The popularity of old Chevrolet pickups just keeps truckin’ along. Today, for your review, we have a member of the “Task Force” edition (’55-’61) in the form of a 1959 Apache 3100. It has a very nice original presence about itself so let’s see what’s here. Residing in Greensboro, North Carolina, this green machine is available, here on eBay for a current bid of $18,100 with the reserve not yet met.
The seller tells us, “I was planning on tearing it all out and refinishing. I was leaving the paint on the outside like it is; lowering her and putting a 6.0 LS with corvette suspension. I am having a hard time cutting on this truck because of how straight it is“. It could have been a moment of clarity, a realization of what the conversion would entail and cost, or maybe divine intervention, who knows, but I’m glad the seller came to his senses and decided to leave well enough alone. This truck is in excellent driver condition and in spite of the suggestion, ” Very good start for a full restoration…” it’s a good start for being left alone. The finish is obviously faded but the body is stout and the listing mentions just a few small rust bubbles in the cab corner. The chrome is very strong and even the wood cargo bed still shows as sound. There are many images of the underside included and no integrity concerns are surfaced. Be sure to check out the embedded walk-around video.
The interior is as spartan and utilitarian as you’ll ever find but it is extremely clean and I imagine is wearing new carpet and a reupholstered bench seat. It also appears that a radio occupied a dashboard slot at one time in the past. The seller mentions, “no gauges or lights work on the inside and I haven’t investigated because I was planning on tearing it all out and refinishing“. One peculiar thing is gray finished door jambs – they match the hue of the steel interior components but not that of the exterior.
Regarding the engine, the seller states, “Pretty sure this is the original V-8 283” and I’m pretty sure it’s not. The installed Chevy small block’s heads have newer casting marks, its intake manifold lacks a breather tube, the valve covers are late model versions with grommets for a PCV connection and an air breather hose, there’s an alternator in place (as opposed to a generator), and the smallish air cleaner assembly looks like it originated on a later model 307 CI V8 and it is not remotely similar to the oil bath version worn by the original 160 HP 283 CI V8 engine. The transmission is a four-speed manual unit with a “granny gear” in the first cog position and the seller adds, “…runs really strong and shifts good“.
I’m going to stay with my first thought and that’s to leave this old Apache as is – I’d certainly never hack on it to create some sort of a restomod. But that’s just my thought, what’s yours?
In the background of the second picture is a matte black version of what eh said he originally wanted to do with this one. Whether or not he’s “gaming” the readers or he’s sincere this is a nice truck and yes Jim I’ll bet many of us like you agree it should be left well enough alone.
Yeah this could come to my place. I’d preserve it and enjoy it, and maybe try to find an original style 283 to drop into that bay.
My money is on that being a 350 that’s powering that today. Not surprised; they are pretty common. I like being closer to original. It looks better with a breather pipe coming out of the intake.
Nice truck overall…
Now THIS,9is what I originally wanted and “settled” for the squarebody. No regrets on the squarebody, it worked for several years, made money upon the sale, it’s just this was much more what I had in mid. Too late now. I know I pixx and moan, but really, one can easily see the attraction with these, I mean look at it, what 7,maybe 8 wires under the hood? I see ads for these electronic wizardry trucks of today, hide-away shift levers, dial in the “mode of travel” for the day( I’d laugh, those gee-gaws do nothing) and the ULTIMATE in stupidity, is these self driving contraptions so, what, you can clap your hands when you SHOULD be driving? I guess that’s what “crash avoidance” is for now. Is that crap really needed? You’ll see, history tends to repeat itself, and who knows what’s next, but one thing for sure,, vehicles will NEVER be this simple again. A modern vehicle today pads too many pockets. It’s a great find.
And no, I’m not correcting every misprint at this hour,,,
Right on the money, Howard. This truck is like a few of us-simple, not much going on under the hood and just about everything has been fixed or replaced at one time or another. But this is of a time that had an owners manual explain carb settings, valve replacement and how to change the oil yourself!
