1936 Chevy 1/2-Ton Pickup Truck

"Mellow" a/k/a "Jake" Trevor Jensen "37chevtruckguy" Bolter # 13963 Surrey, British Columbia Canada

From Trev :

           In early May, GMONIZ posted some great eBay and Craigslist finds on the Stovebolt site for "under $1500." Farther down in his post, George added a "For a few bucks more" category.

           Well, I ended up clicking a few of the links and suddenly there was this very cool 1936 Chevy Pickup in front of me. What blew me away was that like my '37 Chevy 1/2-ton pickup truck, it was yellow, too! I found myself thinking how good they would look together!

           Long story short, I called the kid who listed the truck and he seems like a great guy. He gave me some history on the vehicle. He tells me his Grandpa has a Christmas Tree farm in Oregon (hmmmm wonder if he knows John and Peg?) and that the truck is up there, only a couple miles from where he bought it.

           The story goes, that the kid (who is not much more than 20) has always loved these old trucks and always wanted one. One day he went to a neighboring farm to see another farmer that his Grandpa knew. While there, he saw the 1936 tucked away in a barn where the other farmer had parked it. The farmer had used it for several years as a snow plow on his farm. The truck had not been outside in 20 years and only had 52,000 miles on it!

           The young man ended up buying it and it was hauled back to his Grandpa's barn. There it sat since it was in need of brakes and a few minor repairs.

           We talked trucks a couple times, discussed a price and it sounds like a great deal. Not wanting a repeat of my experience of buying a truck sight unseen as I did with the '37 on eBay last year, I really wanted a fellow Stovebolter to have a quick peek at it so I knew what I was buying.

           I checked the locator page, and 4ontheFloor [ Josiah Bartlett, our Paint and Body Shop Moderator and all around great guy! ~ Editor ] was only 9.75 miles and 15 minutes away from the truck! I contacted him and he said he'd love to look at it for me. I figured he'd walk around the truck, make sure it was the truck in the pictures, kick the tires and not much else. But noooooooo ... he returned home and emailed me a one page inspection report, pictures and even a video of the old truck running! [ Told ya, all around great guy ~ Editor ]

           All the old ’36 needs to run would be a new 6V battery and a brake job! I knew for sure what I was getting and decided it was a done deal!

           It was around that time that someone tipped me off to go look at a web page they had found with the kid's name on it. It turns out he is a Missionary who went to Africa to help those in need right after he got out of high school in 2006! Pretty amazing kid and it confirmed that my impression of him was correct -- he was indeed a very nice, honest guy. Like me, I felt he could do business on his word or a handshake alone. How refreshing to 'meet' someone like that in this day and age!

           The next step was to get the truck hauled back home. After asking a few BC Bolters, burgandybolt [ Mike Allen, our Stovebolt Welcome Panel Wagon, a very cool and enthusiastic Bolter ~ Editor ] very kindly volunteered to pick up my new truck for me while he was picking up some other parts in the area. He even guided me through the paperwork needed to deal with Customs. When Mike's vacation started on the following Tuesday, he was off on a road trip with his other half, affectionately known as 'uber-babe'

           After a couple of mechanical issues with his own truck, he made it down to Oregon to pick up the cab he was after. Then he headed over to pick up my truck which sadly developed a case of stage fright with a dead battery. It had to be winched onto his trailer -- they had tried to revive it for three hours with no luck.

           We stayed in touch by email and phone and finally he was within range. He would meet me at the border the morning of May 16th and I'd finally get to see it and bring it home!!!

           Once we were through Customs, everything went without a hitch. We brought it home and put it in the garage next to the '37. They look great together [ pix ] ... very cool!

           After putting the battery on a charger overnight and a squirt of “quick start” down the carb, I turned the key, pressed the starter button to the floor and without hesitation the ’36 roared to life! [ Front side view ] Not bad for a 72 year old truck that “ran when it was parked” 20 years before!

           Because the '36 is stock with an inline 6 and much tamer than my '37 (which is hot rodded), the old '36 is now known as 'Mellow' as in Mellow Yellow and sometimes also called 'Jake' (the name of the great kid I bought the '36 from!).

           I've got more pictures on my Webshots account.

           Special thanks to all who made this possible … GMONIZ for his post that introduced me to the ’36, 4ontheFloor for being so helpful in providing such a detailed inspection, and of course my friends and fellow B.C. Bolters, burgandybolt & 'uber-babe' who did just an excellent job transporting the truck back “home” to Canada!

Thanks Guys!!!

~Trev
"37ChevyTruckGuy"

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