1947 3/4-Ton Chevy Flatbed Dump

Owned by Mark Larson "rattltrap" - Bolter # 17542 Minneapolis, Minnesota

19 March 2008
# 2278

From Mark :

           I found this truck about 70 miles outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota in June 2007. It had previously been a farm truck in North Dakota.

           I had been passively looking for something older like this for a couple of years. I have usually owned some sort of “toy” car, truck, or motorcycle since I was 18. This 1947 3/4-ton Chevrolet flatbed with dump hoist [ image ] is the most current one and it is so much fun.

           I plan on keeping it even if I have to add something else down the line due to what my wife calls ”short attention span syndrome.”

           The list of vehicles that brought me to this point are as follows:

• 1981 Pontiac Firebird
• 1977 Chevy 1/2-ton 2 wd pickup lowered 6" front and rear with air suspension and 350 horse small block and m22 4 speed (still miss that truck)
• 1976 Chevy Camaro Z-28
• 1987 Yamaha Fazer motorcycle
• 1995 Honda Magna motorcycle
• 1989 Yamaha V-max motorcycle
• 1999 Yamaha Road Star motorcycle
• 1987 Chevy Camaro Z-28 IROC (that was sold to make room for this truck).

           My Dad has always had something around since I was a little kid and I am sure this is where I got the bug from. He is currently working on a 1977 Chevrolet El Camino SS.

           When we went to get the truck, we had originally planned to drive it home. However, the three or four times we test drove it, chunks of tires were falling off. So we struck a deal for the truck and all the extra parts and the seller agreed to deliver it [ image ] .

           The next morning, we went to the “Back to the 50's” car show (getting 100's of thousands of dollars worth of ideas) and that afternoon, we met the former owner at our house to unload everything.

           The day after that, I took the tires in, had new ones put on and we must have racked up 100 cruisin’ miles by that night. [ Front / side image ]

           The truck was almost sacrificed in a major storm we had last summer. At about 2 a.m., my dog woke me up and I could hear the storm alert on the computer (alerting that bad winds and hail were headed our way). I had just replaced my daily driver truck with a 2204 Impala SS Indy Edition. I ran out to take the old truck out of the garage and put the new car in (figured if the hail was big enough to dent the steel used to build these trucks, it was coming through the garage roof anyway).

           The good news was, no hail damage and the tree top that broke off just missed the truck. See photo.

           So far, other than fixing some wiring and the tires, it is in pretty much “fresh off the farm” condition. The driveline is original and the flatbed had been added to replace a rotted away grain box. The hoist still works [ image of the lift mechanism ] great and the trucks runs and drives good. The gentleman I bought it from still calls and emails once in awhile to check on it (he say’s he is checking on us ).

           I am looking for any help or information about the hoist / grain box since I have not seen anything like it where I have looked so far. I would ultimately like to re-create the grain box or get as close to it as I can.

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