1955 Chevrolet 3100 Is a Corvette-Spec Pickup Truck Going for Porsche Taycan Money

There’s a reason we ask that question, of course, and that reason is the 1955 Chevrolet 3100 we have here. As far as we could learn, it’s a truck as simple as they get, with no glorious past ownership, no race track records, and no significant impact on someone's life. And yet it costs $200,000. Well, to be fair, $199,990, but the $10 difference is just a psychological pricing hook, so we’ll ignore it.

No, this is not the price someone paid for it at an auction somewhere. We know in such cases excitement often overcomes common sense, and that’s how we end up with mindboggling figures paid for cars. No, that’s how much someone is asking for the truck off the lot.

First, some background. You all know the Chevrolet 3100. You know it not because it’s still being made, but thanks to a solid fan base that exists today, and the many custom garages out there that keep the nameplate alive and satisfy the fan base through various interpretations and transformations.

The 3100 is perhaps the most notorious model in a series of trucks Chevrolet once called Advance-Design. The series came into the world in 1947, as the bowtie carmaker’s first true major line of vehicles made after the Second World War. Like all similar families do today, it comprised the whole spectrum of trucks, from the ¾-ton 3600 to the specialized Thriftmaster. It’s the baby of the group, the half-ton 3100, that still lives on today.

Benefitting from a sort of cult following in some circles, examples of the breed get repeatedly remade and resold, almost always increasing their value by a notch, at times with more fury than the muscle cars of the 1960s. So it’s no wonder more often than not these things end up costing more than a brand new German luxury car – and we’ve seen that not long ago, with the green 1951 Chevrolet 3100 "Baby Hulk" that’s selling for $79,995

The one we have here is green too, a different shade called Lime Rock Green, but it costs more than twice that. Hell, it’s even pricier than the most expensive electric Porsche money can buy right now, the Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo (the Germans are asking $190,000 for that one).

Is it worth it? For someone it probably is, especially given how this is not a stock 3100, but a heavily modified one, wearing all sorts of Corvette gear and cues.

The paint we mentioned earlier, Lime Rock Green, is sometimes seen on select examples of America’s sports car, and that’s the first clue there’s something special about this truck. Then comes the modded body - although it retains the general lines of the original 3100, it embraces the aggressive styling of aftermarket trucks, with no trim to give it away, an evil-looking grin up front, made possible by the radiator grille, and piercing eyes coming in the form of the two round headlights.

The body rests on a Roadster Shop REVO chassis, making the connection to the ground through one-off wheels shod in Continental radial tires. Behind them, there’s an independent suspension system (front) and Baer braking hardware on all four corners.

It’s the engine of the 3100 that makes it a Corvette-spec build more than anything else. Sitting under the hood is an LS3, not in its stock configuration, but pumping out 550 hp. That’s possible thanks to a series of changes made by Don Hardy Race Cars, which fitted it, among others, with Borla Performance intake, stainless steel headers, and a Holley EFI. A four-speed automatic transmission ensures all those horses are handled properly.

It sometimes happens with custom builds to look great on the outside, but utterly disappoint when opening the doors. That’s not the case here: just look at the attached gallery and you’ll see an exquisite interior, worthy perhaps even of the Porsche Taycan we used for comparison earlier.

Sporting black leather throughout, the bucket seats are separated by a center console that blends into the triangle-shaped dashboard, but not before making room for cupholders and an LCD screen. A three-spoke steering wheel is pointed at the driver’s seat, with Classic Instruments gauges hidden behind it.

One of these gauges, the odometer, reads just 111 miles (179 km) of use since the build was completed, but none of them shows how much work went into making this truck: 5,000 man hours, as per the truck’s seller, Texas-based Earth Motor Cars.

It’s these guys who are asking $199,990 for this Corvette-spec Chevrolet 3100 from the 1950s. Is it too much? For most of us, sure, but as these things often go, someone out there will probably find it a bargain.