I will lead off with the fact that this truck is absolutely spectacular and that I would have it in my driveway no matter if it is a nut and bolt perfect survivor or something else entirely. Feeling the need to say that was brought on by looking at the photos of the truck and wondering if the thing is actually what the seller is saying it is. Is that tilt bed really from ’55 or was it added later? Outside of the valve covers, the engine looks like it should because it is a 1955 265ci small block. It has the oil filter cannister up front, the exhaust manifolds that dump in the right places, and the little carb on top. The seller claims that the truck was used by a very small car dealer in the middle of the country and in 60 years of living, it has only accumulated 56,000 miles and it looks like it. The quality and lack of wear on the sheet metal is a sign of a pampered life for sure.
The only big hang up we have is the tilt bed. As best we know, Grove manufacturing was the first company to produce tilt bed car haulers and they began production in 1959. It is possible that this truck was converted to one at some point after its 1955 birth but we’re not sure. The seller does not give the name of the company who made the bed. We will say that it looks like an early example of the hydraulic ramp truck because the operator has exactly two handles. One makes the bed tilt and one likely engages the winch to haul the car onto the back of the truck. The wooden deck on the tow body also leads us to believe that this thing has some miles on it.
The 265″ engine is hooked to a four speed manual transmission which is, in-turn attached to a two speed rear axle. We’d still guess that highway speeds are 55 at best. Now for all the claims and dramatic language used in the sales ad, the asking price is $8,499 bucks and we think it is right on the money for this rig. Even freaks like me don’t lose sleep on the originality of trucks like this. Personally, I love examples that have original powertrain and drive components because they offer an authentic driving experience for the owner. I’d love the cruise the town in this rig no matter how original or “rare” it is.
Got any ramp truck experts out there?
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THIS GREAT TRUCK AND WHY WE WANT IT SO BAD –
You didn’t notice the valve cover bolts are not staggered? so at least the heads are not original (59 was the first year they used straight across bolts). And that seat…ugh. But yeah, it’s a neat truck and wouldn’t take much to fix it up original like. 🙂
That truck probably has 156,xxx not 56xxx miles. The bed was likely a Tilt Grain & Utility stake side when built.
A lot of non-original stuff under hood, it’s been threw at least one color change.it has a internal regulator alternator. Cheep and wrong hoses, ect.
No one caught the fact that the charging system has been upgraded. In ’55 it should have has a generator, not a alternator. The truck in no doubt a clean ’55 chevy with really low miles, but 100% original? I don’t think so.
See my post above yours, see the line “internal regulator alternator”.
That denotes it’s now a 12 volt system with an internal alternator controls. The old Generator regulator box is on the firewall, yet the pictures show the harness near it has been hacked.
10/10 would use for intended purpose and not give a shit about originality