KAPA‘A — When Joe Lopez moved to Wailua, a piece of Oregon came with him.
Lopez drives his 1954 Chevrolet 3600 Series 3/4-ton pickup to and from his job at Esaki’s Produce where he exchanges the vintage pickup for the wheel of a modern delivery truck.
“It’s just an everyday driver,” Lopez said of the longbed pickup he picked up from a water processing company in Medford, Oregon. “I’ve had it for 14 years and I’m just the second owner.”
Lopez said he’s tried to keep the truck with original equipment from the time he acquired it, but had to change the engine because it needed repair and the cost to repair was too high.
Originally, the truck came with a 235-cubic inch Straight 6-cylinder engine and after finding out how much it cost to repair it, Lopez opted to switch the engine to a 230-cubic inch Straight 6-cylinder block.
Chevrolet chief engineer Ed Cole discontinued the 216.5 cubic inch Thrift-Master Six and replaced that mill with the 235.5 cubic inch engine from the line’s larger Load-Master trucks, states an online source.
The 235.5 cubic inch engine was extensively tweaked for 1953 and even more so for 1954. The head got a tighter 7.5:1 compression ratio, an improvement from 7.1:1, and horsepower jumped to 112 at 3,700 rpm. Torque leveled off at 200 pound-feet at 2,000 rpm and other refinements included full-pressure lubrication, aluminum pistons, stronger connecting rods, a built-up crankcase for greater stiffness, thicker bearing bulkheads for a beefier crankcase, bypass cooling and improved distributor insulation.
An All-Synchro three speed transmission was standard in the 3600 Series, although a heavy-duty all-synchro three-speed and for the first time, General Motors’ four-speed Hydra-Matic automatic was available for any light-duty truck model.
The 230 cubic inch engine, producing 140 horsepower, was used by Chevrolet and GMC trucks, primarily the half-tons during the 1937 and 1938 production.
“The original owner was this water company where the manager got five others as part of the company’s fleet,” Lopez said. “He worked there for 40 years, and when he retired, the company gave him the truck as a gift. He kept it until I ended up getting it.”
Lopez said his son moved to Hawai‘i and built a home with some extra room and that prompted him to move here about 18 months ago.
That move brought the truck to the roads of Kaua‘i where Lopez drives the truck to and from work.
As he maneuvered his vintage pickup to the loading bay where the delivery trucks were lined up to accept their loads, one driver ribbed him about the deliberate pace of the pickup.
“It doesn’t have power steering,” Lopez said in reply. “That’s the reason the steering wheel is so big. Once you get rolling, it’s alright, though.”
Lopez said eventually, he wants to work out the dents and dings that are on the truck. He said his son wants to just leave it as it is, but he feels the truck needs to look good.
“It’s a work in progress,” he said. “We just refreshed the truck and put some primer on parts of the body.”
That would probably help combat the rust which loves to attack metal-bodied vehicles in Hawai‘i, said Earl Kashiwagi, the general manager of Esaki’s Produce.
Lopez said he uses a piece of plywood cut to fit the bed to help protect the original running boards.
“It’s beginning to deteriorate so we try to protect it,” Lopez said.
Kashiwagi said the truck brings back memories of the days when pickups were used as produce trucks and grocery trucks, the representatives of the various organizations going to the different plantation camps, their trucks filled with a variety of goods to peddle to camp residents.
“All you need is the ‘V’ and you can arrange the produce like the old days,” Kashiwagi said. “Maybe during watermelon season, we can load up his truck with watermelon, drive it to an event and he can sell it like the old days.”
Lopez said that idea is not so far-fetched because his son already hitched up a shave ice machine to the truck and together they drove to a motorcycle rally where the combination was a big hit.
“The chain (securing the tailgate) even rattles when I drive,” Lopez said. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of this truck,” Lopez said. “I drive it every day so people can enjoy it as much as I do.”
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
