1951 Chevrolet 3100 5 Window Restomod

Description

If you've been planning on building an old Chevy pickup, you should probably save yourself the usual aggravation and just buy this one instead. Featuring a 1951 5-window cab, an awesome color combination, a fuel injected V8, and some choice luxury options, it's exactly the way you'd do it for about half the price of building your own. What's holding you back?

The Advance Design pickups are probably even more popular today than when they were new, and with the market's new-found interest in vintage haulers the last decade, they're getting harder to find by the day. The best ones preserve all that's great about the original design and simply tweak a few design cues and update the hardware underneath, and they totally nailed it with this one. The matte black paint keeps it looking simple, as if it could still head out into the back 40 and get the job done, and I think that's a big part of the appeal. Finish quality is decent overall, with a clean bodywork and paint that is about right for a commercial vehicle. It's all steel, no fiberglass reproduction parts here, and the fit of the various pieces and parts is quite good, but if you want to show it at some point, you might opt to finishing off the edges and jams a bit to match. Or leave it as-is, it definitely still has a killer street presence the way it looks now. Keeping the horizontal chrome grille was a great call, giving this truck an old-fashioned look that's even more appealing with the subtle modifications like the deleted bumpers and roll pan out back. The warm, red wooden bed is surrounded by walls with black spray-on bedliner material and those classic taillights are now filled with blue-dots for a classic hotrod look.

Bright red and tan are always a great choice inside a black vehicle, and the handsomely appointed interior of this pickup is light years ahead of where it was originally. That might be the factory bench seat, but it's wearing a newer two-tone seat cover that uses pleats for a proper period look and a custom center console that houses a Lokar shifter, a couple cup holders and speakers waiting to be powered by a new stereo. Custom door panels match the seat and help soften the interior a bit from the original steel pieces, and the carpets are plush although they could use a little detail. Custom gauges from Dolphin fit into the original holes in the bright red dash, so no cutting was required to get that trick look and a banjo-style steering wheel with a thick wood-rim is a comfortable amenity for the driver. A modern A/C system was discreetly tucked under the dash and painted red to match, although it needs a service to blow cold again. It's not overly finished or fully refined, but it's very comfortable and features an upgraded look and feel to this 5-window, making this the kind of truck you're going to have a hard time resisting on the next sunny day.

A later-model 350 Vortec V8 slots right into the old truck's engine bay, giving it a far more useful powerband for today's traffic than the original six. Topped by a Vortec Spider electronic fuel injection system and augmented with a serpentine belt system, a fresh alternator, a thick aluminum radiator to keep it all cool, plus a few chrome and polished pieces, it looks slick and runs and drives superbly. Upgrades like power steering and power front disc brakes, not to mention newer control arms up front and lowering blocks in the rear, make this Chevy feel far more modern and capable. A modern 4L80E 4-speed automatic spins a heavy-duty 10-bolt rear end, which is an easy fit in the back of this vintage pickup. Mid-length headers feed a custom dual exhaust system with throaty Flowmaster mufflers was recently installed and the entire undercarriage is very tidy. Obviously, the stance was modified a bit, and it really hunkers down over those bright Rev wheels wrapped in staggered 215/45/17 front and 245/45/17 rear performance radials to complete the resto-mod look.

A slick truck with the right features, why would you build when you can buy today and start having fun immediately? Call now!