One benefit of spending (way too much) time looking at cars for sale online is that you can actually learn something new almost every day. Before seeing this 1951 Chevrolet Sedan Delivery for sale on Craigslist, in Enosburg, Vermont, I’d never heard of Minneapolis, Kansas. A town of around 2,000 people, it is the county seat of Ottawa County in north central Kansas, a bit north of Interstate 70 and Salina. Known locally as the “City of Waters,” it was named after Minneapolis, Minnesota.
I went on this little geographical side trip because the sedan delivery for sale here still shows its original owner’s name, phone number and location. Evidently, back in 1951, if you lived in Minneapolis, Kansas, you could call the nicely alliterative Dallen’s Dairy Delivery (phone number “263”) to have milk and eggs delivered to your door.
Chevy sold well over one million cars in the Korean War year of 1951, but only 20,817 of them were sedan delivery models. This sort of local delivery use was fairly typical for these cars in the forties and fifties. I believe turn signals were an optional purchase on 1951 Chevies, and it looks like this one did not have them!
Since not that many of these cars have survived, and many that did were street rodded, sedan delivery values have skyrocketed. This seller’s asking price of $4,995, while high, is not completely crazy, especially given that this example is so original and appears to have its sedan delivery specific parts present.
Not much is said about this car’s condition by the seller, but based on the photos provided and the fact that it’s 65 years old, you can expect to find plenty of rust in its floors, rockers and fenders. Hopefully the frame is still solid.
I wish the seller had provided photos of the interior and engine compartment. This car looks like it has not run in a very long time, and you can safely assume, it needs just about everything. Even so, this sedan delivery is well worth saving, and it would be fun to see it restored, with its original signage present.
Of course, Dallen’s Dairy Delivery does not exist anymore, but there are still some folks named Dallen living in Minneapolis who might enjoy seeing it. I hope this great example of mid-century small town America will find a new owner willing to take on the work needed to make it new again.
Source: barnfinds.com/
