About our Truck

Our truck is a 1951 Chevrolet 3100 with a short bed. It has a 216-cubic inch 6-cylinder Thriftmaster engine, and a 3-speed manual transmission with a “three on the tree” column shifter. The bed and side stakes are made of oak, and it has “smoothie” wheels with whitewall tires and “baby moon” hubcaps. Our truck is a base model, so there is no power steering, no power brakes, no radio, no air conditioning. But for what it lacks in features, it more than makes up in character.

It was built in GM’s St. Louis plant and was likely one of the last 1951 models to roll off the line. It has some parts from both 1951 and 1952 on it, all of which we believe to be original to the truck. Our truck is on at least its 5th different color. It was originally dark green, then pale yellow, navy blue, metallic maroon, and the current color, called “Swift’s Red”, which is an original GM factory color.

Our search began in 2020. We looked at hundreds of different ones until this one became available. We knew that we wanted one that was true to the original design as well as the original character of the truck. We wanted a “driver” quality truck, so that we could drive it, enjoy it and share it with our family and friends.

It spent most of its life in Nebraska until we acquired it in Spring 2021. We are not sure which number owner we are, which adds to the mystery. We only know of two prior owners to us, but there likely were several more. We were able to track down the previous owner in Nebraska, who shared many stories and pictures of the truck during his family’s ownership. This helped us piece together some of the puzzle, but only back about 30 years.

Photos from prior to our ownership:

When we acquired the truck, we immediately fell in love with it and started making upgrades. We have updated the exterior with new wheels, tires and hubcaps. We also refinished the bed wood and metal strips, and replaced chrome trim and brightwork. The interior needed only one major upgrade: we had to add seatbelts! The engine did not require anything of consequence.