1937 Chevrolet 1/2-Ton Pickup (Slightly Modified)
All old trucks are cool (maybe even Fords) but nothing to compares to an old Chevy, and the golden age of Chevy truck styling—in my opinion—was the late ‘30s and I always loved the ‘37s the most, especially because of that swept back profile and the batwing shape of the front grill.
Funny how I stumbled across this truck. I was in the Army getting reassigned from the Pentagon to Fort Hood, TX, so I went to search Craigslist to find a used trailer to move some things myself. I typed "trailer" into the Craigslist's search box and, because it has a trailer hitch, this beautiful truck popped up. I had always wanted a '37, but I figured it was for when I was retired and much older, etc. Truth be told, I probably would have never gotten around actually getting a ’37 before I died. But the truck was only an hour away, was in good drivable condition, and the price was great, so I talked to my wife.
She didn’t know anything about how labor intensive (or expensive) an old truck is to drive and maintain, so she assumed it would be my daily driver and that I would sell my regular car. When I told her it probably wouldn’t be, she asked just what would I use it for and I replied, “I guess I’ll just drive it around in my spare time and pretend I’m back in 1937.” She didn’t see the value in such a purchase, but finally agreed since I'd been such a cheapskate on myself our entire marriage. The next morning she had second thoughts, but by then I’d already arranged to meet the owner and told her it was too late to change her mind. I eventually did end up using it as a daily driver for a while, but now I drive it for fun, in parades, and whenever I need to haul something that won’t fit in my modern Suburban.
The previous owner (who restored it) was in Maryland and told me it was actually probably three different ’37 Chevy ½ tons combined into one vehicle. He put in a 307 Chevy small block and Turbo 350 automatic transmission, drivetrain and wheels from a ’69 Camaro. I’m not much of a mechanic, so while I’d prefer if everything were stock, I’m grateful for the great work he did in restoring the vehicle.
Some of the more significant things I’ve done to the truck are:
• Rebuilt the carburetor
• Rebuilt the brakes
• Replaced front ball bearings with roller bearings
• Added a parking brake
• Added a few leaves to the springs to return the truck to stock height
• Added electric auxiliary fans to help with overheating
• Installed seatbelts
• Replaced most of the wiring
• Rebuilt several gauges
• My next major projects will be to convert to front disc brakes and fix the steering (got about 15 degrees of slop that makes it dangerous to drive on uneven highway surfaces)
I appreciate any resto-rod or rat-rod that has avoided the junk yard, but I prefer a stock look. To that end I’ve done a lot of trim work including:
• Refurbishing 1937 Texas truck license plates
• Fabricating baby moon hub caps with the original 1937 Chevy design
• Painted the fenders black
• Added weatherstripping on doors
• Added blue inlay to Chevy emblems on sides of hood
• Replaced the shag carpeting with rubber floor matting
• Painted chrome shifter black
• My next major project/expense will be to possibly add white walls and either revert to OEM artillery wheels or go with reproductions (I don’t think they were available on ½ tons back in the day but they look so cool).
Sometimes women will say, “Oh what a cute truck,” to which I inform them, “My truck’s not cute, it’s bad*ss!” Describe it however you want, I love driving a piece of history, and proud that this truck was something that helped America build up and out of the Great Depression. I get a lot of honks and thumbs up from folks, and occasionally I’ve been able to take someone for a ride who has fond memories of a similar truck from their childhood.
Along the way, Stovebolt.com has been an invaluable resource for how to fix or find a billion things for my truck, and I love looking thru the gallery at all the cool old Chevy and GMC trucks from all years that other Bolters have fixed up.
Last edited by ArmyMike; Sun Jul 09 2023 07:49 PM. Reason: grammatical/spelling errors
