1936

For this month’s feature truck, we present a very special and extremely rare pickup. Few have survived after almost 90 years! It was the year that GMC, the big truck branch of General Motors, introduced their first ½ ton pickup. Here is this special truck, a 1936 GMC ½ ton pickup. Maybe this 1936 is why there are light weight...

It’s the height of our country’s Great Depression! GMC dealers, the big truck branch of General Motors, were experiencing very slow sales. Many went out of business, while others were surviving by also selling used cars, trucks, farm machinery, and offering to do mechanical work on most any vehicle. Thus, in an attempt to survive, GMC developed a new product...

This month our feature truck article could be called a “three in one”. We don’t usually put several together but in this case they all are from the same era. Their proud owner is Jim Foltz of Long Beach, California. A true older car and truck enthusiast over many years. He has owned vehicles such as a restored WWII military...

Here is a page from an 80 year old automotive magazine. It appears the General Motors Truck Division made a slightly different truck for the country of Mexico. Seven dealers in Mexico are listed. Whether the trucks were just assembled in Mexico is unknown. It appears the Oldsmobile trucks are almost like the 1936 Chevrolet in the USA with the...

Our monthly feature truck is an 80 year old regular driver! Born in late 1936, it found a great home in mid-Missouri about 10 years ago. It was found in Western Kansas where the low humidity slows rust on metal left outside. To keep it looking much like it was found, the remaining Brewster Green paint was untouched and the...

We just had to make an exception! Normally our monthly feature is to help show our readers what the new truck was when they first left the dealers showroom. However, this unrestored 1936 Chevrolet low cab ½ ton changed our direction. In our 35 years in business we have never seen an 80 year old work truck so unaltered. Yes...

Where did they all go? Sold in high volume to small businesses for local neighborhood deliveries, these little panel trucks served their purpose well. Merchandise stayed out of the weather and theft exposure was greatly reduced. It has been over 75 years since the last of the series came off the assembly line but here are 10 important factors are...

To add better night visibility to all Pickups, Big trucks, Suburban’s, and panel trucks, General Motors offered a 4 inch diameter 1940-1953 Accessory GM Reflector as a dealer installed accessory.  With the single small factory taillight, seeing of these vehicles on the road could be difficult especially if their one bulb burned out.  To help correct this problem GM offered a...

Though some things were shared between GMC and Chevrolet trucks, General Motors made sure many items remained very different during the early years.  GMC preferred few things to be similar to Chevrolet. Their customers needed to see an almost stand-alone truck with the higher price of the GMC. One very obvious difference is the change in the taillight and bracket. There is...

What a rare occurrence! At the 2011 America Truck Historical Society Convention in South Bend, Indiana, we found both a 1936 and a 1937 restored GMC truck with the correct grill --- each at different booths. You can go to every truck show for many years and never see even one. Therefore, we just had to get a few photos...

General Motors was coming out of the wire wheel era by 1936. This as well as wood spokes had been a standard with most cars and light trucks since the beginning at the turn of the century. The new stamped steel wheels on Chevrolet 1/2 tons were easier to produce, and was less susceptible to side damage on rough terrain...

WILLY THE 36 CHEVY I found my 36 Chevy pickup in the 1980's on highway 41 somewhere south of Chicago. It was running but had a big crack in the block, so to drive it I had to carry a bucket of water with me. My love of the 36 pickup goes back to 1948 when I was four and...

During the early years, most roads were not paved and the quality of tires was far from that of today. Thus, tire repair was very big business. It was necessary for vehicle manufacturers to provide the easiest access to the often needed spare tire. Part of driving a car or truck was knowing how to change a tire. On the...

During the great depression of the 1930's, almost half of the automakers ceased business forever. Most remaining manufacturers modified their vehicles and advertising techniques to appeal to a very conservative buyer. With limited disposable income the few people willing to purchase a car or truck were very careful. To help boost or at least hold sales steady, the Chevrolet Division...

