Ready to Drive: 1937 Chevrolet Half Ton Pickup
This sharp looking truck apparently has a cameo in a movie called the “Common Outlaws”. In running and driving condition, this truck appears to be a solid driver, that needs only minor work if any to enjoy. Although this pickup is described as being in original condition, I disagree, but I don’t think that really changes what the truck actually is. Which is a nice driver. With less than a day for bidding remaining, this truck is currently sitting at $15,100. Check it out here on eBay out of Eads, Tennessee.
The “Blue Flame” 216 inline 6 is a great engine that is easy to live with. Backed by a 3-speed manual, this truck performs as expected from a driver. The only potential drawback I see is that the truck is still 6 volt. Now If you look closely, you will notice that the engine compartment has been sprayed with that off-white light blue color. The factory wiring has overspray, as does the steering linkage and the heater core connections. While I wish this truck was original, I think someone “dolled it up” which is fine enough for this driver.
The interior has undergone the same treatment as the engine bay with a faux-tina finish. Looking closely you can see that the original paint was painted over with orange and brown, then the entire cockpit was gently sanded to produce the desired effect. Again, while it isn’t a deal-breaker, I find the bright orange a bit annoying. More importantly, it looks as if the original gauges are in place, and hopefully, they are functional. Even though its modern, the fan mounted to the dash must certainly be appreciated on warm days.
To wrap it all up, the faux-tina can be found on the exterior of this truck as well. Faux-tina can look great when executed well, but the person who sprayed the fenders with the dark blue looks to have limited spray paint experience. Looking beyond the finish, this truck does appear to be in decent physical condition. Although with taking a closer look there are some issues to point out. You can see rot in the lower section of the passenger side door, and I think the driver side cab corner has been repaired. If you look at the bottom door gap of the driver side door, you can see there is some wavy action going on in that area. Now, I still think this truck is in decent shape, especially considering its age. I think for many that the face value of this truck can be a bit misleading upon first glance. Still, this is a great driver, and a not so common machine to find. Ideally, I feel this would be an excellent restoration candidate. Although I think simply this truck is better suited to be a fair-weather driver. What would you do with this faux-tina pickup?
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Comments
Now here’s a project I could really get into. One thing I promise you is that it wouldn’t look like this when I got done with it. I would much rather put up with what Mother Nature did to it than some faux-tina look-alike trash. The interior would be the same as any other ’37 Chevy. The outside would be a stock color combination and it would retain its 6V system. You can make them original and still look classy.
My sentiments exactly, geomechs. Too nice a truck not to do something worthwhile with-starting with undoing the silliness already done. While it’s appreciated that the seller at least got it moving and has his own taste, IMO this ol Chevy deserves to live on in its original livery.
I got to laugh at your “faux-tina look-a-like trash” comment!!! I feel the same way!! A truck like this always looks better to me when the running boards and fenders are done in black and the body and bed are done in a nice color!! Red, green, blue or even white which isn’t my favorite!! She is straight enough that it could go to paint quickly while the mechanicals were bing done!! Great find!!!
Ah, yes, you can LEAVE them original, but… you can’t MAKE them original. You can return a vehicle to stock, at least in appearance. But they’re only original once. Which is before being altered by improvements, personalization, or significant deterioration.
This truck has suffered from all of those. What was the owner thinking with those cloudy blue sky fenders. Some kind of pursuit plane camo scheme?
Anybody can run a blowtorch – but it takes guts to restore a car to original. It takes determination to preserve automotive history, and a genuine love and respect for the past. It takes a willingness to honor all the great automotive pioneers, the engineers, stylists, designers, and even line workers whose hearts and souls went into those early motoring classics.
It takes long research and patience to restore a car correctly.
And there’s no greater feeling than to know you’ve done it right.
Wonder if they still sell 8 volt batteries? I always found them to be a good compromise that wouldn’t burn up the gauges, but gave starting a bit of extra “oomph”. I think the current price is getting up there for a patina truck.
You know, I found that people needing an 8V battery usually went that way because something was failing. Usually the starter. I did have a friend who went to an 8V on his ’50 Imperial because he couldn’t get his power windows to operate properly. Trouble was, finding a charger to charge those 8V batteries. He finally ended up finding NOS window motors and going back to 6V. There was very little difference in engine cranking speed with either one. We had members of our car club that had trouble with their Chrysler-flathead sixes starting hot. The problem there was something that was a problem from back when the cars were new: the 2-pole starter just didn’t have enough power. A 4-pole off an industrial application was no problem at all; they started quite well on 6V.
