1952 Chevrolet 3800 Pickup (with Camper)
Built as Chevrolet’s heavy-duty workhorse, this one-ton stepside pickup became something entirely different when equipped with a custom camper conversion. This particular truck gained legendary status through its ownership by film icon Steve McQueen, who reportedly purchased it in the late 1970s from a farmer while living in Malibu, California.
The substantial “Dust Tite” camper was fabricated in 1952 by Harold Van Hoosen of Northern Sheet Metal in Yreka, California, using a combination of galvanized steel and aluminum construction. The camper unit features side and rear windows, a wooden roof platform, and a heavy-duty diamond-plate rear bumper with tie downs and a removable rear step.
The longbed stepside body is finished in Forest Green and features the classic five-window cab design. Power comes from the dependable 235ci Thriftmaster straight-six engine, rated for approximately 105 horsepower and 193 lb-ft of torque, paired with a floor-shifted four-speed manual transmission.
This unique configuration transformed a commercial work truck into a capable recreational vehicle decades before such conversions became mainstream.
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