1949 Chevy Panel Van nicknamed The Gravel Grazer

When people see Sid Hogarth’s 1949 Chevy panel van, nicknamed The Gravel Grazer, some think it’s a hearse, but in fact it’s a fire engine. Or it was.

“It belonged to the South Wayne Volunteer Fire Department in Texas from 1949 until 1964 when it was parked in a field and apparently left there,” explains Sid. “My wife, Sharon, saw it on eBay and bought it as a project to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.”

The couple are no strangers to old American iron, Sharon’s daily drivers have usually been Chevy trucks, most recently a ’54 Chevy stepside. “We like vans and trucks, especially the early 1950’s look,” says Sharon. “When we got this ’49 it had no doors, bleached paint, a stock 235ci straight six and six-bolt wheels. It looked like it had gone to hell and back.”

Needing to update all the running gear, the logical solution was find a more modern chassis then drop the van body onto it. Their research suggested an S10 would be perfect. “We bought our old S10 back from the lad it was sold to,” laughs Sharon, “and then felt guilty because he enthused about how he’d just repainted it and we got it home and just tore it all apart.”
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The motor itself is the S10’s standard 4.3-litre, fuel-injected, Vortec V6, backed to the stock 4L60-E 4-speed with overdrive. “We wanted to tow our caravan to shows,” says Sharon, “so mechanically it’s been left standard for practicality.”

An Air Ride Technologies Pro Ride Level 2 system with digital control does away with much of the stock Chevy suspension replacing the front coils with Shockwave combined bag dampers and the rear leaf springs with a 4-link and bag over shocks. With a bit of chassis modification, this drops the Chevy right to the ground. Stopping power comes from Baer six-pot calipers up front and standard drums at the rear.
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While the chassis has undergone major transformation, the body has undergone more subtle work. You might recognize that’s a ’55 Chevy front bumper, but it’s glass fibre, and Sid has since narrowed it to fit the smaller ’49 front end.

Then it was time for some color. “Sid wanted it rat rod matt black, while I prefer glossy and shiny as it shows off his skills as a painter and is easier to keep clean,” explains Sharon. “Matt black wasn’t cutting it, so we tried entirely satin black, which we both hated!” Their final compromise is a combination of what they both like – House of Kolor blackest black with a matt PPG clear coat over parts of it, and it works really well. The couple did their own airbrush graphics and pinstriping, too. “I say it took me two years to build it…” says Sid with a grin, “and 18 months of that was arguing about the paint!”
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Clearly, he has every intention of living up to the motto of his business, ‘Life’s too short to be subtle.’