Nowadays, there’s none of that-instead they tell the reader it to drink the radiator fluid or the battery acid…wow.
I’ve a HS friend living in the Sierras with one of these in his yard, a “roundtuit” project-no dash, interior, front grillwork or lights but the body is really clean..think I’ll pay him a visit this weekend.
Well it’s a nice looking truck, that’s for sure. You really don’t need any gauges. When it starts knocking you will know you don’t have oil pressure, when it starts steaming you will know it’s hot, when the lights dim it won’t be charging. I’ve got new and I’ve got old and I like them all.I know what I would take on a longer trip. This time of year I would be using the heated steering wheel and the seat heater, premium sound system and getting double the mileage and loving the quiet, smooth ride. And worth the money. I’ll stop if I see you with your hood up on the side of the road:-)
I love old pickup trucks maybe not equally but it’s hard to pick a favourite, but great condition of the body of this truck makes me green with envy.
Restomoding is against my religion. Surprised to see an 8, I was expecting a stovebolt. I agree, it should probably be mostly left alone. But at a lower price.
This came from the factory with the stovebolt! If it had a v-8 under the chevy emblem on the hood would have been a “v”.
This truck is way to nice to restomod, I know you guys are an important part of the hobby but please try to stick to rollers and already modified when possible.
Nice truck but not entirely original as in wearing drivetrain, paint, upholstery it was born with. Close…. but look clearly at the cab corners; they have been worked before. Paint is similar on everything else, but is not really appearing as the paint it wore as the ’50s ended. I would love to own it, but not at the 20 it’s bid to at present. I don’t believe it will somehow escape the knife of a resto-modder in it’s near future, as this type of presentation often goes that way. Sincerely I hope I am wrong about that
Me I would drop a stroker in it new suspension and make a street rod..
Agreed! The ebay ad states “It drives just like it did in the 50’s” LOL! I have a ’58 GMC with a modern chassis and drivetrain, no way I would trundle along with the original stuff. It’s nice to see these bid up to this $, I could stand to see a substantial profit if I want to sell.
This one reminds me of one my dad bought off our neighbor in the late 70’s. That one was a 3/4 ton with a 6 and the three on the tree, it was a blast to drive as it was a tall truck. Can’t remember what happened to it tho, I will have to ask my brothers to see if they can remember
Nice truck …
I liked the ’57’ Cameo my uncle had when I was a 10 year old.
I liked it even more when he put a Corvette V-8 in it.
He removed chrome pieces from the hood, and removed the vertical pieces from the grill so that the interior section was mounted “floating” within the large section.
He is still alive and kicking today, and I found a 1/24 scale AMT kit and got it for him as a gift recently… that drew a big smile.
Firewall looks turquoise, probably the original color of the truck, not green.
The comments on this truck and many others are “de ja vue” over and over again. When I was a teenager in the early 1960’s all we heard was how we were all destroying all the 32 to 48 Fords, to make Hot Rods. There would be nothing left to preserve these iconic automobiles. Now it is 60 plus years later. Do you want an early Ford V-8 , Original or a Hot Rod. Go buy one, there are plenty and they are actually getting cheaper. Get over it guys, look at the history. It’s like Chicken Little, the sky is not falling.
Good point.
Looks like the 307 in my 1970 C10, I would be checking the engine number but a nice example would be a real pity to restomod although the only change I would make is maybe an O/D tranny
I don’t know but I think this truck has been repainted lets say about 10 years ago and used as a daily driver and sat outside for that time, it looks just to good to be true to perfect and the fact that the interior and exterior and firewall paint don’t match “again to perfectly” I think that the guy is a flipper, not that there’s any thing wrong with that I’m just saying still a nice truck I think $18,000. is to much
My dad had a couple 58s and 59s I wasn’t old enough to drive but couldn’t wait to ride with the crew,just loved the the huge steering wheel and white knob on the column shifter Would love to own one now