1951 Chevrolet 3100

Owned by James Pavlicek "professorpavy" Bolter # 20023 California City, California Talking about this truck

From James :

Hey fellow Stovebolters,

I wanted to introduce you all to my 1951 Chevrolet model 3100 1/2-ton pickup. I found my packer on eBay back in February of 2009. The current bid was $1300 and I put in a bid for $1500 which turns out was the sellers’ minimum he would take for the truck. Well, I won the bid and I went pick my packer up in Alta Loma, California which is about two hours from where I live

I live in the high desert by Edwards AFB and I asked my friend Dave (and use his trailer and truck) to help me go pick the packer truck. Dave and I got there. We had to wait few minutes because the guy was late getting to his house. The seller had to jump his Ford Expedition in the driveway so we could get to the truck.

I starting looking over the truck and realized the front leaf springs were completely cut and there was no tail gate for the truck. I think the seller planned on making it into a truck cruiser.

We had some more negations and I dropped the price to $1400 for the truck and got the 16 spare tire and all the spare parts he had for the truck in the deal. The seller had thrown all the window trimming away in a trash can next to the truck.

This truck will need the usual -- all new windows, brakes, tires, rims, bed wood, wiring, weather seals, body work and paint. But my packer was in great shape. The truck did have a 235 ci engine under the hood which made me happy. The 235 came from a donor truck with an option for a 3 or 4 speed transmission.

I am going to try and leave the truck body and interior as original as possible, while modernizing some electrical components.

Pictures: bed (well, no bed!) / interior / front / engine

I bet you wondering why I keep calling it my packer and that is because I am a huge Green Bay Packer fan. I plan on painting the truck green and yellow with brown interior. The only change to the interior is to put in a modern HVAC system -- after all I live in the desert.

I plan on completely restoring it frame up. I have limited experience on these types of trucks so I am hoping that with the Stovebolters vast knowledge and my hard work that we can take this diamond in the rough and turn into a glisten jewel that we all can be proud of upon completion.


James Pavlicek

-30-