I have used an 8 volt battery in my ’41 Chevy Special Deluxe 4 door for many years. I did it mainly to get better lighting, but the extra oomph when starting doesn’t hurt! I set the voltage regulator to change at 9.6 volts and usually don’t have to recharge unless it sets without use for a few weeks. I found some 6 volt halogen headlights a few years ago and it’s lighting at night doesn’t look like an 80 year old vehicle. It doesn’t get used as much as it should, but people do like seeing them “like they used to be”
Fred, Those tractor 8 volt batteries are OK but you need to set the voltage regulator for 8 volts or those extra 2 volts will burn it up.
Thats stupid money for a vehicle still needing 10-15,000 bucks to make it nice enough to drive anywhere. Parts are getting rarer and very costly. Anyone wanting to pay that kind of money for this truck needs to look me up and take a look at mine…..in this case I’d take 45,000 for mine and it’ll take you anywhere.
$45’000 4 ur heap! It’s obvious who wants this would enjoy a stock looking clean pickup, not a Custom chopped up super modified pickup [i’m sure urs is nice 4 $45,000] sounds like u had all ur work done @ a shop & only bought Corvette parts! I got a sweet 35 ford I did myself many moons ago in my garage. Stuff in a newer used motor, auto, rear end, disc up frt, homemade upholstery & a home single stage paint job 4 $5000 & make a nice runner & have $25000 in bank, don’t buy Corvette parts
A serious buyer would need to inspect for shoddy body work under that blue. the inside of the doors looks like a $hithouse stall. The underside looks good. If its really that solid, a decent single stage paint job would do it up nicely. heck, even a good rattle can paint job on the inside would improve. Also, that mill is a babbitt pounder- inspect carefully. Good luck and stay safe.
Cheers
GPC
Of the many things I would like to see in the rear view mirror, the faux patina craze or insanity is number one.
I get there is a middle ground between having polished chrome frame nuts and a truck sitting in the weeds……….but fake aging is not one of them. Up close these always look so much worse than the pictures. Scary worse!
That said I do love the ’37 Chevy. geomechs ought to buy this puppy and bring it back to life :) I wish I could.
By all means restore it! You’ve got a really solid truck there and it only makes
good sense to do so. I dunno Geomechs,
I think I’d rather have a 235 in there for the
full pressure lubrication. Had a ’52 Chevy
sedan with a 216 in it. To me, that old
babbit pounder made way too much noise to suit me. I finally did put a later
model 6 into the car after my kid sister
spun a bearing while trying to get the car
unstuck from a snowbank. But that’s
just me. To each their own I guess.
A lot of people are somewhat nervous running a babbitt-pounder although there’s really no need for that. I worked on lots of them in bigger trucks that were loaded down to the knackers and they handled them like a champion. However, a 235 isn’t a bad choice at all. You could actually go to a 261 or even a GMC 302. The only problem is that the 235 (and up) is physically longer and the fan won’t clear the rad. There is supposed (?) to be a shorter water pump available but I haven’t been able to find one. So you will have to run an electric fan which also means converting it to 12V. Myself, I have no problem with the 216 so I wouldn’t hesitate to keep it. But I understand how others feel…
As opinions go, money talks all else walks.
Buy it and do with it as you please or pass and let someone else enjoy.
God bless America
Sold at $15,600
OT:
The trailer in the photos was made by TrailerWorld of Bowling Green, KY. I towed a nearly identical one for commercial use about 4 years, all over mostly the eastern US. They are Super-Solid aluminum trailers. Towed great, very stable, decent tire life, good brakes, etc. The one I used had a 20ft. deck. Traded inside the company for an enclosed Featherlite, both still in use.
The risers on the deck seen here are curious. Since the fenders come off for loading, it would be a very low car indeed that needed the extra clearance to open the door. There are a couple of things to look out for in the long run on these. Ask if interested.
Our outfit liked the trailer so much, that TW built another one, 25ft. long, heavier axles, and with the rear deck wide enough to haul a Dually pickup. Had a RAM3500 Diesel Quad-cab Long-bed on it. Talk to Adrian at Trailer World, tell him Alan sent you.