{"id":2810,"date":"2008-09-17T02:38:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-17T06:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/2008\/09\/advance-design\/"},"modified":"2010-12-30T12:00:57","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T17:00:57","slug":"advance-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kitfoster.com\/carport\/2008\/09\/advance-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Advance Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1953<\/a><\/p>\n

When I was 24 I bought my first house. It was old<\/a> and needed much work, so the first tool I bought was a truck. It was my first pickup, a 1953 Chevrolet Series 3100 half-ton, a type once ubiquitous and in 1968 still fairly common. Chevy called the style “Advance Design.”<\/p>\n

It was introduced in 1947, succeeding a model<\/a> built since 1941. Advance Design trucks came in all sorts and sizes: pickups<\/a>, panel trucks<\/a>, dump trucks<\/a>, rack body trucks<\/a>, canopy express<\/a>, the SUV granddaddy, Carryall Suburban<\/a>, even cab-over-engine<\/a> trucks<\/a>. Some had special bodies for delivery work<\/a>. If you’ve ever been inside one you’ll remember it – a very tasteful interior, quite deluxe<\/a> for pickups in that era, though very, very few were equipped with radios back in the day.<\/p>\n

An Advance Design was not only my first truck. It was the first truck I ever drove – on the road. I was all of 14, and though I’d been driving in fields and in the back woods for years, I’d never driven on the road – my father wouldn’t let me. But when a neighboring farmer asked me to help him drive the cows to a distant pasture, and gave the choice of walking with the cows or driving ahead to open the pasture gate, I took the truck in a heartbeat. Ah, the lure of the open road and the thrill of doing something illegal. I loved every minute. The one thing that surprised me was that once up to speed the truck, a 3\/4-ton long bed 3600<\/a> like this one, wandered all over the road. It probably needed tie rod ends. I’ll always be nostaglic about Advance Design Chevys.<\/p>\n

The last season of the pure Advance Design was 1953<\/a>. By that time it had acquired push-button door handles. For 1954<\/a>, there was a bolder grille and a one-piece windshield. Then in mid-1955 there was an all-new Chevy truck<\/a> and the Advance Design was history. You don’t see them much anymore, even at shows<\/a>. Although they turn up once in a while<\/a>, they seem less popular with collectors than F-series Fords<\/a>. Perhaps they were all just worked to death<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I kept mine for three years, then sold it to my next door neighbor when I bought a ’57 Chevy pickup from my brother-in-law. Although the truck is gone, we still have the house<\/a>. For some reason, though, I don’t seem to have photographed my Advance Design, so I had to borrow a picture of one. The CarPort expresses its appreciation to Albion Baucom<\/a>, whose uncle has a ’53 3100<\/a> almost identical to mine, except for the stainless grille – mine was painted. Check out Albion’s pickup page. He’s got a ’52 Advance Design<\/a> himself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was 24 I bought my first house. It was old and needed much work, so the first tool I bought was a truck. It was my first pickup, a 1953 Chevrolet Series 3100 half-ton, a type once ubiquitous and in 1968 still fairly common. Chevy called the style “Advance Design.” It was introduced….<\/span>
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