This 1949 Chevy is mounted on my late father's 1995 Chevrolet S10 frame, the frame was shortened, exhaust rerouted, the engine overhauled, new clutch and such for the 5 speed tranny, and new motor mounts. We scored an intake for the 6cyl Vortec motor which allowed us to install a Quadrajet carburetor and get rid of all the computer crap....

First we started taking measurements of the existing wheelbase, firewall to radiator, and overall cab width. Jim said we need to shorten the frame by 8 inches, which we did.

We left the steering wheel, pedal assembly and gauge panel intact, but cut all sheetmetal away and off of the frame. We also left the fuel filler and tank in its original location and decided to not move it, but make it fit the new body instead.

The 49 body hung suspended from trusses of our raised carport, this made it easy to roll the frame under the body to mark our new body mounts. Of course it took more than once to get all measurements and mounting plates welded in place.

We created our "lowered" look by channeling the frame. As you can see, the original bed height is obvious in this photo. We finished welding our mounting points and made templates for the upcoming floor installation, and yes, there is an access panel for the notorius Chevy fuel pump located in the tank, this is noticeable later on in the floor picture...

It did take some mighty fine redneck engineering to make this motor appear like it was made for this truck application...

Jim is a genius when it comes to fabricating, his imagination is beyond belief! 

The intake was scored at a local scrap yard after looking for the perfect one, it came off of an Astro van from the late 80's! It sports a new Quadrajet carburetor, now we eliminated all the computer run crap and miles of wiring that came along with it... 

Jim remounted the pedal assembly to the "new" firewall, got all the wires run, made sure the steering column and steering wheel could stay the same...

Jim also reused some of the existing S10 gauges, retrofitted them into the old Chevy's instrument panel, installed a new speedometer and fit the original transmission tunnel onto the "new" floorboards...

As you can see, the wheel wells were made to fit, and then welded to the body. A new floor installed and painted with a concrete like substance which is used to weatherproof boardwalks and such. The flooring was then painted as were the metal of the walls.

The access panel for the fuel pump is visible in this picture, the opening was taped off so that the concrete would not obstruct the opening of the panel which lays flush on the floor. 

We installed a new 2 piece windshield and then mounted the awesome Fulton sunvisor!

The glass is flat and fairly easy to install. New rubber makes it just so much better!

These pieces are a bit pricey, but well worth it! New glass and gaskets for both doors were fairly easy to install, just hard to find!

It's really nice to have glass in the rear doors!

We modified this mid 80's Chevrolet truck seat to fit the Panel truck. The seatframe was narrowed, the foam cut to fit and the mounting tracks modified. The seat will slide forward and back and also flip backward to access the neat little compartments under the seat!

Yes, that is a real cow hide! I made our seat cover out of a complete hide and also covered the ugly plastic hinge covers out of the hide.....

We custom sewed and installed a suede headliner, fabricated and covered in leather the front and rear door panels, then covered the wall panels in faux fur!

This is the finished project!

Nice driving 1949 Chevrolet Panel Truck.

It is a great feeling when people come and look at our truck at cruise ins and car shows! It is even more fun to pass cars on the interstate going 80MPH!