A 'virtual garage' of antique Chevy & GMC trucks from around the World

1950 Chevrolet 3100 1/2-Ton

Owned by Jenny Grube "Chevy Jenny" Bolter # 16502 Spring City, Pennsylvania

05 November 2007
# 2108

From Jenny :

           Hi! I've been into cars and trucks ever since I could walk. I'm only 24, but I've managed to put a good deal of experience under my belt in the past couple of years. I'm known in my area (I live in Spring City, Pennsylvania) as "S-10 Jenn" due to the fact that I build S-10s from an open frame on up. In my eyes, this is not exactly the way that I'd like to be remembered.

           I've always loved old muscle cars, and early 1950's coupes and trucks. I made it a point to put a 1950 Chevy 3100 at the top of my list to acquire.

           About three weeks ago, I was at work surfing eBay when I stumbled across the "rust bucket" of my dreams. I'm definitely not putting the truck down. It was perfect, and everything that I could have hoped to attain.

           I had a friend of mine put a bid in, but lost out at the last minute. The next day, I went back to just look at the picture of the truck, and noticed that the reserve was not met.

           I quickly rushed to contact the seller to see if there was any chance of still acquiring it. To my wide-eyed amazement, the seller agreed to sell it to me, as long as I came down with, get this, $450 cash and pick her up within the following 5 days!!!

           Luckily, I have a lot of friends with businesses, and one of them agreed to drive me down with his truck and trailer to pick it up. That's where the fun began.

           The day that I had originally wanted to pick it up, was not good for my friend. He had prior arrangements made for the Hershey car show. But as luck (my luck) would have it, it was a complete downpour at seven in the morning when he was supposed to leave!

           I left work early, and met up with him at his shop. He was having a WONDERFUL (sarcasm) day in trying to get our transportation together for the long drive.

           We had originally planned to take his rollback, until his mechanic broke it and couldn't figure out how to replace the alternator properly. The decision was then made to take the dually and enclosed trailer. So, after many phone calls were made, inquiring as to whether or not my new truck would fit in the trailer, we were on our way.

           What was supposed to be a three hour drive one way into Maryland, ended up being a five and a half hour drive. The directions were horrible and WRONG, and the road signs in Maryland didn't correspond to the directions we were given. Ugh.

           But finally, we pulled into a very upscale housing development around 10 at night. The seller was a little upset due to the time, so we decided to quickly get the truck loaded up into the trailer. WRONG AGAIN.

           The truck was in his garage, at the top of a sloped driveway, with absolutely no brakes. It was a feet in itself to get her down the driveway, without running anyone over or having her crash through the living room of the house across the street. A Ford (ugh) and a tow strap later, and she was sitting in front of the open trailer door, waiting to go to her new home. PROBLEM. The standing height of the truck turned out to be 6'2" where as the inside dimensions of the trailer was 6'3".

           After careful deliberations, we managed to squeeze her in (no WD40 required, but probably wouldn't have been a bad idea), and bow a few sets of florescent ceiling lights.

           In the end, our six hour round trip ended up being a 12 hour, 386 mile, $210 in gas round trip. I crawled through my door about 15 minutes before I was supposed to leave for work, and made sure to hit the coffee pot.

           The circumstances surrounding my acquisition of this awesome piece of Chevy should have made it so that I didn't get her. It was all luck, and I couldn't be happier!!

           So that's my story up until this point. She's currently sitting happily at my shop, waiting to be dismantled and rebuilt for May (yes of next year). She's absolutely the best thing that I've gotten so far, and I hope to have her as my daily driver for many years to come.

           I'll make sure to send a pic or two after she's completed. Better yet, I'll make sure that it's one of her going down the track!!!

           Thanks so much for having an awesome web site that I can share my story and truck with, and that has proven priceless with its amount of information. I look forward to possibly traveling to one of your get togethers, so that I can show her off in person.

           Thanks again!

Sincerely,

Jenny

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