rare trucks

[oldno7]

I stopped by an old friends house the other day and was checking out his original 59. His has fleet written on the firewall but its actually a stepside. Wasn't for sure what the fleet meant. So that got me thinking what were some of the rare features that were on some of these trucks I'm usually with the 67-72 guys and dont no much about the 50's trucks. I'm gonna try and gets pics this next weekend

[Keith Seymore]

It might mean that it was a "fleet" order, that is, one truck out of a batch of many.

Like Bell Telephone, or Grand Trunk Railroad (or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) - organizations that order dozens or hundreds of trucks at a time for their use.

Was it an odd color or paint scheme? Often that is the case with fleet orders.

K

[oldno7]

The truck is a medium greem, I think its the sherwood green color. Did the trucks all have dual headlights or singles i think i have seen both on these but not sure it doesn't hav the apatche badges. He had said something on the lines of only a few hundred made but i don't believe it im going to get the vin and decode it, and some pics to post i know you guys on here are very knowledgable and will know right away if its odd, and or rare. Like i said i dont no much about these years so we will c

[Mac the Yankee]

It depends- all 59 Chevrolet pickups had dual headlights, but some GMC had single.

[mr48chev]

I'd have to believe that Keith nailed it with the fleet order concept. It was probably ordered for some company's fleet with a certain color and certain options or lack of options. The "rarity" would be that the outfit that ordered it was the only one ordering those trucks optioned out that way with certain things on it.

[_Ogre]

gmc had this fleet option that had a basic stamped grill and one headlight
it was a very basic stripped down truck, not sure if chevrolet had the fleet option

as for rare? 59 chevy introduced ac in trucks, i've never seen a factory ac 59 truck



but if you look on craigslist, most old truck listings say rare some wheres in the sales listing
it usually bumps the price up $2k

[58CameoAZ]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

gmc had this fleet option that had a basic stamped grill and one headlight
it was a very basic stripped down truck, not sure if chevrolet had the fleet option

as for rare? 59 chevy introduced ac in trucks, i've never seen a factory ac 59 truck



but if you look on craigslist, most old truck listings say rare some wheres in the sales listing
it usually bumps the price up $2k

I think they should of made that grill detachable so you could use it as a barbecue Grill and cook Hamburgers on it!

[OrrieG]

I have never seen one Chevy badged. Oddest part is that it has a Chevy dash and gauges but the bezel has GMC where the Bowtie goes on Chevys.

[58CameoAZ]

Originally Posted by OrrieG

I have never seen one Chevy badged. Oddest part is that it has a Chevy dash and gauges but the bezel has GMC where the Bowtie goes on Chevys.

I thought that was odd too, about the chevy dash with the GMC script were the
bowtie would be! There is a guy who has one in my little town that uses his for his contracting business, it is a Bare Bones Truck for sure!
Allen

[oldno7]

ogre, the grill is the same as my buddy's. I think you guys are correct as far as the fleet option goes. I'm still gonna put up pics when i get them. The dash does have a chevy logo on it. thanks guys

[OrrieG]

Here is a photo of the bezel and interior. Pretty spartan, no dome, heater (probably southern truck), or radio.

[oldno7]

This is what i found out so far, this is from old gmc truck .com. U have to go to the gmc technical stuff section then down to the 1955-1959 fleet option trucks.

Beginning in 1955, gmc offered a stripped down version of their 100 series trucks called fleet option. The fleet option was developed to satisfy the demand of thrifty fleet owners who needed an errands truck such as airports, large facilities, etc
The fleet option was only available in light duty trucks(100-250)and the utility option was available in 300 and 370 series. This is an extremly rare and often misunderstood model, most people see the fleet option grille and incorrectly assume that it was an owner repair of the damaged original. The fleet option truck is more rare than any other factory made style and series gmc bar none. The number of surviving fleet option pickups is extremly low.

