Grapes of Wrathebago: 1937 Chevrolet Truck
This next car was produced in 1937…and that was a long time ago. It was the year that Howard Hughes made history by flying from Los Angeles to New York in 7.5 hours, Trotskyites were being executed for their anti-Stalin overthrow attempts, FDR was trying (and failed) to pack the supreme court, George VI and Elizabeth (I) were crowned King & Queen of England, Amelia Earhart disappeared, the Hindenburg blew up, people built custom scale battleships with functioning guns, and Steinbeck was writing the Grapes of Wrath…which brings us to back to our featured car. The seller describes it as a “tinyhouse”, but I’d call it a mobile home from the Grapes of Wrath era. Find this 1937 Chevrolet Truck House offered for $21,500 in Austin, TX via craigslist.
From the seller:
1937 CHEVROLET
condition: good
cylinders: 6 cylinders
fuel: gas
odometer: 360
title status: clean
transmission: manual
Finally selling my Tinyhouse project. I’ve been working on this for quite sometime and have thousands of hours and lots of money invested in this build, but all the hard and expensive stuff is done. The truck is a 37 all original and still has the original 6 cylinder powertrain in it that runs perfect and only shows 73 k on the odometer and I have CLEAR TITLE for it, which is hard to come by. Its got a new aluminum radiator,plugs,wires,cap,rotor,points,6 volt battery, valve cover gasket and it cranks first lick, and runs excellent. The clutch and tranny shift and work great. The interior is really clean for its age and the seat has no rips. The brakes had some air in them and when I went to bleed the air out, the bleeder broke off, so someone will need to screw 4 new bleeders in so you can get the air out and the brakes work fine. I just mounted a brand new gas tank under the truck so everything is clean. All the glass is in the truck but the drivers side is cracked, you could replace it for 40 bucks or just go get a peice of flat glass cut if you wanted to fix it. We painted it up to look like a old watermelon truck and the famous sign painter Sean Starr with Starr Customs knocked it out of the park on this paint job! Then I sprayed 4 coats of clear so it will last!
The tiny house is built out of reclaimed lumber off a old barn and looks amazing. The roof has a wooden shingle style under the rusty tin roof I added for looks so there is no leaks. Theres a little porch off the back with a covered roof and antique metal railing that looks great and is sturdy. I just finished the inside with all new shiplap walls and did a shabby shic white dry brushed look and insulated it really goo so it should be like a refrigerator in the summer and a oven in the winter. The ceiling took the longest, I pulled out that old bead board from a farm house and cleaned it and installed it across the roof of the interior which made a gigantic difference. The floors are pine with stain and clear added and they are beautiful and look wet all the time. The little light above the bed came off of a ship,and the light in the center I made out of a 1929 ford model A, and also have a porch light off the rear porch and on the front of the house as well. All new wiring,switches,4plugs,breakers,and box and everything works and is ran off of a big thick camper coard so you just pull up and plug it in and your ready to go. I was going to go all out and do a kitchen but held off in case someone didnt want that I didnt want to waste my time.
This would be perfect for someone that wanted to have a lot of fun and get way too much attention, or to park on your place for guest or a rental. Super good parade truck and barbeque cook off set-up that will win you a trophy everytime and get everyone looking over at you! If you had to find a 37 truck running as good as this one and looks like this one with a title, it would cost you around 10 grand, then hire a carpenter to build you a finished house on the back like this one finished it would probably be around 20 grand and up since everything is reclaimed its so much higher but you get a much better look when finished. Thats kinda how Im pricing this but you can buy this one now and not have to wait for years to happen ,start enjoying it now. Im asking $22,500 find another one!!! One of a kind!!!
“IF I KEEP WORKING ON IT AND ADDING STUFF OF COURSE I WILL HAVE TO RAISE MY PRICE. THIS RIG LOOKS 100 TIMES BETTER IN PERSON AND IS TRUELY A PEICE OF ART WITH THOUSANDS OF HOURS INVESTED. THIS WILL MAKE SOMEONE A GREAT TOY TO HAVE FUN IN AND GO CAMPING WITH LOTS OF MEMMORIES. I DONT EMAIL OR TEXT MUCH JUST CALL ME AT 512-760-566FIVE THANKS JUSTIN LOCATED IN ROCKDALE TX WHICH IS 1 HOUR FROM AUSTIN,BRYAN,TEMPLE OR WACO
See a better way to drive around in a farmhouse? tips@dailyturismo.com
$21k for an 84 year old truck with bad brakes, busted glass, rusty interior, and a tired-looking, empty wooden box on the back?
Nice barn find! Ba ha ha haaaa.
QE1 was 1588, just sayin. George 6 was indeed a king, but his wife was not technically “the queen”.
So back in “my” day, old trucks and bus chassis’ with handmade wooden homes on them were the rage and something I really wanted. I have a book somewhere around about handbuilt “rv”‘s on old truck chassis. In this wired modern world of bean shaped cars and mindless robots staring at their com devices as they stumble into each other, not to mention the Chines ‘Rona….this truck is a comforting sight. But……..that seat would be hell to sit in for any period of time and you still have to finish out the interior. Kudos to the builder but ones man work of art does not make it a Mona Lisa.
My dad has that same book on one of his shelves, and I used to spend hours looking at all of the 70s weirdness emanating from the pages. There were a few really creative builds, and a few that looked like this one. It needs some orange stained glass windows, a woodburning stove, a few afghans & bean bags, and a sisal rug to be complete.
My favorites were the buses with the tops of smaller buses stacked & welded onto the roof to create a system of cupolas, if you will.
That is really cool, but no taillights?