As a dyed in the wool, washed in the blood "car guy", rarely does a light duty pickup truck get my attention and here's that rare exception. While I still find little to oogle over with this 1954 Chevrolet 3100, I do appreciate that someone does find it not only oogle worthy but worthy enough to sink enough money into it as to ask 20,000 cold hard dollars for it. Y'see, old trucks are just like old cars in that it's best to buy one that's already restored. Even a rust bucket bought at next to nothing will run you easily twenty large to get it into decent shape. That's not counting the initial out lay of cash for the purchase, mind you. Seems to me the person selling this truck is attempting to recoup some of that expense. Yes. It's for sale. Email me if you're interested. It looks flawless and very fresh to me.
Naturally, what something will cost is relative to what someone is willing to pay for it. Some scoff at the Little Red Corvette my wife and I bought ourselves for our twentieth wedding anniversary present to ourselves a couple of years ago. Especially when it's in less than perfect shape and is less than the most appreciative model years being a 1977. "At least it's not a 1980 to 1982", I bark back at people that I smugly dismiss as being jealous. This sixty year old pickup truck at twenty grand? Sheesh. What's more, that's twenty grand for a brutally crude appliance that makes our Corvette seem like a Ferrari 458. That color is horrible too. My iPhone 4S camera doesn't do it's sickly, almost military grade of bland blueish grey justice. It's shiny too just like a new hammer. Is it a coincidence that this thing is in the parking lot of a hardware store?
Now, many times I'll stop and fumble all over myself taking pictures of an old car and burst with excitement about getting back home to write it up. Just as many times with vehicles like this that I not only have no emotional connection to, there was literally nothing like this where I grew up, little less even liking, I struggle to put words on paper but I find the serendipitous juxtaposition of my Corvette with the truck making for some interesting if not striking conjecture. For instance, is it me or is it hard to fathom that the truck is a mere 23 years older than my Corvette?
My thirty seven year old Corvette seems almost impossibly modern compared to the ancient lines of the truck let alone how much more advanced it is mechanically. Sorry, that would be a lie. It's really not mechanically more advanced than the truck but if you take a 2014 Corvette and put it next to a 1991 Chevrolet pickup, you're not going to have this same physical juxtaposition. I doubt that there are many people who would look at a light duty 1991 Chevrolet pickup truck, one that's in pristine condition, mind you - haha, good luck finding one of those in Cleveland - and realize that it's twenty three years old let alone acknowledge that the 2014 Corvette is "the new one". Car and truck design having hit a symbiotic plateau somewhere in the last twenty five years making everything that's recently old looks fairly timeless. What's really come a long way is what's underneath. Cars and trucks today are just fantastic.
I know enough about trucks to tell you that this thing is not for me on any level whatsoever. It's that utter ambivalence that helps me empathize with people who find no interest in my vehicular pursuits. In fairness, I do appreciate some of the finer design details on this truck that are little more than fluff, though. I also wonder how the hood on this thing opens without getting dented by this deliciously delicate rear view mirror.
This wooden bed back here is of nicer lumber than my kitchen floor. Was it this way when new? Seeing how much attention to original detail in the restoration there is I have to imagine that it did. Why is it that all of the boards are not of the same width, though? See? That's why I'm not good with pickup trucks; I can't help but wonder why there's any design ethos on something that's supposed to be nothing if not practical. I also find dainty toilets to be equally as perplexing.
Make him an offer. I won't even charge a finder's fee.
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