This green stock 1951 Chevy truck was recently spotted at a Cars and Coffee event in Scottsdale, AZ. The truck had a nicely varnished wooden stake side above the body and looked gorgeous in the dark "Forester Green" coloring. It was equipped with a straight six cylinder "Thriftmaster". The 3100 series was Chevrolet's light duty model.
The truck had a sunvisor attached and an "old school" traffic light viewer. The viewer allows the driver to have a view above the sunvisor or windshield. Back when many intersections were governed by one traffic light signal strung by cable to the center of the intersection; it might be hard to see the lights change when the signal was so high. So this traffic light viewer mounted on the dash, used a prismatic lens to show the driver a view above the windshield and see when the light changed.
The "Thriftmaster" 6-cylinder engine from Chevrolet was 216 cubic inches; producing 92 horsepower and 176 foot pounds of torque but also came with "self lubricating" Babbitt Bearings that were known for failing. The wide white tires are complimented by the chrome centers and trim rings and some pinstriping. The gauge cluster shows the top speed of 80mph which was the last year that Chevy used that 0-80 gauge. This also the last year for all the chrome that this truck sports inside and out. The 51 Chevy also introduced vent windows on the doors of the truck. The ‘47-’55 Chevy trucks all were based on the Advanced Design, and was replaced in 1955 with the all new Task Force Series. If you look closely at the front end, you can see some styling cues that Chevy used on the later "retro" SSR and HHR Chevrolet models.