, this is a very nice, probably restored at one time commercial truck that is said to be a joy to drive. The seller also mentions that it is dependable, but new tires may be on the horizon. It would be nice to see someone purchase this truck and use it on occasion. Maybe even rent it out to farmers’ markets as a display. People today don’t normally see such vehicles. It would be good to educate them on what it was like for their ancestors. There isn’t anything luxurious or easy about the commercial trucks of our past. Still, we managed to survive and thrive back then with their help. It is good that this one has survived to share its story.
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Comments
This is an excellently written article Jeff. I couldnt agree more. I strongly believ that older trucks and other machinery needs to be preserved. This is one beautifully maintained Chevy and I sure hope it stays that way. I’d have a blast driving this thing down the road. Manual steering, manual brakes and all.
Lack of power? Not with a twin turbo LS!!! Just kidding, it’s a beautiful truck, and obviously since it’s restored, it will have a much better chance at finding a good home.
I’ve always wanted an advanced design pickup, I love the style. A truck like this is just too big. But after reading the write up how can I not want it? MURICA! I would have until October to figure out where to store it!
Just no good market for this. 18.5K? Not gonna happen. Makes me homesick for my youth, but not so much that I or anyone else is going to buy this. People of my age who remember this will soon be dead, then the market will really be gone. Nice to haul kids on for a parade, maybe in a showroom somewhere, or a museum. Thats about all it is good for unless you are going to actually use it, but the price needs to come way down. Trucks like this made up the street scenes in my homesick dreams when I was forced to be away. I do love this, but just not worth that kind of bread.
Someone spent a lot of time and money restoring this beauty…but a rebuilt title?? Good luck to the new owner as depending on what you use it for you may run into trouble with the DMV and your insurance company..
In 1969 I was a newly minted/licensed teen driver. I had never driven a car with a manual transmission when I went to work for the next door neighbor. He had a truck virtually identical to this. Early one morning we were to drive to a job site. I had never driven the truck before but the boss had spent the night drinking and was in no shape to drive.
The truck was parked in the driveway in front of the large closed door. The door was a large non-folding affair, sprung under tension to keep it straight.
The truck had a floor mounted starter button. Being used to automatic transmissions, I assumed there must have been a neutral safety switch so I got behind the wheel, turn to key to on and stepped on the starter button, not realizing the truck was left in gear and only about six inches from the door.
That old stovebolt immediately barked to life and seemingly lept forward into that tensioned door. As the truck’s front bumper crushed and snapped the door, the tensioning springs let go with the power and sound of a bomb, reverberating and echoing in the empty garage space!
It, uh, woke my boss up from his alcohol fueled reverie . . . as well as the entire neighborhood!
Neat old truck. Good article, but I respectfully disagree on a couple points.
1) Be thankful that it doesn’t have air brakes, which require a CDL here in WA State, and other locations.
2) It would be nice to know specs on the engine beyond “Stovebolt Six”. As for them having plenty of power, my father purchased a ‘49 Chevy single axle dump truck about 1970. Even after an engine overhaul he declared that it struggled to haul a load on the flat- and you could just forget about hauling a load up a hill. Sold it and bought a ‘56 GMC with a factory Pontiac V8.
3)!The insulation wrapped around the exhaust is to protect items nearby- not the exhaust pipe.
GLWTS
Reading the comments here I see that there are so many varied opinions. With that aside, this is a beautiful truck that should be preserved, it is history, it’s life and the part it played in Californias growth with agricultural farms that were abundant when I grew up there. And heck, you can’t even find a decent dependable car these days for $18,000. This truck got some good lov’in when it was rebuilt! If only I had some extra cash!
Hmmm, my first attempt never made it so I’ll try again.
Lots of these out west. Used on farms and were always overloaded by probably half again what they were rated at. Saw lots of these coming over the scale at the grain elevator packing a 12K payload.
Mostly 216s powering these but the odd one had an early 235. Still a Babbitt Pounder. Those splash oilers took a tremendous amount of abuse. The most frequent failures were the axle shafts, and most of those were during the winter during a grain hauling quota.
They’d get a good load on board and run into a slippery part of the yard. One set of duals would slip then suddenly break through to good traction. A loud expensive noise told you that your first stop was the dealership for a new axle shaft. Then spend several hours trying to fish the broken parts out of the side gears in the pumpkin.
Nice truck! Sure do hope it doesn’t end up sacrificing its cab to satisfy the whims of another butcher. Besides, you can get nearly every piece of sheet metal through the aftermarket…
The canister next to the drive shaft is most likely a vacuum actuator for shifting the two-speed differential. Note the linkage going to the back of the chassis. Later trucks used an electric motor, but the earlier ones used vacuum. I drove a 1953 fire truck, a 5 ton Chevrolet with the inline six, that used the vacuum shifting system. We never took it out of low range for two reasons; first, we needed all the low end gearing we could get due to how much weight we carried with 500 gallons of water, hose, ladders and other equipment. But the other reason was that we volunteers could not manage the proper shift sequence in order to take advantage of the low/high gearing, and if you messed up, it would get stuck between gears and leave you stranded. Not good when responding to an emergency…