Why the 1951 Chevy Pickup is a Popular Restoration Project

We’ve all experienced that lost love, or the one that got away. Some times are easier to ignore than others. Occasionally, you’ll feel perfectly content with what you currently have, considering it’s significantly younger and includes a variety of updated features. Other times you’ll just lay in bed at night reminiscing, thinking of what could have been.

Just to avoid any confusion, we’re talking about vehicles right now… I don’t know what you took out of that above statement. For me, it has to be my 2000 Chevy Cavalier. Sure, the gold car didn’t turn many heads, and the aging engine occasionally betrayed me. However, it was as dependable as a first car could be, and I had plenty of great memories in that tiny sedan. I was looking forward to it fixing it up following my freshman year of college, and if I was lucky, maybe my parents would let me drive it back to school.

When I got home, I was greeted with disappointment. My gold Chevy, which had just been sitting in my driveway less than five months ago, had vanished. Poof, gone. I didn’t even get to say goodbye. My parents said the engine was failing, so they sold it to a mechanic who was planning on giving it to his wife.

“So you’re acknowledging that it still works?!” I argued. They countered that only a professional could save that vehicle, and maybe they were right. Still, I wonder what could have happened had I been given one last summer with that car.

There are plenty of drivers who share this same feeling. Some go their entire life with that feeling of sorrow and regret. Others, like Mike Saenz, a car lover from Lake in the Hills, Illinois, do something about it. He had an opportunity to purchase a beloved vehicle, and he jumped on it. Let’s check out his story and maybe it will inspire you to seek a specific car at one of the Chevy dealers in Albany, New York…

Following his graduation from paramedic school, Saenz decided to splurge on a little congratulatory present: a 1951 Chevy pickup truck. The car lover hoped to keep the vehicle for as long as possible, and like many of us, he dreamed of someday having a vintage Chevy truck that actually worked.

“I had my career set, a new marriage and a great truck,” he said.

A child soon came along, and that put Saenz’s truck on the backburner. Before long, the truck was gone, and so were Saenz’s hopes of keeping the pickup. However, in 2013, the enthusiast decided to search for his beloved 1951 truck. Of course, finding the exact vehicle was next to impossible, but Saenz was perfectly content just finding the same model.

“Family life had settled down a bit,” he said. “I was ready for a new project.”

Saenz soon found the vehicle in Missouri, and he quickly made it his. The pickup was actually more decked out than anybody could have expected, as it was in it’s all-original condition, including the familiar “well-worn” green paint. The truck also included several unexpected parts, including a Chevy S-10 pickup chassis. While the vehicle was updated to an extent, the new buyer understood that restoring the vehicle would certainly be a project.

“Many things should have gone wrong but didn’t,” he said. “As soon as I was home I started working on it.”

Saenz wanted to keep the pickups original metal and familiar look, but he made sure he revamped everything under the hood. This included replacing a “tired Chevy motor” with a new V8 engine. As Avery explains, Saenz also “cleaned up the firewall, filling some unsightly holes and hiding most of the engine wiring.” Furthermore, he added some late-model Chevy Blazer hubs to the S-10 chassis and brakes, which help improve the braking system while also making for a smoother ride.

Other additions included the installation of “classy whitewall tires,” a windshield visor, an original steering wheel (which was adapted to a tilt column) and a new bench seat. He also added a U.S. military footlocker to his pickup’s bed. The truck lover was adamant about using “period-correct accessories,” and the search for these parts required “tons of hours wandering swap meets and junk yards.”

While Saenz was familiar with his previous Chevy truck’s history, he had considerably less information on his second truck. He acknowledged that he often thinks about who originally owned the truck, and what the vehicle had gone through.

“I can’t help but think what exactly (has been) the truck’s history,” he said. “I like to imagine who else has looked out through over the steering wheel other than me.”

Believe it or not, the 1951 Chevy pickup is actually a popular project among car enthusiasts and restorers. Take Georgia resident Reverend Harvey Henderson, who had planned on restoring his rusting 1951 Chevy 3100 prior to his death in 2008. When his children were deciding what to do with his property, they recognized that they couldn’t get rid of the vehicle. Instead, they updated the truck as a Christian mission project, and the Master’s Men Disaster Response Unit,  “a national ministry of the Free Will Baptist Church that responds to communities recovering from disasters” as Peggy Ussery of the Dothan Eagle described it, is currently using the truck.

In St. Louis, Dave and Julie Vinnedge restored an old 1951 pickup as a tribute to their son Phillip, a marine who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010. The son and father had planned on restoring the vehicle when he returned home, but that project was delayed indefinitely. The couple now uses the truck as a way for people to recognize their foundation, the Fallen Hero’s Dream Ride.

“I processed grief rebuilding the truck and Julie does the same by showing it,” Dave told Pat McGonigle of KSDK.

Finally, take the story of Tony “Beaver” Vargas. When he was serving in the Air Force in 1995, he came across the old Chevy pickup, but as Hector Leyva of LowRiderMagazine.com explained, it only featured a “bare cab, frame, and engine.” What followed was a 20-year journey that would send Vargas all over the Southwest, and the enthusiast eventually completed his project. Vargas’ truck ended up featuring a 1954 234ci Chevy inline-six engine, a lowered stock suspension, and 15-inch wide-whitewall Firestone replica tires.

“I had a vision of what I wanted to cruise,” he said , “and so I was off to find everything myself.”

No matter what the intention is for restoring an old vehicle, there’s no doubt that it’s a worthwhile endeavor. As you can see, enthusiasts dedicate a large portion of their life to the project. Sometimes that project is delayed for some time (like in the example with Saenz), or sometimes it’s picked back up due to a variety of circumstances.

We’ve also learned that the departed, beloved car could be yours again! Of course, it may not be the exact car, but if you put enough effort in, you could surely find an identical make and model.

Or maybe you prefer the simpler path, which is purchasing a vehicle via a dealership. That’s fine too, and you should start your search at DePaula Chevrolet in Albany, New York. The helpful staff will hook you up with your ideal vehicle in no time!