Stan Purcell’s grandfather bought this warhorse back in 1950 when it was a slightly used 3-year-old ’47 Fargo.
Stan has never known a day when the tough old truck wasn’t around the farm so he really didn’t want to see it disappear from the family.
On the other hand Stan needed a reliable functional truck for his mechanic’s job in the city-a 40 mile round trip every day.
As much as he liked the old relic, Stan had to figure out how to keep the ’47 Dodge on the road and also have a truck he could drive through a brutal Northern winter.
Stan had two choices-buy a newer truck that could do everything he asked from a daily driver or..fasten the Fargo body to a 1982 Chevy pickup frame.
A lot of guys would buy the new truck. Not Stan. He chose the road less taken so now he drives what looks like a 1947 Fargo every day of the year-horrible winter weather or not. Stan as you can see, is a man of vision. This is an incredibly reliable vehicle with a Chevy 305 4-speed automatic.
Winter?
No problem–Stan retrofitted the old truck with two school bus heaters. One’s for heat and one’s for defrost. Stan could drive this thing to Northern Alaska in January with the windows open stay toasty inside and still get decent gas mileage.
Stan is a world-class problem solver. He figured out how to keep a 60-year-old family automotive legend on the road as a regular vehicle in the mean and nasty 21st Century.
His grandfather would be proud.
Jerry Sutherland