The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Purchase of a 1936 1 1/2 ton

Hi,
My name is Tom and this is my first post to this forum. I am considering the purchase of a 1 1/2 ton 1936 Chevrolet and could use your help both with making the decision to buy and also with coming up with a value for the truck.

The truck is in primer and outwardly seems to be in good condition. All the mechanicals have been re-built and mostly assembled. Here is a picture...

1936 Chevrolet 1

I have several concerns about condition. First, the frame has been shortened. This was done by cutting, re-welding with a plate over the weld. Job looks to have been well done. Picture...


Hmmm second picture won't load, I will reply to my own post to add.

Continued

Looks like all the pictures can be accessed from the one link, so that's solved.

Other than the frame, I have concerns about the wheels: two piece design, riveted center with tubes. Installed tires are new 6.5 X 20. I would like to use the truck in light service locally. I think trucks of this era are generally limited to about 50mph/80kph. Any comments to the intended use are appreciated.

The truck received an off frame restoration, re-build of all the mechanicals. No way to tell if this was done well as the truck doesn't run at the moment. Looks to me as if there would be little effort to fire it up. In a sense this makes me uncomfortable... why would the current owner who has done so much work not take the final step? Value would be improved for him if I weren't taking such a risk.

I think the engine is the stock 1936 207cu/in. I can not verify the casting number however (1782594). I would hope to keep it original.

Would anyone care to guess about the value? I think this would be a great project for me, and bring back a bit of history.

Thanks,
Tom

Welcome Tom, I have no idea of the value of that truck, but it sure is cool! The bottom line around here is, what is it worth to you? Will you get lots of enjoyment out of it? Most of us here have too much money tied up in our trucks, but we enjoy the hobby. Maybe someone else has a value for you.
Leo

Welcome to The Bolt --- And WOW...what a great looking find. Locating anything that vintage with what appears to be minimal putzing is quite an accomplishment these days.

As for wheels/tires/mph issues, there are only so many choices and they are related. The mongo 20 x 5 wheels and rims look great but the only tires available are Chinese, bias ply tube type. And the gearing is indeed only capable of 45-50 tops. Fine for a pre-Interstate highway load hauler or a parade vehicle, but not that practical for general service these days.

You can pretty much forget finding any higher gearing for that rear end. There are "stories" about a slightly higher 5.17 ring & pinion set, but in over three years of searching, I never spoke with anyone who had ever seen such a thing. That leaves going to a later model rear axle, of which there are several that will fit nicely, but none will take the original rims without a fair amount of work. I went with a '98 Chevy 3500HD Dana 80 dually rear axle for my '46 1.5T as it does have the same lug pattern but takes a 19.5 x 6 tubeless rim. Not quite as mongo as the factory mounts, but close. And the tire choices are much better (modern tubeless radials). As for that mph thing...the Dana has many choices that when paired with the right tranny will get you up to speed (60-80 depending on the combination of axle ratio, final drive ratio and tire diameter). There are some great online calculators that make it easy to test out various combinations. A link to one is below.

Then there is the matter of stopping that big beast after you get it going faster than it was ever intended to go. There again, updating is an option, but one worth considering for anything but a museum piece. Properly maintained, all the original gear is fine, but it does have its' design limits. Just decide what you want to do with that darlin' then build accordingly.

The chopped frame is a simple welders' fix unless you are going for show points. In fact...I have a 1942 long wheelbase 2-ton frame (195" ?) that you can have for the taking. I'd much rather contribute it to any working project than scrap it and I think it would fit.

Whatever you decide, keep us updated...we love pix of other people working.

Gear/speed Calculator http://www.csgnetwork.com/multirpmcalc.html

Tom, that is about as good a looking truck as I have seen of that vintage in a long time. It looks to stand pretty proud.
It all depends on what YOU want to do. I think it'd look nice original as possible, and a short flat bed with duals....but that's just me. The older I get the slower I like to go!!

Good luck, The guys in the Big Bolt Forum may be able to give you some good pointers to on wheels and stuff to go along with what Tango has said.
As for value....check around on the internet to see if you can find something comparable.....maybe? What is it worth to YOU?

Looks like you get a hoist with the deal, so you can have a dump bed. Looks like it's in really nice shape for its age.

Thanks for your reply and all the info on this site, it would be so difficult to attempt this project without the information here!

The vehicle ID plate has some numbers I don't quite understand. Here is the pic...
ID plate

The model is 16-33... isn't that a Maple Leaf number? Also I can't find paint code 680 any place. This adds to my idea that the Chevrolet badges were added.
Any help or info would be great, searching the 'bolt site doesn't come up with the answer as yet.

Thanks,
Tom

Tom, all Chevs had model numbers like 1633 [1xxx], and a 'Maple Leaf' was really a heavy duty Chevy [2-3T] that would have had a Maple Leaf badge on each side of the hood, and a different grill, like these .... you won't find any info about Canadian paint codes here, or likely anywhere, there really isn't a lot of info anywhere about specifically Canadian production, you have to run with info on US production, they're quite similar - but you might dig a bit about numbers out of this Aussies info

Bill