Owned by "Thorpe & Sons" Bolter # 41082 California

1927 Chevrolet 1-Ton Panel Delivery Truck

"Wilford"

Read the Blog with more details
and lots of images

From Thorpe & Sons :

This project all began with me doing a little genealogy research into my family history. I started the research in 2012 while in Undergrad and Grad School.

Just last year in August, I picked it back up again. I found a great picture of my Great-Great Grandfather, John A. Thorpe, with his 1927 Chevrolet Truck on FamilySearch.org. You'll see a nice old picture in my Blog with him and the '27. He owned his own business and sold from his truck.

All this sparked me to start looking into what kind of vehicle his truck was.

I started looking at the photograph closer and closer and found that the license plate on this truck was a 1927 Utah plate. I also noticed the bow-tie emblem on the radiator shell. This lead to me start searching around the internet and stumbled across the Vintage Chevrolet Club of America (VCCA) website.

I posted on the VCCA forum to see if anyone could help me figure out what kind of truck it was. There were a few who where willing to help me out especially Dean "Rustoholic" Meltz. (Dean's been a Stovebolter a long, long time - one of our first probably. And we know you all know "Lurch" -- Dean's 1927 1-ton Cattle Truck ~ Editor.) Dean was telling me that the truck in the photo was 1927 Chevrolet (Model LM) 1-ton Panel Delivery Truck.

Dean knew I was looking for 1927 1-ton truck so one day he was at a VCCA event and he told me Herb, another VCCA member, had a couple of 1927’s 1-ton trucks.

I emailed Herb and told him my story about wanting to rebuild my Great-Great Grandfather’s truck. He said if I joined the VCCA Club as a member and not just as a forum member, that the price would be excellent. I joined without hesitation!

My wife and I planed a trip up to Northern California for Thanksgiving holiday, to see her side of the family for two weeks. In the meantime, I I started working with Herb and Dean more and more since the truck I was going to pick up with in No Cal.

The dates where set for our trip out West and I locked in a date with Herb -- November 28th, 2015.

We spent two weeks with my wife's family and the morning of the 28th, we were readt to head up to No Cal with the trailer. That was an adventure in itself. I was getting ready to leave with the trailer. I went to do my pre-check inspection with my lights and tires to make sure the travel would be safe. Low and behold, a fuse had blown while plugging the trailer in. I fixed that and about 5 a.m., we hit the road to Dean’s house, which was about an hour away. We got there safe and sound about 7:30 am. Dean and I chatted a while and then headed to Herb's about 9 am.

When we got to Herb's we went to the backyard and garage area where he showed us his nice collection of 1920s-era vehicles. Then he showed us the one I was picking up.

Pictures do not do it justice -- this was history starring me in the face. I was so excited to finally see it in person. We saw that this truck had the original engine, transmission, differential, and drive shaft all there intact.

It took Dean and I about an hour or so to un-bury this truck. Here is a video of the truck being pulled from the back with Herb's 1926 Chevy 1/2-ton. These vehicles where not geared for speed but geared for torque and that is why the '26 could do what it did.

While I was waiting, I sent a picture of the truck to my Dad and called him. He was so excited -- he was already telling me what we needed to do to set up for disassembly and storage of all the parts. We thought to name the truck "Wilford" after my Great Grandfather, on my Dad's side. It was his middle name and my Dad loved that man, his Grandfather, so much.

We headed back to Dean’s house but first we made a quick stop in Berkeley, California to visit with Lou, another VCCA member, to see if he had any parts available for me to buy. I got to see a massive warehouse of vehicles and automotive parts -- this was like American Pickers on STEROIDS!!! My life flashed before my eyes. This was every gearhead’s dream.

Once we where done, Dean and I headed back to his place. We had a good visit and he showed me his mechanical shop and one of his trucks -- it was a 1928 Chevy AB Canopy Express 1/2-ton ("Justin" is also in the Gallery ~ Editor.)

It was time for me to head back to the in-laws house and park my truck and trailer for the night. This was a fun and exciting trip that took me 14 hours to complete. By the end of the day I was tired.

~~ Thorpe & Sons

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