The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Do It Yourself (DITY) Gallery 1957 Chevy 3600 3/4 ton -- "Maybellene"

Meet Maybellene.

She is a 1957 Chevy 3600 ¾ ton pickup. Her life began when a gentleman ordered her in 1957 when he retired. He mounted a camper in her bed when she was brand new so that he could see the country with her. She made trips from North Carolina to Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Washington. She stayed parked in his barn when he was not using her as a camper.

He ordered the ¾ ton model to get the longer bed and the heavy duty upgrades such as the 17.5” rims (I wish it would have come with the optional 19.5” wheels due to the low gearing), the split drive shaft, the floor-mounted emergency brake connecting to the prop shaft, the four speed with the granny and the larger brakes. He ordered the factory options of the steering column mounted turn signals and the deluxe heater. He had the dealer add a few accessories such as running lights on the cab that were available on the two ton model, a spotlight on the driver’s side, sun visor on the passenger side and the oil bath air cleaner. She was upgraded to a very early Delco Remy alternator, probably because of the electrical load of the camper. This might have also been installed by the dealer at the time of delivery.

When her owner died in 1985, his family traded her for a new Pontiac. The owner’s son had used her in his locksmith business. She had lost some of her original beauty under his watch. The dealer kept her in his storage shed and never transferred the title, so we technically became the second owners when we bought her in the early spring of 2010.

¾ ton pickups are somewhat rare because most were completely used up as either farm or work trucks. They literally wore out. Maybellene’s story as a happy traveler is what saved her. Because she had a camper installed in the bed when new, she has never hauled a load other than the camper. The camper preserved the bed and kept it almost pristine.

Maybellene has about 65,000 miles on her. She is a hybrid in that she is not completely restored, but she is not totally original. We have tried to recondition her to look as she would if she was bought new and well maintained for her entire life. If something works but is a little tarnished or pitted, we left it alone. If it needed replacement, we replaced it. Some areas needed more love than others. We refurbished or rebuilt whatever we could to avoid replacement. We painstakingly reconditioned the original Brewster Green paint. We left as much original paint as possible and blended in repairs. On some areas where the original paint was too thin to buff, we shot clear over the original paint to preserve it before color sanding and buffing. Any missing parts such as the hubcaps, jack assembly or the Amity-GM spotlight have been replaced. The electrical system was restored to a generator. The seat is the original material. The headliner is original as is about half of the interior paint. All glass is original except the driver’s door because I cracked it when trying to retrieve it after it had slipped off the window regulator and fell inside the door.

We added a few things that are not original to personalize Maybellene. All are period correct. We added the hood rockets, fingernail protectors on the door handles, peeper mirrors, steering wheel spinner and windshield sun visor. We changed the side view mirrors to chrome. (The driver side was broken and the passenger side was missing.) We had the rims bead blasted and powder-coated white instead of the original black. We varnished the Southern yellow pine bed instead of repainting the wood Brewster Green. (The beds came from the factory either painted black or painted the body color, depending on the assembly plant.) We added the fog lights. (What a find! Amity-Chevrolet fog lights off a ’41 sedan that I found in AZ!) The fog lights were converted to 12 volts and wired into the headlight switch to operate with the running lights, so no additional switches were added to the dash. The side boards for the bed were made out of Southern yellow pine to match the wood in the bed. The angle iron that I used to mount the mud flaps on the rear and the fog lights on the front were installed through original holes in the frame, so no additional holes were drilled. We added the rear view mirror (not necessary when the camper was on the back). We added seatbelts—these are the only item that is not period correct.

Matt Saunders
Hickory, NC
[email protected]

I almost forgot the most important part of my post. THANK YOU to everyone at Stovebolt for all of your submissions. The input, advice, tech tips and pictures have been invaluable along the way. I have never attempted a project like this before and I would not have been able to do it myself without all of your help. Thanks to
Stovebolt, I was able to do everything on Maybellene by myself with the exception of getting the rims bead blasted and powder coated. This would not have been possible without all of your help. Thank you, Matt

Very nice!!!

John

Matt,

Thanks for such a great write-up on the truck and the kind remarks about the site. We do have a good crew in here. Just uploaded your truck for the May Gallery additions.

Peggy M

What a beautiful truck!

Not much to say except you have a fantastic truck...... nice.

Maybelline, been thru Hickory many times going to Winston and to many upholstery/furniture shows there..... So, hey, jump on highway 321 and I'll meet you one day for a hot dog. I'm in Spartanburg and its only about 45 minutes to exit 17.....Be sure to make plans to attend the next Southern Stovebolt Reunion.

Thanks for the invitation. Maybe I'll see you at the Dale Earnhardt car show this weekend? You'll be able to find me...just look for the 'Maybellene' between my mudflaps! Look me up next time you are in Hickory. I'll take you to Al's Diner...tiny place, 50's decor, best hamburger around. Peace, Matt

Maybellene will be in her first car show this Saturday...the Dale Earnhardt show in Newton, NC. I detailed under the hood for the event. Here are the pix...www.photobucket.com/maybellene-engine.

What is the copper line running from the oil pressure gauge pickup into the middle of the head directly under the Thriftmaster decal? An old GM mechanic's technique...authorized by GM with a service bulletin. When the 235's replaced the 216's and added pressurized oiling, the tube bringing the oil from the pump to the top of the head was prone to clogging. GM authorized running a line from the oil pressure pickup to a prethreaded 1/8" NPT capped hole already tapped into the head. Use simple brass plumbing compression fittings available at any hardware store and 1/4" copper tubing. Make a manifold at the oil pressure gauge pickup point with three outlets...one each for the oil pressure gauge,oil filter line (if you have installed one)and the new secondary oil line to the head. Remove the plug in the head, add the appropriately threaded fitting, then run a copper line from this fitting to the manifold. I used Teflon tape on all threads. Some old school mechanics recommended this as a preventative measure to ensure that oil always got to the top of the head instead of finding out the hard way that the tube was clogged. Kind of a belt and suspenders approach.

I added the secondary oil line at the same time that I ran a replacement fuel line from the fuel pump to the carb. Same 1/4" copper tubing and compression fittings. One 10' length of tubing was plenty for both projects.

Nice work Matt, I am sure Maybellene will get a lot of attention at the show...

Here is your under the hood pic...

Beautiful 57 3/4T. Love the color, condition looks immaculate.

Beautiful!! My 57 2 ton will never look that good.