They used a chevy truck style V shaped guage cluster and dash in s series and a conventional gmc dash in y-t series. instead of the standard two panels with round gauges, and a gmc logo in the bottom center of the gauge cluster. The interior was devoid of any extra trim. The parklights were basic" generic" backup lights from other gm vehicles and the grilles were stamped sheet metal with no gmc logo or insignia. The only gmc insignia were on the stock pickup body tailgates, and the top of the hood. It was applied to a chevy hood and not the gmc hood with the normal inset for the gmc badge.

So this leads me to try and find out how many of these trucks are members have

[dwcsr]

All fleet option trucks had a single headlight 58,59 included, All fleet option trucks had a Chevy cab and dash and badged either Chevy or GMC.

[mr48chev]

Probably not many as most fleet truck had pretty hard lives unless the company they belonged to demanded that they be well cared for. As you said these were the plain Jane trucks that were ordered and sold in batches and turned over to drivers who often drove them pretty hard.

[Mac the Yankee]

Originally Posted by dwcsr

All fleet option trucks had a single headlight 58,59 included, All fleet option trucks had a Chevy cab and dash and badged either Chevy or GMC.

Wow- did not know that... sorry for the wrong info I posted earlier!!!

[_Ogre]

gmc's version of an april's fools day joke?

gmc fleet trucks were stripped down chevy trucks; chevy hood and chevy dash must be gmc's way of slumming it

[OrrieG]

As for rarity I have seen at least three in SW Idaho, but we had a lot of logging and mining companies here and Morrison Knudsen that bought in bulk.

My neighbor made good money after he retired moving their trucks and employees private vehicles around the country for MK. He said they would buy like 20 trucks at a time a C or K20 modern version of the fleet series. Came in their corporate yellow with no trim, plain black front bumper, commercial back bumper with intregal ball and pintle hitch, all chrome was in painted black finish. Bench seat radio delete, heat only. Came wired for overhead em lights. Some came with spot lights too. His biggest challenge once was towing a sea going sailboat from the east coast to Portland OR. Involved an oversize permit and he had to select the route based on overhead clearance so he spent a lot of time on rural roads. They also bought a lot of Hot Shot type trucks too.

[oldno7]

Yeah there were prob thousands of these trucks produced, for alot of companies. I bet 80% + are gone due to crashes or just being beat to death by the guys driving them because they didnt really care about them. They are different looking and probably not the first pick of the litter, but i like them for the fact that they are still an old gmc truck and not a camaro.

[Ratpin]

I know where there is one of these in decent shape just about 6 miles from my house. It's sitting on a guy's acreage with about 60 other complete chevy trucks of various years and models. He let me walk through and look at everything one day and that fleet option truck stuck out. I'm sure he would probably sell it too. He did not know the rarety of them until I told him. He had thought somebody converted it to single headlight.

[oldno7]

Ratpin did you happen to get any pics of that lot or could you, everyone would love to see a herd of old trucks

[Ratpin]

Originally Posted by oldno7

Ratpin did you happen to get any pics of that lot or could you, everyone would love to see a herd of old trucks

Funny you ask. I love the art of old cars and stuff so much that I took my sister out there the following weekend who is a professional photographer. I will have her send me some of the pictures and post them here in a day or so, although I know we did not get any of the '59 fleet option truck.

As many cool old trucks as he had, he had just as much cool old antique farm equipment which I also really dig.

[G&R's57GMC]

I rescued this GMC fleet order cab to use for mock up.

Yes it may have had a heater and there is a block off plate over the dome light hole. It has the Chevy dash and a GMC ID plate on the hinge pillar.

[OrrieG]

Here is one that shows up at a lot of the local shows. Notice the white hood emblem. he also changed out the clear turn signals for amber and mirror has been changed.

[58CameoAZ]

Orrie I was told by an old Timer that you didn't even get a Driver side sun visor unless
you ordered it as an up grade back then! they were just a very basic stripped down version.

Still Think ya could Flip Hamburgers off that Grill!
Allen

[OrrieG]

You are right, my truck only has the drivers, not even a hole for the passenger.