One of the interesting things about vintage medium and heavy duty trucks is that you don’t see a lot of them with original specialty bodies on them. Wreckers, big rigs, and dump trucks all normally retain their “working gear” but box and delivery trucks usually lose their equipment and get made into haulers or flatbeds. We’d hunt down and wound the person that did anything to this truck that did not include the awesome, 1954 constructed, beer delivery body that resides on the back of this 1953 Chevy Budweiser delivery 5700 COE truck.
Originally used by a beer distributor in Long Beach, California, this thing delivered untold numbers of kegs and bottles back in the day. Delivering beer is tough work. I worked in the delivery industry for several years right out of college. First I was driving a truck and running a route (we did 5-gallon water bottles) and then I graduated to driving a desk but I spent lots of time on the road and delivery guys all like to chat when they see each other in the field. Lugging cases and kegs around will get you a strong back quickly and wheeling the truck around is part of the job. Today’s beverage delivery bodies and trucks are designed to be way more helpful to the driver than this classic rig was but they don’t look nearly as cool.
The big question here is what should be done with the truck. Part of me thinks that it should be put back to the condition it was in while roaming the streets of Long Beach in the 1950s but other parts of me see it with a 4BT Cummins in the front, 22.5 wheels on the corners and laid out with air bags at a show with a refrigerated keg in the back and a couple of taps on the side.
The most incredible part of this truck is the electrical system which looks like the most insane spaghetti bowl every installed under the hood of a truck. The body and cab look to be in great shape, preserved by the dry California climate. The fact you can still see the original Bud logos in various places also gives us the itch to just mechanically get the thing right and clear over what is there, but replace the chrome and other accent pieces, polished to a brilliant shine.
I’d love to get my meathooks on this thing!
Here’s the text of the ad in case this big boy sells quick!
1953 RARE AND UNIQUE CHEVY COE “CAB OVER ENGINE” SNUBNOSE BUDWEISER BEER DELIVERY TRUCK; MODEL 5700; ORIGINAL LONG BEACH CALIFORNIA BEER DISTRIBUTOR NAME STILL ON TRUCK WITH ORIGINAL BUDWEISER PAINT. TRUCK BUILT IN 1953 WITH BEER DELIVERY BOX INSTALL IN 1954; ORIGINAL TAGS STILL ON BOX FROM 1954. HAS INTERNATIONAL ENGINE. DIFFERENT DASH GAUGES INSTALLED OVER ORIGINAL. EVERYTHING ELSE IS ORIGINAL INCLUDING EMBLEMS AND CHROME PIECES. VERY UNIQUE PROJECT TRUCK. $3,800.00.
Way cool, I’m surprised the beer company isnt snatching that up to restore it. There is a 47-53 ton and a half in Clarkston WA with a 7up box on it, yellow wheels and green cab. I drool everything I see it.
I’d like to have that old tach box on the fire wall…..and the truck too!
I’d restore it and paint it the original blue.
A Budweiser/Inbev distributor needs to restore this old work horse.
BS mobile command center