Photo: Barret-Jackson
As soon as the Second World War ended, carmakers went back to the drawing boards to come up with new designs for the vehicles they made. After all, they now had both the experience of the battlefield to tell them what works and in what conditions, but also a whole new set of customer needs as the world started to put itself back on track.
The post-war years meant a lot of things for the auto industry, but for Americans it marked the rise to power of a new breed of machines known as pickup trucks: vehicles with room for two in the front and a lot of cargo in the back, that could be used both for the casual Sunday drives, but also for some serious lifting.
For GM, the first major redesign of its vehicles in this category was the Advance-Design series. Introduced in 1947, it led the Chevy charge until 1955, when better things came along. Larger and stronger than the AK Series that preceded it, Advance-Design was not appreciated enough to last beyond the arrival of the Task Force Series in 1955.
Maybe it would have held on a little longer, had the lines been a bit closer to this custom build here: a Thriftmaster variety of the Advanced-Design series customized beyond words.
While going for the classic look of the truck family it belongs too, the Thriftmaster, which goes by the name Fiddy-One, employs all the tricks of the custom world it is part of. It can be driven, for instance, at a normal distance from the road below, but it can also be lowered very close to it for show purposes.
To be able to fit the AccuAir air-ride system that allows for this change in height, the body of the pickup was welded on a custom chassis. It then got wrapped in Porsche Graphite Blue Metallic, a color that is offset at the back, in the bed, by dark gray boards, and closer to the road by bronze American Racing wheels.
Under the hood sits a supercharged 6.0-liter V8 GM engine that sends an undisclosed number of horses to the road by means of an automatic transmission. Inside, leather is the material of choice, sprinkled around the Vintage Air climate-control system and the custom instrument panel.
The Fiddy-One is for sale, and it will go to the highest bidder as part of a Barret-Jackson online auction that is taking place this month.
For GM, the first major redesign of its vehicles in this category was the Advance-Design series. Introduced in 1947, it led the Chevy charge until 1955, when better things came along. Larger and stronger than the AK Series that preceded it, Advance-Design was not appreciated enough to last beyond the arrival of the Task Force Series in 1955.
Maybe it would have held on a little longer, had the lines been a bit closer to this custom build here: a Thriftmaster variety of the Advanced-Design series customized beyond words.
While going for the classic look of the truck family it belongs too, the Thriftmaster, which goes by the name Fiddy-One, employs all the tricks of the custom world it is part of. It can be driven, for instance, at a normal distance from the road below, but it can also be lowered very close to it for show purposes.
To be able to fit the AccuAir air-ride system that allows for this change in height, the body of the pickup was welded on a custom chassis. It then got wrapped in Porsche Graphite Blue Metallic, a color that is offset at the back, in the bed, by dark gray boards, and closer to the road by bronze American Racing wheels.
Under the hood sits a supercharged 6.0-liter V8 GM engine that sends an undisclosed number of horses to the road by means of an automatic transmission. Inside, leather is the material of choice, sprinkled around the Vintage Air climate-control system and the custom instrument panel.
The Fiddy-One is for sale, and it will go to the highest bidder as part of a Barret-Jackson online auction that is taking place this month.
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