Classic Chevy & GM

Chevy and GM Truck Repair & Restoration by City Classic Cars

16548 Stuebner Airline Spring, Texas 77379 is home to some of the coolest Chevy Trucks being repaired and restored by Sabra Johnson and his team of skilled classic car technicians.

Chevy and GM Trucks are "Top-Dog" in the Classic Community?

Chevy Trucks out sell Ford Trucks it seems 10-1 in the Classic community. NADA and Kelly blue book have a high, mid and low for classic car values. A Chevy often sells for higher than its condition level and sells fast due to the high demand and trucks for old school Chevy Trucks.

It started with a simple idea: a few car chassis fitted with hand-built beds to help carry materials around a booming car factory. Before long, millions of Chevrolet pickups were woven into the fabric of a fast-growing country. Chevy trucks tackled the toughest jobs on farms and in the fields; hauled tools and lumber to the burgeoning suburbs; and carried families and friends into and out of the wilds for well-earned vacations.

“The legacy that Chevrolet trucks have built over the last 95 years is important to protect,” said Don Johnson, Chevrolet’s vice president of sales and service. “The best way for us to do that is by delivering the capability and technology our customers have grown to expect, in both our current trucks and in our next generation of full-size pickups."

Here are some Chevy truck highlights:

NW Houston City Classic CARS Car Service

The 1918 Chevy Model

Two four-cylinder models marked Chevrolet’s formal entry into the truck market for the 1918 model year. Both were cowl chassis units that came from the factory with only front sheet metal. It was customary at the time for buyers to obtain a wooden cab and cargo box or panel van body to suit their purposes.

Priced at $595, the half-ton Light Delivery cowl chassis was essentially a body-less Chevrolet Four Ninety car equipped with stronger rear springs. Mounted with a pickup box or panel body, it provided an agile and economical light-delivery truck for small businesses popping up across America in the boom after World War I.

The second model, a one-ton 1918 Chevrolet Model T (the T presumably stood for truck), cost $1,125 without a body. It was based on the FA-series car and was built on a truck frame that was longer and stronger than the half-ton model. A 37-horsepower engine gave the larger truck the power to haul heavier loads at a governor-limited top speed of 25 mph.

The 1930 Years

The simple cowl-chassis models were replaced in the 1930s by factory-built pickups that initially came with roadster and closed bodies. Chevrolet bought the Martin-Parry body company in 1930 and quickly began selling steel-body half-ton pickups complete with a factory-installed bed.

At the heart of these new pickups was a new Chevy inline-six-cylinder engine, which soon earned names like “Cast Iron Wonder” and “Stovebolt” for its rugged design. First produced in late 1928, the new engine had a modern overhead-valve design. Inline-six-cylinder engines became a mainstay in Chevrolet cars and trucks for decades to come.

By the mid-1930s, half-ton pickups with factory-installed steel boxes became the lifeblood of the truck market, with brands like Mack, Studebaker, Reo and International Harvester competing with Chevy, GMC, Ford and Dodge.

For 1937, Chevrolet introduced new trucks with streamlined styling that many still consider to be the best designs of the era. The ’37 also featured a sturdier body and a larger and more powerful 78-hp engine, among other improvements. A 1937 Chevrolet half-ton pickup was sent on a 10,245-mile drive around the United States, monitored by the American Automobile Association (AAA). Carrying a 1,060-pound load, the truck averaged 20.74 mpg.

1947 Chevy Trucks

In early 1947, Chevrolet introduced its Advance Design trucks, the first completely redesigned GM vehicles to appear after World War II. Owners of earlier pickup models had asked for a roomier, more comfortable cab with improved visibility and a wider pickup box. They got it all.

Designers sought to make the truck’s styling clean and attractive. Headlamps were now set wide apart in the front fenders, and five horizontal bars made up the grille. The design was produced with few major changes from 1947 through 1953, and it continued with a new front appearance into early 1955.

During the Advance Design trucks’ run, there was a measurable shift among Chevrolet customers to trucks. Before WWII, the production ratio of the brand’s cars to trucks had been about 4 to 1. By 1950 – the year Chevrolet became the first brand to sell more than 2 million vehicles in a single year – the ratio of cars to trucks was closer to 2.5 to 1.

The 1955 Model Year Chevy Trucks

By the mid-1950s, the post-WWII boom was under way, and customers were looking for style and performance even in pickup trucks. In mid-1955, Chevrolet introduced the all-new Task Force trucks, which shared design language with the 1955 Bel Air, and also offered the new small-block Chevy V-8 as an option.

Also new to the 1955 truck line was the Cameo Carrier, a high-styled gentleman’s pickup more at home in a trendy suburban California bungalow driveway than on a farm or in a factory yard. The Cameo Carrier was produced only through 1958, but it set the stage for new generations of well-equipped personal-use pickups, including the El Camino, Avalanche and Silverado crew cab.

A major engineering advance with tremendous future implications was announced for 1957, when a factory-installed four-wheel-drive system became available for the first time on select models.

Chevrolet continued to offer the Task Force trucks with annual updates through 1959. During 1958, a new slab-sided Fleetside box option provided an alternative to Chevrolet’s traditional step-side pickup box.

1988 and Beyond Chevy Trucks- A New Generation

Pickup trucks had been slowly migrating from the work site to the suburbs, and the 1988 Chevrolet C/K pickup accelerated that trend, bringing the aerodynamics, electronics and materials that had revolutionized the automobile over the past decade to the full-size pickup. Extensively tested to make sure it met the high bar for dependability set by previous Chevy pickups, the new truck also featured advanced aerodynamics for improved fuel economy, including a narrower cab for lower drag, flush side glass and a sleek front end with integrated lamps.

A full range of powertrains was offered, from a 4.3-liter V-6 through a 6.2-liter diesel V-8. To enhance durability, the trucks featured extensive use of galvanized steel for corrosion resistance, and a full welded frame with a boxed front section for strength and rigidity. Civilized driving characteristics and styling moved full-size pickups closer to being the family vehicles they are today.

Why Choose City Classic Cars to Build Your Classic GM or Chevy Truck?

City Classic Cars has proven experience in handling the challenges with hard to find parts on the Chevy and GM earlier generation trucks. City Classic Cars has developed a network of vendor partners such as Art Morrison Frames and Chassis, to Vintage Air Performance Air Conditioning Systems to Dakota Digital Dash to Roush Engines and many others to produce Chevy and GM Restomods. We built our name on restoring and hot rodding Ford Trucks.

City Classic Cars accepts Chevy and GM Truck restoration projects from across the United States at our Chevy and GM Truck Restoration facility located at 165438 Stuebner Airline Road Spring Texas 77379. Call Carol today at 832-717-0774.