Jimmy Buffett's Conch Cruiser - 1947 Chevrolet Model 3604

To us car wonks, the best part of the video for Jimmy Buffett's 1974 hit song "Come Monday" is his "Conch Cruiser" which was a 1947 Chevrolet Model 3604. 

New for 1947, Chevrolet's Advance Design truck was the company's first major all-new postwar truck design. Chevrolet introduced it in June 1947, several months before Ford introduced its new F-Series. With integrated headlights, a wider cab with seating for three and a broad horizontal grille, it was a radical departure from the upright, prewar-style trucks it replaced.

Mechanically, though, Chevrolet didn't exactly reinvent the wheel. These trucks remained conventional body-on-frame pickups and used Chevrolet's familiar inline-six engines. From 1947 through 1953, light-duty Advance Design trucks were powered by the 216-cubic-inch six. The larger, more modern 235 became standard in 1954. There were no diesel engines or four-wheel-drive systems offered on these light-duty pickups from the factory. You get stuck, you get your mules and horses to pull you out. All-electric vehicles and hybrids, meanwhile, were strictly the stuff of science fiction.

Jimmy's truck had many "car-like" features that the old design did not. There was a front-opening hood instead of the side-opening arrangement used on the previous trucks. The windshield was now fixed rather than the old crank-out type, and the wipers were mounted on the cowl instead of up on the roof. The door hinges were concealed, too.

Inside, Chevrolet had made the cab wider and more comfortable, with more head- and legroom and enough room for three people across the bench seat. There was thicker padding and insulation to make things quieter, a large glove compartment, an ashtray and even an optional in-dash radio.

Imagine that.

These came in three "series". The "3100" half-ton, "3600" three-quarter ton (like the Conch Cruiser) and the full-ton "3800". The weight capacities referring to the truck's "payload", a vehicle's capacity it can safely carry within its truck bed and passenger cabin.

Bed lengths varied according to the series. The 3100 had a 78-inch bed, the 3600 an 87-inch bed and the 3800 a 108-inch bed. Again, the Conch Cruiser was a 3600 series, the 3604 was a model designation for 3600's with a Stepside pickup bed.

Shame the Conch Cruiser was eventually crushed into a metal triangle at Carlos' junkyard after it was impounded. I'm sure that when it was compacted, many a story and inspiration for a song went along with it.

And I'm sure Jimmy and his truck have since been reunited.