1949 Chevy Panel Van Restomod - Fuel-Injected 350, Vintage Air, Mustang II

THE CAR

This is a 1949 Chevrolet panel truck that someone rebuilt from the frame up to be driven, not trailered. It keeps the Advance-Design body everyone recognizes and replaces nearly everything underneath it with modern hardware, so you get the look of a 75-year-old delivery truck with the manners of something much newer.

The exterior is a two-tone orange and black Harley-Davidson-themed scheme. It's a custom build, and the truck has no affiliation with or licensing from Harley-Davidson. It rolls on wide whitewall radials and wears an accessory sun visor over the windshield, which on these trucks is about as period as it gets.

We have no build history. We don't know who built it or when, and there are no receipts. What we can tell you is how it's put together and how it drives, and it drives great. Everything works, including the air conditioning, which blows cold.

WHAT IT HAS

Power comes from a fuel-injected L98 350 V8 backed by a TH350 three-speed automatic with a floor shifter. Out back is a 10-bolt rear with 2.73 gears, and it runs dual exhaust.

The front end is a Mustang II-style independent suspension with power rack-and-pinion steering. Brakes are power-assisted, with discs up front and drums in the rear. That combination is the single biggest reason this truck is pleasant to drive. The factory setup on a 1949 was a solid front axle and manual everything, and it steered and stopped like a truck from 1949.

Inside, it's built around comfort. Custom blue bucket seats, Vintage Air climate control, power windows, a billet tilt steering column, and a LeCarra custom steering wheel. There's a car audio system with a backup camera, which on a panel truck with no rear side glass is genuinely useful rather than a gimmick.

A spare tire is included.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

Almost nothing mechanical on this truck is original, and that's the point of it. The engine, transmission, rear axle, front suspension, steering, brakes, air conditioning, interior, and audio are all later additions. If you're looking for a correct 1949 panel, this isn't it. If you're looking for one you can drive to a show two hours away with the air on, it is.

The 2.73 gears are a highway ratio. Paired with the TH350, which has no overdrive, the truck is relaxed at cruising speed and not built for hard launches. That's a sensible setup for what this is, but you should know what you're getting.

The paint is a custom Harley-Davidson-themed scheme. The truck is not an official or licensed Harley-Davidson vehicle of any kind.

We have no build records, no receipts, and no information on who did the work or when. Every system on the truck works as it should today, but we can't tell you its history.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Chevrolet introduced the Advance-Design trucks for 1947, and they ran into 1955. They were the first all-new trucks Chevrolet built after the war, and they sold in enormous numbers, which is why they're still so common at shows. The panel delivery version is less common than the pickups, and the enclosed body is exactly what makes it a good candidate for a build like this one. There's room for a real interior, the lines are clean, and nobody mistakes it for anything else.

A lot of these got the restomod treatment over the years because the original running gear, an inline six and a solid front axle, doesn't hold up well in modern traffic. The builds vary wildly in quality. What matters on one of these isn't originality, it's whether the modern parts were put in thoughtfully and whether everything actually works. On this one, it does.

HOW TO BUY IT

The truck is at our shop in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. We're happy to shoot a walk-around video and send additional photos, including underbody shots. Third-party inspections are welcome. We charge no documentation fees. We can help coordinate out-of-state transport, but the carrier choice is yours.