This month we feature a very special ¾ ton pickup. Now, maybe just a little nicer than when it left the factory 70 years ago! Owned and personally restored (from the bare frame) by Glen Black of Lacey’s Springs, Alabama. Few truck owners can say that their pickup has been in the same father and son family over 50 years!

It was first ordered new by his grandfather many years ago for use on his farm. It was later sold to Glen’s mother’s father in about 1972 (what a coincidence) when Glen was 14 years old. At that age it was easy to bond with this pickup for fun driving around the family farm. He even, with no driver’s license often drove the back roads to reach a nearby field or another person’s home. It was his family’s farm work truck and was used for about any hauling need. The pickup was never sold and later given to Glen as he became much older. This was because Glen had a strong attraction to it from his early years.

Not too bad for a 67 year old farm truck (just before the restoration).

He has rebuilt several other older cars, however, the ¾ ton continued to be in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more he considered it was a candidate to make it look new. He would make it nicer than when he first saw it when he was 14.

Glen began to look for part sources. He did not want to find himself caught in this project with an emergency need for some rare item.

Once the parts supply was under control, the restoration began. After down to the bare frame, it was like putting together a big model kit. Glen spent over 3 ½ years to get it done during his extra time.

All starts with the rebuilt frame. The ¾ ton’s foundation.

Door bottom could not be saved. A good replacement is attached.

The finished product you now see is like it was in 1953. Most everything is standard equipment. No GMC extras on this pickup! Brewster Green was the factory base color. Additional colors were added special.

Other factory “standard” features of the ¾ ton pickup: 8’ bed, wider 2” wide rear leaf springs, and low geared differential so a smaller cubic inch engine could pull heavy loads.

Ready for the Brewster Green!

Paint complete on the cab.

Correct engine color. I Engine with required attachments.

Updated Hidden Extras

Really Interesting:

Many of today’s owners of ¾ and 1 ton pickups tend to NOT use their original split rim wheels during their truck’s restoration. They are on a hunt for non-split rim GM 8 bolt wheels that can secure the correct hubcaps.

So difficult! There were a few larger GM delivery trucks in the early 1970’s that had these qualifications but long ago were discontinued by GM. Almost all of these commercial trucks have been discarded after 50 years.

Glen had the same fear of split rims but really wanted modern wheels that would secure hub caps for the early 8 bolt wheels. He noticed some new trailers came with 8 bolt wheels! Then he discovered something great. These trailer wheels would fit his ¾ ton, but of course, they had no attached hub cap clips.

What now? After much thought and detailed measurements he took a chance on one wheel. Here is an example of pure “American Ingenuity”. He removed the hub cap spring clips from the one split rim wheel, (1/2 ton clips will not fit) drilled very small holes in the new trailer wheel. After the clips were bolted in place the big event occurred. Good surprise! The old clips held the hub caps to the new trailer wheel! See the GMC in Glen’s photos above. They look great! The 16" trailer wheels Glen bought were from: etrailer.com   

No stainless on dash. 1953 was sold during Korean War shortages!

Completed 8’ bed.

Increasing ¾ Ton Highway Speed

GM used low differential gearing on ¾ and 1 tons so their smaller engines like this 228 cubic inch 6 cylinder could pull much heavier loads than a ½ ton even on steep hills. The ratio is 4.57 to 1. The engine rotates 4.57 times for each time the wheels make one rotation in high gear.

For this ¾ ton, Glen knew this pickup would never be given heavy items to haul. It would be so much better to change it from a 4.57 ratio to 4.10 gearing in the differential.

Glen had heard this was a relatively easy improvement as follows:

  • Remove the rear differential inspection plate.
  • Slide out the two rear axles about 3 inches.
  • Disassemble the u-joint so that it is not connected to the drive shaft.
  • The complete assembly can now be removed from the truck.
  • Now for the hunt to make this happen! Find a 1967-72 Chevy/GMC pickup with a factory automatic transmission. They have the highest ratio of all this differential series, 1946 through 1972. Shown above.
  • Do the same removal as above. The ¾ ton pickup will have about a 20% improvement on highway speed and the engine operates at a lower RPM.

The end to a very successful restoration!

     You can contact Glen Black at glenstools@gmail.com