The Gallery
 

1947 1.5-Ton Chevy Delivery Truck


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Owned by Matt Jorgensen
"deerefanatic"
Bolter # 18799
Ladysmith, Wisconsin
 
15 December 2008
# 2487

From Matt :

This is a photo of my 1947 1.5-ton Chevy. This truck has quite the story behind it.

I've entered the truck into the 2008 It Ran When I Parked It photo contest. I'm captioning the photo "An Old Farmer waiting for harvest."

This truck was across and down the road from us at our neighbor's place. We had just moved into our farm here in Wisconsin in February of this year. This truck was sitting there in our neighbor's yard!

This Advance Design Chevy has a 14 foot delivery box full of old junk (like a regular tire shop of obsolete dry rotten tires). As a retired dairy farmer, I can assure you that this man never parted with anything. His "junk yard" out back consists of a flathead V8 Ford truck, an Oldsmobile from the 50's, at least a dozen rusted old tractors, and countless more implements, and various other things that used to be (at one time) farm tools.

Upon seeing this Chevy, I was immediately struck that I had to have it. I had purchased a 6BT Cummins diesel engine to rebuild that I wanted to put into a mid-1990's Chevy 1 ton. After seeing this truck, I began toying with the idea of sticking the Cummins into that.

Then, about mid summer, I heard my neighbor's tractor laboring and working hard. I went over to find him and his cousin out with shovels digging trenches from the (now sunken in mud) tires in an effort to move the truck. After inquiring why, I was told that he was going to build a wood shed where the truck sat. His Farmall 300 didn't have what it took, however so his cousin was coming back the next day with his John Deere R.

The next day, I heard that R thumping down the road. I wandered over to watch the endeavor. Unfortunately, the R had nearly bald tires and wouldn't budge the truck.

I went back home and got our Ford 4000 tractor with front loader. It too was helpless -- whether attached to the front bumper, or the rear of the truck. I even tried picking up the truck with the front loader, which I very quickly decided was a lost cause.

Our other neighbor was in the field next to us spreading manure, and being an avid Ford man, decided to show up the John Deere. So over he came with his Ford 7000 with dual rear wheels. After hitching to the front and peeling up the sod, he went around back, and proceeded to tear up the gravel drive way.

The truck stubbornly refused to move. Finally, in desperation, we hitched it to the front bumper on an angle and yanked the front of the truck out of its ruts sideways. The rest of the truck proceeded to drag away. All the wheels with the exception of the left rear dual were locked up.

I was completely sold by that point! I began to pester my neighbor to sell it to me. Finally, we came to an agreement that I'd buy it for scrap price. But he decided that the truck MUST weigh at least 5 tons so he wanted $800. I finally agreed -- just sure that I was being took.

I came back that weekend and drug the truck home with a chain on the bumper attached to our 100hp Massey-Ferguson. It pulled so hard that the rear tires were wrinkling as the tractor worked to pull the truck up the driveway. I began to think the truck weighed more than I thought.

I've now began tearing apart the box on the back of the truck and have decided that the box itself must weigh at least 2 tons. So maybe my neighbor was right on the 5 ton weight. Only time will tell.

I will keep everybody posted as work progresses.

Hope this story brings a smile to someone's face.

Matthew Jorgensen

Gosh, this story has it all ... trucks, tractors, mud ... bigger tractors ... friendly farm competitions. Love it! Anxious to hear more and thanks for taking the time to write all this. Great tale! (And good luck with the IRWIPI contest!) Also, this is fairly reminiscent of the story of our '49 ton and a half -- mud, tractors, tugging ... ~ Editor

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