This is my kind of pickup truck. I just love genuine, authentic, unpampered workhorse pickups who’s rust and bumps tell their story. And this one’s got a good story, but more on that later. This 1951 Chevrolet 3800 pickup has lived its entire 73 years in Oregon and is still in the Beaver State, currently residing in the city of Salem. The truck has been in the same family since new and is looking for its next owner to get “Old Green” roadworthy once again (it hasn’t been started in 10 years). The current owner bought it with intentions of getting it back on the road, but has too many projects ahead of it and has decided to part ways with it. You’ll find it for sale here on craigslist where the seller has the Chevy 3800 listed for $10,500 or best offer or trades. Thank you, T.J., for once again spotting a cool old truck and sending it our way to spotlight here on Barn Finds.
Okay, so here’s the story. In the ad, the seller tells us about an old dealership, Ball Brothers Chevrolet in Turner, Oregon, that opened in 1923 and closed in the early 1980’s. It’s currently a gas station, but the Ball family still owns the property and the old dealership building is still there. The seller says that for about 20 years he has driven by the old dealership, even gotten gas there since it’s a service station, and had noticed this green old Chevy pickup truck parked next to a red barn on the property. He asked around about it, but got no answers, until one day when he spotted an older gentleman by the truck and decided to stop and introduce himself. Good timing as the gentleman happened to be the truck’s owner and one of the Ball Brothers’ kids who had grown up working in the family dealership. He said the brothers had bought the one-ton truck new back in 1951 and used it as a service rig. They even installed a Smash-Hit Grille Guard and would put a couple of tires on the front to use the truck as a push rig for their service department. The truck has stayed on the property since new and even a small, faint “BALL BROS.” decal is still visible on the driver’s door.Based on the photos, the truck appears to be unmolested and practically all there. It’s been outside for at least the past 10 years and shows it through faded paint, surface rust and peeling chrome. Just the look I love. The seller shares that there’s some rust in the cab corners and that the floor and frame look “pretty clean.” A 48-page color sales brochure I found online shows that the ’51 Chevy trucks were available in 12 colors, from Omaha Orange to Mariner Blue. This one is wearing Forester Green, which must’ve been a popular color. It seems like just about every restored or surviving Advanced Design Chevy truck is either Forester Green or Mariner Blue.The truck’s bed is metal and has surface rust but looks solid and has a tailgate and a large, impressive-looking rear bumper. Most of the glass looks okay (I spotted a crack in the windshield) but I’m sure all the rubber and weatherstripping will need replacing. The Chevy’s old-school spartan interior is a little on the rough side and the bench seat is tattered, but looks very original and seems all there except for a missing ash tray on the instrument panel and horn button on the weathered steering wheel. The seller says he thinks the truck’s engine is original and the truck’s title is titled off the engine number. The 3800 series of one-ton pickups came standard with a Thriftmaster 92 hp, 216ci inline six-cylinder with a four-speed Synchro-Mesh manual floor shifter transmission. The seller also shares that the rear end is frozen and isn’t sure if it’s the brakes or not and hasn’t messed around with it. The driveshaft is out of the truck currently and sitting in the truck’s bed. So, what do you think? What would you do with this ’51 Chevy 3800 oozing all kinds of character if it was yours?
About this truck, I would restore to original but possibly install a mid 50’s V-8 change automatic and change rear if I wanted to drive it on highways! Or I would not mind restoring it with all original drivetrain if only local or farm roads. Price? I would try to negotiate a little lower but these solid trucks are getting very rare indeed! the more work you do yourself the better off as far as costs go!
Here’s a trip down memory lane. Back in the day these outnumbered 1/2 ton pickups. Small farmers used them to haul grain. Put some extension boards on the box sides and you could put 80 bushels in one.
The first 216 I ever overhauled came out of one of these. It endured 60K miles worth of abuse before the driver brought it by the shop and said: “‘Der’s a ‘knuck’ in Sa ‘inchun’.” He was a Hutterite working for a local farmer. The owner wasn’t very happy when I phoned him and told him that two rods had failed. However, he came in and picked up the driver and told us to continue with the rebuild.
He was down for about 4 days then he got it back with a new set of rings, all (6) rods re-babbitted and less noise. I never saw the driver again; I suspect he was taken back to the colony and dropped off, never to be seen again.
Lots of these at home. I still can’t figure out why the majority of trucks back then were green, with some dark blue and a smattering of red and gray in the region…
I think that all the 3800s had 9 foot beds. If not fully 9 ft, they were all of 8.5. Back in the day, we had Chevy, GMC, Dodge, Ford and International, all doing similar jobs around the farm. It seems to me that the Fords were 8.5 but the rest hit the 9 foot mark…
I’ve always liked the 3800 series over the 3600 or 3100 – think it’s just the proportions. I’ve owned this 50 3800 for about 35 years. About 25 years ago I needed the PTO cover plate from the trans and it’s been sitting open since then. Pretty sure it’ll need a trans, I have a 4 SPD from a 68 C20, think it will be a direct bolt on. Just need to do it.
