1951 Chev 1 ton Model 1434 (Canadian Built)
"The Story Begins"
I am new to Stovebolt and grateful that I found the group. I am, always have been, and will always be a Chev/GM guy through and through. I absolutely admire the truck lines of both, and in particular the old boys, and when the opportunity presented itself, I bought this guy at auction for $600 (CDN) ($445 USD on today's exchange) - sight unseen (internet auction) with only a couple pictures posted on the auctioneers website.
It was a frosty morning when I went to rescue him but was warmed to see that everything that needed to be there was. It had it's motor, transmission and rear end. The rad, starter, carburetor and regulator were also there. The interior appeared pretty intact as well, no broken gauges, missing knobs or handles. The seat was rotted away and like the rest of the cab was covered in decades of bird and rodent droppings. The box was absolutely crammed with years of barb wired tangled messes, odds and ends. I could barely see the box bed but could recognize that a sheet of plate steel had been welded to the floor of the bed and examining the the underside, revealed the original wood slats were still there albeit weathered. While poking my head and looking around the underneath, I discovered that the presence of hydraulic cylinders, the box hoisted and dumped. Apparently, I won the contents of the box as well because like my new old truck, that stuff came along as well when we left.
Having done a little research, I was confident I had somewhere between a 1949 (gas tank behind the seat) and a 1951 (last year of the exterior turn down door handle) but that was as far as I could figure out. I sure didn't understand the significance of the numbers that made up the VIN at the time. Luckily, during my internet research, I came across your group and I stumbled across a company that specialized in doing research on Canadian GM manufactured vintage vehicles. Their website is vintagevehicleservices.com.
I sent them a pic of the cowl tag/plate (along with a small fee) and within a couple days of them poking around GM of Canada's archived records (to which this company has access), I learned that the truck was in fact a:
** 1951 Chev 1-ton
** model 1434 Longbed
** 255th version of 2,012 of 1434 models
** manufactured in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada that year.
His Birthday was January 17th, 1951 and was shipped to Western Canada January 22 of that year. The American manufactured equivalent, I came to learn is the model 3804.
On the day I rescued him, I was by myself and as I trailered him down the highway. I was empowered by the waves of people and the honking of horns appreciating what they were seeing. I also wondered if my 2020 GM Sierra, who trailered his 1951 brother, would be around in 72 years.
I am not a mechanic or a bodyman and have learned that I am better at taking things apart than putting them together. I am a retired cop but still professionally employed as a security director for a manufacturer in the gaming industry.
I am so pleased that I found Stovebolt because I know the expertise of the group will help me to put it back together. I am not going to set my goals too high right now but I do want to find out if that motor is seized and get rid of those bird and animal droppings. I am pretty sure I can handle that and will post how things are going for me and this project.
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