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    Mustangs are usually not candidates for sleepers, because everyone knows Mustangs have plenty of power from the factory for their lightweight bodies. This example, owned by Mike Skiles, looks like an original ’69 Mustang, but as soon as the engine is fired, that logic is thrown out the window.

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    CHEVY TRUCK ID: 1934-1972

    A Pictorial Reference Guide for the Early Years

    Author

    Picture of Dave Hill

    Dave Hill

    Story & Photography

    Truck Enthusiasts and Their Keen Eyes

    Most of our truck-building buddies can date and identify any truck you can come up with from any distance, even from deep in a grove of trees and clear across a fairground show-’n’-shine. That’s what truck guys do: They enjoy identifying a rusted old fender at a swap meet. At the other end of the spectrum are non-truck guys who think that C10 or F-100 are row numbers at the local stadium parking lot.

    Understanding the Basics of Truck Identification

    We figured that our average reader may fall somewhere in between these two and would enjoy an easy lesson on how to distinguish one truck from another, especially when there are those trucks that are nearly identical from year to year except for a few minor changes. Also, this pictorial provides us another way of getting more of our readers’ trucks into the magazine. We’re starting with the early Chevys, 1936 to 1972, because there are so many to show and they have similarities. Plus, we had to cut it off somewhere. In upcoming issues, we’ll show you the rest of the Chevy years, as well as the Fords and Dodges, and a grab bag of all the others.

    Keeping This Article for Future Reference

    You may want to keep this article for future reference, not only for yourself but to show other people as well; everybody will wonder how you know so much. It will also come in handy when someone tries to describe an old truck they saw for sale somewhere—the one that gets away or otherwise turns out to be something like a ’78 Datsun longbed.

    A Nod to GMCs and Final Thoughts

    We’ve also included several GMCs, which usually differ only in the grille and emblems. After reading this, you’ll wind up being as dialed in as the guy standing next to you at that next event. You’ll avoid the embarrassment of calling a ’64 a ’65 and having to say something like, “Oh, well, this must be Canadian.”

    1934-’36: Hoppy Hopkins, Los Alamitos, California, ’36 Chevy. This style was introduced in 1934 and was similar to the Chevy passenger cars, making the ’34-’36 popular with street rodders today.
    1937: Dale Lambert, Camarillo, California, ’37 Chevy. Chevy stayed with the passenger-car look even for the new ’37 trucks. Note the vertical grille bars.
    1938: The ’38 was the same truck but looked quite different because of the horizontal grille bars and the lower top of the grille.
    1939: Kevin Enns, Ventura, California, ’39 Chevy. The year 1939 brought an end to the passenger-car resemblance, which would not return until the El Camino in 1959.
    1940: Heavier grille bars and a more elaborate nameplate mark this truck as a ’40. The rest was the same as the ’39.
    1941-’46: This new style spanned the war years, which all but eliminates 1942-1945. They all looked the same except for chrome or painted grille bars. This was the last series to use a crank-out windshield.
    1947-’53: Bob Cosio, San Juan Bautista, California, ’48 Chevy. You’ll see a lot more of this series than any of the earlier years, because America was starved for trucks following the war. Chevy couldn’t build these fast enough to satisfy the demand, which is why they all look the same. Many were handed down through the years to people who still own them today.
    1954: Rudy Rodriguez, Santa Maria, California, ’54 Chevy. When demand slowed, the styling finally got a shot at a facelift for the well-worn design. Grille teeth had been popular for several years on cars, so the trucks got them.
    1955 Series 1 GMC: Rich Herrera, Milpitas, California, ’55 GMC. GMC got the same deal as Chevy did, selling ’54 models as ’55s, at least for part of the year. But they didn’t get the ’54 restyle and looked the same as the ’48.
    1955 Series 2 & 1956: Joe Espineta, Orangevale, California, ’56 Chevy. The ’56 models changed only in hood emblems. A small number of Cameos featuring a fiberglass bed were made
    1957: Dave and Linda Hill, Pueblo, Colorado, ’57 Chevy. Yep, it’s our own, previously of Atascadero, California. The year 1957 brought more passenger-car influence with a mild facelift. Sculptured chrome was the new trend at Chevy, and the trucks got a mouthful, plus the raised spears on the hood. With its 283 and great-sounding granny-geared four-speed, this near-stocker makes an excellent everyday utility vehicle.
    1958: Dean Schumacher, Santa Maria, California, ’58 Chevy. The Chevy stylists did a nice job of adapting the four-headlight look to the ’57 front end, giving it a tougher look. Also new for 1958 was the choice of a fleetside or stepside bed.
    1959: Jason Moe, Pearblossom, California, ’59 Chevy. Ditto for the ’59 Chevy, with the exception of different emblems. This is one good-looking truck.
    1960: GM was good at keeping the truck design up to date with cars, and the all-new commercial vehicles introduced in 1960 showed a direct kinship to the ’59 Chevy cars, with the dropped headlights and oval air intakes above them.
    1961: After the major series change from 1959 to 1960, the ’61 just got new inserts in the hood intakes and concentric bars in the grille opening instead of horizontal. As was the case every year since the late ’30s, the hood emblem was changed.
    1962: The unusual-looking hood air intakes lasted only a couple of years, making it a little easier to identify the early-’60s series, but also easy to swap hoods and confuse future buyers. The smooth hood (with no emblem) has a new grille that totally changed the look of the front end.
    1963: With no air inlets or emblem on the hood, there was nothing else to change but the grille for 1963. Don’t ever be fooled by a painted versus chrome grille and bumper on a Chevy truck of any year. That difference just denotes Standard or Deluxe trim.
    1964: Once again, only the grille changed, but it was a significant change, as we’ll see in 1965. Note that the headlight bezels changed from round to square.
    1965: Maybe it was because the styling department was engrossed in the upcoming ’67, but they never changed the grille again, and as far as we can tell, the ’64, ’65 and ’66 trucks were all the same.
    1966: Don’t get confused, as we did, but this truck and the previous two all had window cards identifying their correct year, and sure enough they all look alike. So, if you like the ’64s, you’re sure to like a ’65 or ’66, because you won’t be able to tell the difference, and it makes it three times easier to find one.
    1967: For many GM truck fans, the ’67 was the best-looking Chevy pickup ever produced. It featured the same crisp-edge styling as the Chevy cars of the era. The simplicity of the horizontal grille openings gives the truck a lower and wider look, which improves the lower you go.
    1968: The ’68s were the same as the ’67s and started a new trend at Chevy: model-year changes were done only every other year. Note that the sculpted opening around the grille is trimmed with chrome on this Deluxe model but is uncovered on the ’67 Standard. Watch what happens to it in 1969.
    1969: A completely new grille created a whole new look for 1969. Note that the stamping is larger than the ’67-’68 and covers the sculpted grille cavity opening. We can’t prove it, but we’re sure it’s still under there.
    1970: Can’t decide between a ’69 and a ’70? Don’t worry, because they’re identical. The ’69 we shot came with the same Bow Tie on the hood. Those driving lights in the bumper are non-factory.
    1971: One of the most popular Chevy pickups, the ’71, got a new egg-crate grille. There was a time when every hot rodder in town drove a black stepside with deep big-’n’-littles and fine-sounding pipes. These trucks were hot!
    ­­­­Again, 1972 was a duplicate of the year before. So there you have it—a complete pictorial of all the early Chevys. We hope this helps you find and identify your dream truck.
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