World War II ended in 1945, and General Motors was anxious, as were the other automotive companies, to get back to the business of selling cars and trucks.
Switching from making critical war material like aircraft engines, bombers and tanks to making cars and trucks was a big job. All the manufacturers started building basically vehicles styled and even made for the 1942 model year. And business was good as the public had not been able to buy new cars or trucks for almost five years. There wasn’t any real hurry to bring out newly styled models, as they were selling the prewar models faster than they could manufacture them.
Most of the postwar models hit the streets until 1947. In the Chevrolet truck world, the 1947 3100 series of trucks were introduced that June. “Advanced Design,” they were called, with the headlights set in the fenders, much wider than before. The grill was made up of five horizontal bars, a style used through the 1953 model year. The cab was wider and longer, making it a realistic three-person cab.
There were two cab models, with the standard cab having a single rear window and the more deluxe model having a flat rear window in the cab’s center and two curved windows that added visibility for the driver. New option features included a fresh-air heater and defroster system and an in-dash radio. The list price for the half-ton model was $1,087, or about $14,715 in today’s dollars.
The truck was powered with the “Thriftmaster” 216.5-cubic-inch six-cylinder engine rated at 78 horsepower. The available transmission was either a three- or four-speed, floor-mounted manual. The emergency brake was also floor-mounted to the right of the floor shifters.
Chevrolet used the Advanced Design for all their truck models, including their cab over-engine, panel truck and Suburban models. They had a standard color or featured color used in their advertising and promotion materials called Forrester Green, although other colors were available as a no-cost option. The bed of the truck consisted of nine wooden planks, and “Chevrolet” was stamped in the tailgate but still painted the color of the truck.
This issue’s featured vehicle is a Forrester Green 1947 Chevrolet three-quarter-ton pickup truck owned by Charlie Crothers, of San Ramon. It has been in his family since it was new, now about 76 years. Originally owned by his Uncle Frank, who used it as a farm truck, it was Uncle Frank’s daily driver and had accumulated about 200,000 miles when acquired.
It probably would have been in better shape if it had been a “barn find” vehicle, but this was sort of a “pasture find” truck. Crothers bought the truck for $200 in 1994 and hauled it home from Paso Robles, near San Luis Obispo. It had long been retired, spending years outside exposed to nature, and there were dents in every single panel on the truck.
The “before restoration” pictures showed a vehicle ready for a junk yard, and had the truck not been in the family since it was new, it may have ended up in such a place. The owner did virtually all the restoration work himself, including painting it inside and out, mostly in his own garage. He figures based on the amount of time he spent working on the truck, he earned about 50 cents an hour.
The truck has new, period-correct upholstery that Crothers bought as a do-it-yourself kit. All the stitching is done, but it has to be fitted and attached with metal fasteners. He has tried to keep this vehicle as original as possible, and it still has the original 90-horsepower six-cylinder engine and the nonsynchromesh transmission, which means a lot of double-clutching. Vacuum windshield wipers were standard, and the owner has chosen to keep them.
He has been working on this truck off and on since he acquired it. Crothers had an unpleasant restoration lesson in 2020, when he learned it’s probably not a good idea to place a used linseed oil rag (used to treat new wooden planks for the truck bed) on plywood in the direct sunlight.
“It was a very hot day, the linseed oil rag was stretched out (near the garage), and it was spontaneous combustion,” he explained.
The result was an accidental house fire.
“It didn’t do too much physical damage to the house,” he said, “but the air conditioner sucked the smoke into the house, resulting in significant smoke damage.”
Crothers and his wife got to vacation in a hotel for about seven weeks. Of course, he has no plans to sell his truck. He mostly drives it around town and to local car shows. Longer trips can be challenging. A stiff suspension, a top speed of about 45 mph and no creature comforts can make for a long travel day.
Have an interesting vehicle? Contact David Krumboltz at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To view more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles or to read more of Dave’s columns, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.