3800s are not terribly fun to drive. With no load there’s no give in the springs. I think my rear gears are 5.13, so you can’t easily out drive the steering or brakes, but you don’t often take it out for a pleasure cruise!
I would think you might be able to do the same trick to help the ride as some folks do on Diamond one tons: pull a leaf or two out of the springs?
I owned one of these for a short while about ten years ago. Not too big to drive aroune. Mine was a well used west coaster too. I ultimately sold mine and went older! I now own av 1940 International D2.
It almost seems that all of the trucks like this that I remember were this green color and I thought it was a standard color. I can’t recall seeing a red one.
It is interesting that there were 12 colors. Maybe people in 1951 took what trucks the dealers had on hand and very few were special ordered. I wonder what percent were forester green in color.
I’ve read that GM used the dark green paint on all these trucks unless another color was ordered. Another interesting fact about this era truck, is that all the Chevy 3100(half tons) were built as short beds. To get a long(8′) bed you had to get a 3600(3/4 ton), or buy a GMC as they offered both bed lengths on their half ton trucks. The long bed GMC 100 half tons are pretty rare; I’ve had mine since 1980 and I’ve seen less than 10 others in the wild in all these years.
Just bought this, good price. Will be left all original, clean up the paint a bit, mechanicals and new seat cover. Clean it all and ENJOY. Also different gearing for better driving. Great truck! Great history!
I would work on getting back on the road for just a survivor/ driver then maybe upgrade to modern Hot rod
About this truck, I would restore to original but possibly install a mid 50’s V-8 change automatic and change rear if I wanted to drive it on highways! Or I would not mind restoring it with all original drivetrain if only local or farm roads. Price? I would try to negotiate a little lower but these solid trucks are getting very rare indeed! the more work you do yourself the better off as far as costs go!
sorry just not restoring I guess if you got it running and had a small farm you could us it for hauling hay
Here’s a trip down memory lane. Back in the day these outnumbered 1/2 ton pickups. Small farmers used them to haul grain. Put some extension boards on the box sides and you could put 80 bushels in one.
The first 216 I ever overhauled came out of one of these. It endured 60K miles worth of abuse before the driver brought it by the shop and said: “‘Der’s a ‘knuck’ in Sa ‘inchun’.” He was a Hutterite working for a local farmer. The owner wasn’t very happy when I phoned him and told him that two rods had failed. However, he came in and picked up the driver and told us to continue with the rebuild.
He was down for about 4 days then he got it back with a new set of rings, all (6) rods re-babbitted and less noise. I never saw the driver again; I suspect he was taken back to the colony and dropped off, never to be seen again.
Lots of these at home. I still can’t figure out why the majority of trucks back then were green, with some dark blue and a smattering of red and gray in the region…
Geo—is that 9 foot bed?
I think that all the 3800s had 9 foot beds. If not fully 9 ft, they were all of 8.5. Back in the day, we had Chevy, GMC, Dodge, Ford and International, all doing similar jobs around the farm. It seems to me that the Fords were 8.5 but the rest hit the 9 foot mark…
I’ve always liked the 3800 series over the 3600 or 3100 – think it’s just the proportions. I’ve owned this 50 3800 for about 35 years. About 25 years ago I needed the PTO cover plate from the trans and it’s been sitting open since then. Pretty sure it’ll need a trans, I have a 4 SPD from a 68 C20, think it will be a direct bolt on. Just need to do it.
3800s are not terribly fun to drive. With no load there’s no give in the springs. I think my rear gears are 5.13, so you can’t easily out drive the steering or brakes, but you don’t often take it out for a pleasure cruise!
I would think you might be able to do the same trick to help the ride as some folks do on Diamond one tons: pull a leaf or two out of the springs?
I owned one of these for a short while about ten years ago. Not too big to drive aroune. Mine was a well used west coaster too. I ultimately sold mine and went older! I now own av 1940 International D2.
Good luck with the sale.
It almost seems that all of the trucks like this that I remember were this green color and I thought it was a standard color. I can’t recall seeing a red one.
It is interesting that there were 12 colors. Maybe people in 1951 took what trucks the dealers had on hand and very few were special ordered. I wonder what percent were forester green in color.
I’ve read that GM used the dark green paint on all these trucks unless another color was ordered. Another interesting fact about this era truck, is that all the Chevy 3100(half tons) were built as short beds. To get a long(8′) bed you had to get a 3600(3/4 ton), or buy a GMC as they offered both bed lengths on their half ton trucks. The long bed GMC 100 half tons are pretty rare; I’ve had mine since 1980 and I’ve seen less than 10 others in the wild in all these years.
Just bought this, good price. Will be left all original, clean up the paint a bit, mechanicals and new seat cover. Clean it all and ENJOY. Also different gearing for better driving. Great truck! Great history!