Question about Chevy trucks

[Hemi8me]

I have seen some of you using th term "AD" when referring to some 50's Chevy trucks. What years does the "AD" apply too and what does the "AD" mean?

I like the 1954 trucks. this is why I keep running into this.

 

[PhilJohnson]

47-55 are AD trucks. There are some early 47s that aren't AD trucks and some late 55 series the aren't AD trucks either.

Couple Examples:

47 Art Deco Truck

47 AD Truck

55 AD Truck

55 Task Force

Hope that clears up the confusion

 

[bob w]

Advanced Design

 

[Blue Eyed Devil]

It stands for "Advanced Design". It is the name that Chevrolet & GMC applied to their trucks from '47 second series to '55 first series.

 

[Hemi8me]

Thank you for clearing this up.

 

[Shea Laking]

Some more info:

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_design

Everyone's got their "favourite," The Advance Design series of Chevies is mine, followed by the first gen S-Series (see avitar for my current POS ).

I believe I read somewhere that GMC called this series of truck "New Design," but some quick-and-dirty searching didn't net me any confirmation of that tonight. I may have read it once on the following site:

www.stovebolt.com

Hope these are helpful.

Regards,
Shea

 

[Hemi8me]

After reading that, I think I like all the Chevy trucks from the 50's.

 

[Shea Laking]

I don't think General Motors has built a truly "UGLY" truck, until the current generation of Silverado/Sierra. Even the oldies that "might" be considered "fugly" (the 1960, with the wierdo rocket-pod hood) has a "truckload" of charm simply for it's uniqueness and relative rarity.

That being said, the A.D. from 1947-1953 (two-piece windshield, five-bar grill) is always gonna be my favourite. They're just too darn cute AND cool!

Regards,
Shea

 

[Hemi8me]

Did the 1954 have a different grill? And would the older grills fit on the 54?

 

[Blue Eyed Devil]

Did the 1954 have a different grill? And would the older grills fit on the 54?

Yes it did, as did the '55 first series. The older grilles will not fit directly without modification.

 

[Hemi8me]

Thanks. I have seen some pictures of 53s with the 54-55 grill. Got a little confused.

By the way, my buddy just had his father in law give him a 49. Lucky for him.

 

[Willowbilly3]

The AD is one of the best trucks Chevy ever built, attested to by the number of them still around. I like the ones with the wing windows and push button door handles the best, 50-53 I think. I have put quite a few miles on those old dipper 216s, a real joy to drive. By contrast the 55-59s are junk, probably the worst body of any truck chevy ever made. The 60-63 is another favorite because of the torsion bar front suspension, never warmed up to the hood on a 60-61 though.

 

[Hemi8me]

The AD is one of the best trucks Chevy ever built, attested to by the number of them still around. I like the ones with the wing windows and push button door handles the best, 50-53 I think. I have put quite a few miles on those old dipper 216s, a real joy to drive. By contrast the 55-59s are junk, probably the worst body of any truck chevy ever made. The 60-63 is another favorite because of the torsion bar front suspension, never warmed up to the hood on a 60-61 though.

I like the likes of the 55 to 59s too. I just need to drop the hammer and buy something.

 

[Willowbilly3]

55-59 are very stylish and easy to look at but the doors are junk. Nothing you can do to make them close decent and the window winders were a bad design, not unusual for the window to fall into the door when you slam it.