With Chevrolet’s relatively recent return into the medium truck segment beginning to gain some steam, we thought it was a fun exercise to go historical video hunting and find some stuff from Chevy’s past in the same market segment. This 1963 film fits the bill perfectly. What you are going to see is the dealer sales training film for the 1963 model year of medium and heavy duty trucks that Chevrolet was offering. Now, while today’s rigs are neater, faster, and more efficient, these old dogs were tough bastards and they were built to survive some rough and tumble treatment. As the former owner of a 1966 C50 and a 1968 C50 I can tell you that they are robust and about as complicated as a claw hammer.
My favorite look for these trucks and the ones that certainly did not survive the test of time in large numbers is the tandem axle dump truck. They look so gnarly and cool and frankly outside of period photos, I have never seen one in the flesh. You will learn about the various chassis advancements made and options offered, the engine and drivetrain combos as well are highlighted here.
There’s just something about these trucks that I love at base and I think it is the fact that they use the standard pickup cab with the cooler front sheetmetal to finish the look. That and vocational trucks are always neat because they are designed to do a job and not much else. Coddling a driver was not part of the design consideration for these monsters, trust me!
