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Dust And Cobwebs: 1946 Chevrolet Pickup

One look at this Chevy truck and you know it’s been parked for a long time. The seller claims it’s fresh out of 20 year storage and given all the dust and cobwebs, it’s easy to believe. It’s a California black plate vehicle, so rust shouldn’t be too big of an issue. It has some dents, dings and needs to be cleaned badly, but could be a fairly simple project to get back on the road. You can find this truck here on eBay in Delta, Colorado with an opening bid of $5,000 and a BIN of $7k.

I wouldn’t call this truck a survivor by any means, although it does appear to have the correct engine and interior, but clearly it has seen a repaint or two over the years. The engine bay is blue, rather than green like the exterior. There’s no word on whether the engine is the original or not, but it’s definitely an inline six. Can any of you identify it from just this one photo?

It’s hard to see much of the interior from the seller’s photos, but it looks to be mostly complete. There really isn’t much to the interiors of these trucks. The seat frame looks to be in the truck, but lacks upholstery. Replacing the seat cover isn’t all the expensive or difficult. As long as all the gauges work, you shouldn’t have to spend much restoring the interior.

Here’s the worst part of this truck, well at least of what’s shown. The grille has suffered some serious damage and while some of the teeth might be salvageable, you are going to have to replace a few of them. The seller states that hood, which should also have trim in it, is in the bed but there aren’t any photos of it included. This could be a great project, but the seller really should have included more photos and information if they were going to ask $7,000 for it. Restored, it would be worth decent money, but getting it there won’t be cheap. Do you think it will be worth the work or is the asking just too high?

Comments

  1. Avatar lawyer George

    $3500 max.

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  2. Avatar geomechs Member

    Another highly desirable pickup! I’ve always liked this style of Chevy truck, a lot more than the design that replaced it. That sure looks like a 216 motor. If it isn’t exactly the correct year, it’s very close. It would take that truck everywhere you wanted to go and bring you back, albeit not too fast. That steering wheel is not stock but rather off a later passenger car, probably a ’49 – ’52. Looks rather out of place here….

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  3. Avatar Truck_gal

    Awesome truck! Great writing and trucks like one are why I love this site. That is not the correct engine. The oil filler cap on the valve cover is for engines made after 1948.

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  4. Avatar Davey

    216 Chevy 6 probably ’49. Steering wheel is 1950 chevy

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  5. Avatar HippyMike

    That’s a ford ranchero badge bolted to the center of the grill

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  6. Avatar John C Cargill

    One of my first jobs in the mid-60s involved occasionally driving a 1946 Chevy cab over tow truck. That one had a 1953 passenger car engine transplant. As a newish driver, mastering that old 4 spd crash box was almost as much of a challenge as learning to tow.

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  7. Avatar John Holt

    As mentioned before by geomechs, the engine looks original which would be a 216, altho there was variant 235.5, a predecessor of the full pressure 235 but it was only installed in 3/4 ton trucks to my knowledge. Also the steering wheel should be a 3 spoke simple wheel, no clue what that one came from. The grille being smashed loses a lot of value when u consider what replacement cost is, currently a new rechromed grille can set u back a couple grand. The fenders are needing a lot of work as does the rest of the truck. Fenders are getting expensive when you can find them, sure u can buy glass fenders but nice steel fenders are costing around 4-500 per. Most of these trucks are not restored from this condition, more like ratrod potential. I have swapped a few of these onto s10 frames and so I have taken a few of these apart and made some extra retirement funds from the sale of these parts. IMO this is about a 3500 $ truck as it sits with a clean title.

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    • Avatar Gerryclarke

      The engine looks like a Bedford 28 horse power engine the later if it had tin push rod guides the later ones the guides were cast into a the heads. Also earlier rocker covers the oil fillers were in the center of the covers so it’s probly A 214 engine

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    • Avatar Norm Wrensch

      the early non pressurized 235 only came in 2 ton and up trucks

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  8. Avatar RH FACTOR

    MacGiver had a nice one of these.

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  9. Avatar Greg Howes

    Restored a 41 about 12 years ago. $7k is far too much for this. You can still find $3k “projects” if you look. My grill was complete but damaged. I tried multiple reproductions and none fit properly. Fixing and rechroming my original was over $1000, and that was then. I have the full pressure post-1953 235 engine, which is the way to go if you want to use it. I still use mine for chores and people are always shocked. I tell them, it’s a truck, that’s what they’re for.

    Like 0
  10. Avatar Ponyman1

    Hope it doesn’t become another rat rod.. This is an excellent find!!

    Like 0

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