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Chevy looks back on its canopy work truck past


Gorehamj

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Chevy canopy truck 1939-Chevy-HalfTon-Canopy-Express.jpg

John Goreham
Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
4/07/2015

 

Chevrolet looked back on its urban delivery vehicle past in a press release retrospective today. Chevrolet began making canopy top and sides work trucks back in 1936. Small business owners used the trucks to bring their goods for sale directly to the neighborhoods of American cities. The top image is a 1939 Half-ton City Express. These trucks were a huge part of Chevrolet's business in pre-WWII days, accounting for hundreds of thousands of sales.

Chevy canopy 1949-Chevy-Canopy-Express.jpg

Post WWII Chevy's business increased, of course, along with every major manufacturer that made it through the war-time economy. The second image here is a 1949 Chevy Canopy Express. Chevy produced an amazing 345,000 of these vehicles in 1949. Just to put that into perspective, if sold today that would be Chevy's second leading seller after only the Silverado family. As a stand- alone company that vehicle would outsell both Buick and Cadillac, not to mention many other car companies now in the US market.

Chevy city express smnokey bbq.jpg

The 2015 Chevy City Express shown here being used by Smokey D's BBQ. The truck's cloth top and sides have gone away, but the need for a vehicle to bring a company's product directly to the public has not.

Chevy canopy truck 1939-Chevy-HalfTon-Canopy-Express.jpg

Chevy canopy 1949-Chevy-Canopy-Express.jpg

Chevy city express smnokey bbq.jpg

Chevy canopy truck 1939-Chevy-HalfTon-Canopy-Express.jpg

Chevy canopy 1949-Chevy-Canopy-Express.jpg

Chevy city express smnokey bbq.jpg

Chevy canopy truck 1939-Chevy-HalfTon-Canopy-Express.jpg

Chevy canopy 1949-Chevy-Canopy-Express.jpg

Chevy city express smnokey bbq.jpg

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