C. H. Browne bought a new 3/4-ton Chevy truck in the fall of 1946 to celebrate his son's return from World War II and to help out on the farm. The Chevy was soon considered one of the family, as C.H. was hardly without it whether he was working in the fields of salina, kansas, or going to town for supplies. But before they knew it, there was another addition to the family-a grandson named Chuck.
The elder Mr. and Mrs. Browne cared for and raised Chuck on the farm and instilled the formidable boy with manners and a strong work ethic. This meant Chuck spent plenty of seat time in the old Chevy tooling around with grandpa and learning the ropes. Unfortunately for the Brownes, C.H. passed away in 1963 and the '46 was auctioned off with much of the estate. A local by the name of Don Neff bought the Chevy to use on his farm where it stayed for the next 40 years.
Every once in a while, Chuck thought about the '46 and, whenever he was back in kansas, he would pay Mr. Neff a visit and ask if the truck was for sale, only to be disappointed. When Chuck was back for his 35th high school reunion in 2005, he'd just found out that he had a bad tumor in his leg, so he wasn't sure if he was going to be saying "hi" or "bye" to his old classmates. Again, he knocked on the Neff's door, only to be told "no" once more.
To Chuck's surprise, he got a call from the Neffs two days later saying they'd decided he really should have the truck back! Needless to say, he was speechless. Wasting no time, he got a hold of Bright Built Hot rods in salina, kansas, and they got busy updating the chassis and drivetrain while retaining the charm of all the years on the farm, AkA "patina," but this is the real deal, including grandpa's honest to God front fender "stitch repair" from the harvest of 1961.under the stock hood is a steadfast lT-1 and 4l60 trans so Chuck can spend more time worrying about where he's going instead of if he's gonna make it. Bright Built boxed the stock frame and grafted Fatman Fabrication's Mustang II IFs and a four-link into it as well as painting the firewall red when they were done. Chuck left the interior basically the way it was when he first rode in it all those years ago except he had vintage Air's seat heater/cooler installed before having the stock bench recovered in distressed leather.
Chuck is doing well now and drives the '46 almost daily, including many outof- state trips to Goodguys shows around the Midwest. He'd also like to thank his wife, Cindy, for all her continued support. Have fun you two!