Chevrolet Advance Design

Chevrolet Advance-Design Series
1953 Chevrolet 6100 (Advanced Design)
Overview
ManufacturerChevrolet (General Motors)
Also called
  • Chevrolet 3100 (12-ton)
  • Chevrolet 3600 (34-ton)
  • Chevrolet 3800 (1-ton)
  • Chevrolet Loadmaster
  • Chevrolet Thriftmaster
  • GMC New Design
Production1947–1955
Assembly
Body and chassis
ClassPickup truck
Body style2-door truck
2-door panel truck
2-door station wagon (Suburban)
LayoutFR layout
PlatformGM A platform
RelatedChevrolet Suburban
Powertrain
Engine
Transmission
Dimensions
Wheelbase
  • 116 in (2,946 mm)
  • 125.25 in (3,181 mm)
  • 137 in (3,480 mm)
Length
  • 3100:
  • 196.6 in (4,990 mm) (1947–1952);[1][2]
  • 191.3 in (4,860 mm) (1953–1955)[2]
Curb weight4,598–7,985 lb (2,086–3,622 kg)
Chronology
PredecessorChevrolet AK Series
SuccessorChevrolet Task Force

The Advance-Design is a light and medium duty truck series by Chevrolet, their first major redesign after WWII. Its GMC counterpart was the GMC New Design. It was billed as a larger, stronger, and sleeker design in comparison to the earlier AK Series. First available on Saturday, June 28, 1947, these trucks were sold with various minor changes over the years[3] until March 25, 1955, when the Task Force Series trucks replaced the Advance-Design model.

The same basic design family was used for all of its trucks including the Suburban, panel trucks, canopy express, and cab overs. The cab overs used the same basic cab configuration and similar grille but used a shorter and taller hood and different fenders. The unique cab over fenders and hood required a custom cowl area which makes the cab over engine cabs and normal truck cabs incompatible with one another while all truck cabs of all weights interchange.

From 1947 until 1955, Chevrolet trucks were number one in sales in the United States, with rebranded versions sold at GMC locations.[4]

While General Motors used this front end sheet metal, and to a slightly lesser extent the cab, on all of its trucks except for the cab overs, there are three main sizes of this truck: the half-, three-quarter-, and full-ton capacities in short and long wheelbase.

  1. ^ "Directory Index: GM Trucks and Vans/1948 Trucks and Vans/1948 Chevrolet Trucks Brochure". Oldcarbrochures.com. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
  2. ^ a b Gunnell, John A. (1993). Standard Catalog of American Light-Duty Trucks. Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-238-9.
  3. ^ "Find the Chevy pickup part for your truck and have it shipped within 3 days at ClassicParts.com". www.classicparts.com. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
  4. ^ Bunn, Don. "Segment Five: 1947-1954 Advanced Design Pickups". Pickuptruck.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2007.