BangShift.com 1959 Chevy Apache 3600

This NAPCO Equipped 1959 Chevy Apache 3600 Is A No Nonsense, Go Anywhere Rig

Talk about cool, this truck is ice cold! A three quarter ton, 1959 Chevy Apache is a cool truck but when you add in the fact that it is also a factory NAPCO truck, the interest level (and price) shoot right up. It is kind of important to note that this is a factory NAPCO truck because over the years pickups of this era have been converted and while there is nothing wrong with that, there’s something neat in having a rig that is just as it was when it left the plant. One of the biggest “tells” that this is a factory NAPCO installed truck is the fact that the second cross member that holds the transfer case is riveted to the frame. Converted trucks tend to have this piece bolted in.

While the four wheel drive is original to the truck, the paint has been redone over the years and the engine has been swapped. Gone is the original 235ci inline six and in its place is the far more robust 292ci “tall deck” six that powered trucks from the later 1960s all the way into the 1980s. We have had great experience with these engines and while it is not “original” to the truck, it is the coolest engine that they could have swapped in to keep the “old truck” vibe.

The percentage of two wheel drive trucks to four wheel drive trucks sold today is insanely lopsided. The four by four trucks outnumber the 2WD by huge percentages and that was the exact opposite of how things worked when this truck was sold new. Remember, NAPCO systems were installed on these trucks because Chevrolet never really deemed it necessary or financially viable to design their own four wheel drive system, rather choosing to use NAPCO stuff as a cheaper alternative for what was seen as a very niche market. Typically trucks like these were sold to the forest service, mining and oil companies, or some other sort of business application where the terrain was going to be really rough.

With their high riding stance and heavily arches springs, there trucks are not exactly the smoothest riders in the world and the limited experience we have inside them left us thankful that we weren’t taking one across the country but that’s missing the point. This was as rugged and gnarly a truck as you could throw down on in 1959 and this one has weathered the decades nicely with a little help along the way. Awesome rig!