First Drive: Legacy Classic Trucks 1957 Chevy Napco 4×4 Conversion
We’re in the midst of a worldwide dullness epidemic. Far too many men and women on this planet are using trucks for work only. We’ve all heard the saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” and a similar theory applies to pickup trucks. When a truck is 100 percent tool and zero percent cool, you end up with a machine duller than Saturday afternoon entertainment at a senior center in Delaware.
But the folks at Legacy Classic Trucks are aiming to dent the dullness epidemic with their adventurous 1957 Chevy Napco 4×4 conversion.
Call the Napco 4×4 anything you want, but don’t call it dull. Its beautiful looks are backed by even more striking capability. Far too many classic trucks these days are seldom-driven car show artifacts. This truck, while still as beautiful as Sunday morning’s shiniest, is more than willing to get dirt under its nails.
And, my goodness, does it know how to claw. I had the pleasure of recently driving this classic 4×4 on a private 500-acre avocado ranch in Ojai, CA where there are grades as steep as 30 percent. No sweat for the Napco, however. With 100:1 crawler gearing, shove this rig into four low, and it will dig up hills like a zombie mountain goat.
This zombie won’t take a bite out of your neck, though. In my ham-fistedness, I dumped one of the wheels into a two-foot-deep rut, but as forgiving as this chassis is, I didn’t even feel I had fallen into a hole. It took Legacy Classic Trucks founder Winslow Bent, who was riding shotgun, to tell me what I had done. Did the truck care? Not a bit. I crawled right out of the rut like I was on tank tracks.
There’s a decent amount of strength behind the truck’s relentlessness, too. This particular rig comes equipped with GM’s 5.3L LC9 Vortec V8. Legacy Classic Trucks calls this their standard-issue motor, but if you wish, they will build you one with the Corvette’s 6.2-liter LS3. We didn’t get a chance to test one of those, but the 5.3 does a fine job of moving this pickup around.
On the way to the trails, the Napco feels modern, except for its steering, which has a vagueness closer to the original truck than a modern-day half-ton rig. That vagueness is actually useful off road. It makes the chassis feel more forgiving. On the road, however, more directness and precision would be nice.
So what does it cost to own one of the coolest off-road machines on the planet? $120,000 for starters, and $150,000 for one with all the bells, LS3 balls and whistles. Yes, that’s encroaching on exotic car territory, but this truck offers an overall experience that approaches exotic car levels of fun. The Napco is so capable off-road, all you can do is laugh when it conquers something that looks insurmountable. On-road, it stands out as something a celebrity would drive, and if people ignore its star power, its Borla exhaust can belt out a beautiful tune to grab the attention it deserves.
Even while just sitting inside this vehicle’s top-quality leather-lined cab while your phone is connected to the hideaway infotainment system that’s blasting tunes through a world-class Focal audio system, it’s difficult to forget about all the engineering and hand-built craftsmanship it takes to make these trucks just right. The Napco, whether it’s coddling you in leather-lined luxury, or making molehills out of mountains, is always demonstrating its value.
If you still think the six-figure price tag is too stratospheric, chances are seeing this thing in person will get you to understand why Legacy Classic Trucks is charging Porsche 911 money for their Napco 4×4. Tackle a seemingly impossible trail in this thing, and you can throw chance out the window. Your understanding will be compelled by vicious clawing.
