09 September 2013
# 3026

	Owned by Kent Miller "Kent34" Bolter # 30002 Shanghai, China and South Dakota

1950 Chevy 1-Ton Panel Van

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From Kent :

While back in the United States for our home visit in June 2013, there was a vehicle auction scheduled nearby. Girard Auctions in Wakonda, SD had fully restored to barn condition vehicles, ranging from 1910 to 1980. Wakonda is a small town about 45 minuts from Sioux Falls.

My wife found the auction online while we were in China, just before we came back for our two week visit. She was quite helpful and found some cool vehicles that were listed for the sale.

While most of the vehicles on the auction billing were out of my price and interest, one definitely got my attention. It was a 1950 one-ton Chevrolet Panel van!  One of these had been on my wish list for awhile, so it didn’t take much to think about going to check it out. 

I already had a 1950 Chevy COE.  I have liked Panel vans since I was a teenager. My brother and I did a pencil sketch of one on our bedroom wall, and it's still there!  I also like the Suburbans of that year, too ... so that's probably a future purchase someday.

After a bit of research for price ranges, we headed off to the auction!  As it's also family time, the Mother-in-law tagged along ... actually, she was nice enough to drive us there!

The link on my website shows you what I found of the Chevy when we got to the auction.

This old truck was a 1-ton truck with a 216 cubic inch Inline, 6 cylinder and the standard 4 speed transmission.  Everything looked to be in pretty good shape, and it didn’t look like anyone had messed with it much.

The old truck was listed early in the auction order, so it came up quickly for bidding.  After a bit of back and forth, I was the winner at $1700!

Now to figure out a way to get it up to the shop -- 225 miles one way?!

I had my truck, but no trailer so I was going to have to rent one.  After a bit of work, I arranged to get a U-haul trailer, and after measuring it at the lot, I knew it was going to be a tight fit for the panel van to get on to the trailer.  I also didn’t have any of my normal towing gear with me. I had to buy some supplies, ratchet straps, chain, cable-come-along, and chain binders.

We came back a few days after the auction to load it up. I mere 225 miles later, we arrived at the shop! 

We had time for some pictures of the rear compartment and then unloaded and jockeyed it into its parking spot in the shop.  Not exactly easy, as I had to shuffle some other vehicles to make room for it.  It was a tight fit, but we finally got it where I wanted it. 

No time to work on it now, but it will wait for me! I will finish the COE first.

I'm current living in China, but I'm still buying toys!

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