1955 Chevy Pickup Has Been Rebuilt Several Times Over

In its latest form, this 1955 Chevy pickup serves as a reliable shop truck with purposeful patina.

For many of us, vintage pickups are a precious family heirloom, a vehicle that we grew up riding around in and one day dreaming of owning ourselves. Those dreams oftentimes come true, whether we inherit old trucks from family members or just go out and buy one ourselves. For John Gessner of A&J’s Southern Rod Shop, the story is a bit different, as he works on vintage haulers for customers all the time, but wanted one of his own. Thus, he set out to build precisely that – this 1955 Chevy pickup – as he recently explained to Chevy Hardcore.

Gessner actually bought this 1955 Chevy pickup way back in the 1990s, at which time he wanted to make it more of a powerful street machine, and thus, fitted it with a GM big block mated to a four-speed gearbox. Later, it transformed into more of a street cruiser with 350 V8 power, but its third and most recent redo has it looking precisely the way you see it here – a purposely patina’d shop truck.

At first glance, this 1955 Chevy pickup looks like little more than a mildly customized machine, but there’s far more to the story than that. There are many subtle changes present here such as 1997 Cadillac taillights, a bed floor from a Chevy S-10, mini tubs, a custom roll pan, shortened fenders, a tucked front bumper, and a louvered hood that flips forward rather than back.

Underneath, this classic Bow Tie hauler utilizes the front subframe from a 1979 Camaro, which is fitted with two-inch drop spindles from Fatman Fabrications, Hotchkiss rear lowering leaf springs, traction bars, and a rear end from a ’57 Chevy that’s stuffed with 3.43 gears. Classic rally wheels cover front disc brakes and drums out back, while power comes from a basically stock Chevy small block crate motor for reliability’s sake.

Capped off with a custom paint job with fake patina and some cool vintage graphics, this ’55 Chevy truck certainly looks the part, but it’s not quite what it seems. Regardless, we’re certainly digging it, and it’s easy to understand why someone would want to build a shop truck that’s less than perfect, given people’s refusal to do things like return their shopping carts to nearby corrals.

Photos: Mike Slade for A&J’s Southern Rod Shop

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Brett Foote

Brett Foote has been covering the automotive industry for over five years and is a longtime contributor to Internet Brands’ Auto Group sites, including Chevrolet Forum, Rennlist, and Ford Truck Enthusiasts, among other popular sites.

He has been an automotive enthusiast since the day he came into this world and rode home from the hospital in a first-gen Mustang, and he's been wrenching on them nearly as long.

In addition to his expertise writing about cars, trucks, motorcycles, and every other type of automobile, Brett had spent several years running parts for local auto dealerships.

You can follow along with his builds and various automotive shenanigans on Instagram: @bfoote.