Lawrence Street Sighting: Chevrolet 3100 pickup

For my last little tidbit in GM fullsize history, I present this early 3100 pickup. This bodystyle was introduced in 1948 to compete with Ford's F-Series pickups; it is the great ancestor to today's Silverado, except with this one, a customer could walk onto a lot and buy a bare bones six-cylinder manual truck. I don't even think that's possible today.
Post 1967 GMs are still quite common here, but I hardly ever see pre-1960s models. Usually when I do, they're the heavier-duty trucks like the Apache 3200s and such. I never see old Chevy pickup trucks still intact. Seeing an example this old still in daily use is quite a shock, even in Kansas. While this truck, as one can plainly see, is quite a bit ratty, it still sits parked amongst the few vehicles that reside in its river-side neighborhood. Caked in surface rust galore, this old beast surely has worked hard all of its life, and by the looks of it, continues to do so even with massive amounts of battle scars. I will say that despite all the surface rust, this 3100 seems to be pretty intact; all the chrome is still present, thought most has oxidized into a matte brown that would look at home on a stanced Civic coupe with BBS wheels.
Here, though, I doubt the owner wants any part of that fad. The owner is part of a dying fad though, called "using a truck for work". Sadly enough, most trucks now are used primarily as family haulers, and likely have never seen a spec of gravel in the bed. This one, judging by its condition, and relative bare-bones-ness, likely has. And numerous times, too. Let's see your GMC Sierra Denali pull that off!
This truck is likely on its last legs aesthetically, but I don't think all hope is lost. A little time and polish, and perhaps some Goodmark sheetmetal, and she'll be good as new. I don't think I'd do a full restoration though. I might clean up the chrome and leave the rest, but that might seem a little too garish. But I sure wouldn't turn it into another generic "ratrod". Wait.. the description I gave basically said I would. Crap.