Chevrolet Advance-Design

Advance-Design was a light and medium duty truck series by Chevrolet, their first major redesign after WWII. Its GMC counterpart was the GMC New Design. It was billed as a larger, stronger, and sleeker design in comparison to the earlier AK Series. First available on Saturday June 28, 1947, these trucks were sold with various minor changes over the years until March 25, 1955, when the Task Force Series trucks replaced the Advance-Design model.

The same basic design family was used for all of its trucks including the Suburban, panel trucks, canopy express, and cab overs. The cab overs used the same basic cab configuration and similar grille but used a shorter and taller hood and different fenders. The unique Cab Over fenders and hood required a custom cowl area which makes the Cab Over Engine cabs and normal truck cabs incompatible with one another while all truck cabs of all weights interchange.

From 1947 until 1955, Chevrolet trucks were number one in sales in the United States, with rebranded versions sold at GMC locations.

While General Motors used this front end sheet metal, and to a slightly lesser extent the cab, on all of its trucks except for the Cab Overs, there are three main sizes of this truck: the half-, three-quarter-, and full ton capacities in short and long wheelbase.

Pickup truck
The Chevrolet Advance Design was mostly produced as a pickup truck in the 3100 and 3800 designations.

Panel truck
The Advance Design was also produced as a panel truck which was basically the Advance Design truck with an almost fully enclosed bedcap which makes the vehicle look like a van and having some of the funcionalities of one.

GMC HC-Series
The GMC HC-Series is a semi-truck version of the Advance Design truck, however what makes it slightly different than the normal Advance Design truck is that it has a thinner and narrower hood and fenders rather than the fat and roundy look present on smaller models.

GM Cannonball
The GM or GMC Cannonball is another semi-truck based on the Advance Design COE truck. It's difference than the HC-Series is that the HC is based on the normal trucks while the Cannonball is based on the COE trucks.

Styling Legacy
The truck's design was the main inspiration for the Chevrolet HHR and SSR. GM also used the tooling for the Opel Blitz and Bedford A Type.