(Words and photos by Greg Rourke) – Spotted this 57 Chevy pickup at the local home improvement labyrinth. At first, I hated it. I don’t like the wrong bed on a pickup. Sticking a Dodge bed on an International pickup is much worse, but I generally feel it shows a lack of effort. Sometimes on a beater pickup it’s done out of necessity, so I can give those a pass. However in this case, something disturbing happened…it kinda grew on me. Clearly effort was put into this one. Dig the metalwork on the back of the cab to blend into the lines of the 88-98 bed. Nice work. I can look at vehicles that are well executed, but not my cup of 90 weight and appreciate the hard work and craftsmanship that went into them, even though I would not have built it that way. Perhaps the owner of this pickup just really liked the lines of the later bed and wanted one to complete his vision.
So…your opinions? Go or no go?
I was going to give my usual verdict on anything Chevrolet, but the more I look at the photos the more I like it!
All it needs is a new paint job in say candy red and some larger wheels and tyres and then it would be as close to perfection as anything with a bow tie on it could ever get. What would be the icing on the cake is a Coyote motor under the hood and a subtle “Powered by Ford” sticker on the tailgate…
No.
Like wearing a work boot on one foot and a sandal on the other.
I’d rather walk.
I mostly like it. If they’d matched the tail lights to the era of the cab I think it would be terrific.
Not for me, and for what its worth the late model stepside beds look better on early trucks with the rear/bumper step deleted
Never cared for swapping newer beds into older trucks. They did make an effort to blend the bed to the cab but not my cup of tea.
Wonder if it’s a cab swap? 50’s cab on a late model chassis, perhaps the one the bed came from?
I’m thinking cab swap too. It works better than it should, but still looks a bit off.
I like it! The only two changes I would make are……
#1-Period correct tail lights just as” Whelk” said above.
#2-Get rid if the tacky “Chevrolet” on the tailgate and have it etched in like the tailgates of the ’60s and ’70s.
I give it a go!
No sir, I don’t like it.
no
I’ve seen this mod a number of times around town. I can think of 3 different trucks that are running a late model bed….One yellow, red and silver. I don’t care for it. I mean it doesn’t look terrible…but it doesn’t look right either. I assume that because trucks were used as trucks in the day that the beds were used up forcing the builder to look outside the box. Frankly I would rather use fiberglass parts if they are available than do put a new steel bed on an old truck.
No.