The truck (a 1936 1/2 Chevy high cab) was the very first truck that Mr. Hess himself drove around Woodbridge, NJ in the early days. In those days it was not gasoline he hauled, it was primarily heating fuel oil. The truck remained in service up into the early fifties at which time it underwent a partial overhaul. When I met the truck it had spent the last twenty something years in the HOVIC (Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corp) plant in the US Virgin Islands being used as a prop.

Just imagine a truck designed strictly for work duties that has survived almost 70 years! In 1936, our country was still feeling the effects of the "Great Depression". When you spent your money for a 1 1/2 ton truck, it had to pay it's way. Therefore, few big trucks like this 1936 have survived. They were worked from the first day of delivery!

During the 1930's and 1940's most of our Nation’s roads were dirt and gravel. Paving had been underway for many years but there was still a long way to go. To protect engine components from a constant attack of dirt, GM designed metal stamped panels that attached to an area where the engine block and oil pan connect. This slowed...

The term artillery wheel is a nickname adapted from a scalloped type wheel often seen on US military vehicles in World War I. The similar appearance at a distance to GM's scalloped steel wheels quickly gave them the name artillery. On GM trucks, this style was first used during 1934-36 as a stock six bolt 1/2 ton 17 inch wheel...

The big news for GMC in 1936 was the introduction of their first 1/2 ton pickup. Though GMC shared cabs with Chevrolet trucks, the visual exterior differences were mostly noticeable in front of the hood. The GMC grill was totally redesigned and did not resemble the Chevrolet truck. This unique grill was modified little between 1936 through 1938 but the...

Early GMC trucks changed their hood side emblems about as much as Chevrolet, however there is no similarity in appearance. The following shows the GMC changes over 14 years. 1935-36   Anodized silver aluminum with a semi-flat black background. (In 1936, GMC entered the light truck market and carried the emblem from larger trucks of earlier year) Right and left are the same...

The 1934-36 half ton Chevrolet truck body style always placed their 17' spare in the right fender. Even the Chevrolet car normally used the right side when only one side mount was added. In mid 1936, GMC entered the ½ ton market for the first time. This light truck shared most all sheet metal and chassis components with Chevrolet except...

Some beginners tend to place 1936-46 cabs in the same category. Don't do this! The 1936-38 and 1939-46 are a totally different design. Very little interchanges. The early style provided excellent building blocks for the new design 1939-46 trucks.

This early glove box lock assembly has a weak point that makes it difficult to find complete. Its die-cast vertical pointer is held in place by a small steel tension spring. After the truck sets outside abandon several years the spring rusts, breaks, or otherwise looses its tension. This allows the pointer to fall out and the glove box lid will no longer stay closed.

It is quite surprising to realize that for 20 years auto and truck makers did not make a simple needed change to their vehicle front fenders. Somehow major car and truck companies picked 1936 as the year it would be introduced. Did they all get together and make the decision, was it government encouragement, or ____? The addition was side...

It is so unusual to find an unmolested mid 30s truck! When this all original 21,000 mile 1937 GMC appeared at a recent New England truck show, we had to take notice having never seen the correct installation of the small 3/8” bead cab windlace on an early model. Our camera did some recording.

Three times during Chevrolet truck history there were mid-year body changes. This was in 1936, 1947, and 1955. These changes involved very few modifications to the bed and mechanical components, but it was the cabs that received the near total facelifts.

Since the introduction of GMC's first 1/2 ton pickup in 1936, there has always been a sharing of most sheet metal parts with Chevrolet trucks. This was done mostly for economic reasons. However, when possible, each of the two brands tried to make inexpensive changes to be different than the other. Some specific examples of this occurred during the Advance...

After seventy years, authentic car and truck restorations are very difficult. With the limited survival of the 1936 GMC (the year of the company's first ½ ton) this truck is especially difficult to restore just right. Some literature has survived but what we see is usually in black and white. The question is the grill housing color of this rare...

A one of a kind truck! Yet, it is displayed regularly and is a part of local parades and drives.

I bought my 1936 GMC T-14 from the second owner in Arizona in 2003. It was restored in 1989 by the original owner who bought it in June of 1936 and the truck has been in Arizona since new until I bought and had it shipped to Florida.