The 1955 Chevrolet Cameo Carrier was a half-ton pickup dressed for the country club. Its smooth, slab-sided bed wore outer panels made of fiberglass, the same material as the early Corvette’s body. Chevrolet sold about 5,200 of them that first year. That count turned out to be the truck’s best season.
Old Cars Weekly calls those slab-side fenders “decidedly different” from anything else in the line. Because the sides ran flush, the bed looked like part of the cab. As a result, the Cameo looked more like a car than a farm truck.
However, it also cost a good deal more than a plain pickup. So here’s how Chevrolet built it, what it cost, how many left the factory, and what one brings today.
How the 1955 Chevrolet Cameo Carrier arrived
First, the Cameo came with Chevrolet’s all-new truck line. According to Ate Up With Motor’s history of the Cameo Carrier, the redesigned Second Series “Task Force” trucks arrived in March 1955. That was about five months after the First Series trucks went on sale.
Chevrolet catalogued the Cameo as Model 3124. Chuck Jordan, the same history says, was mainly responsible for the cab design of the Task Force line. Meanwhile, a wraparound rear window was standard on the Cameo and optional on other Chevy pickups.
Fiberglass skin over a steel box
The fiberglass is the part people remember, but it’s easy to overstate. The Cameo didn’t have an all-fiberglass bed. Instead, Ate Up With Motor says it “had the same inner bed structure as other Model 3100 pickups, with painted steel sides, a wooden floor.”
Old Cars Weekly describes it the same way. It says the fiberglass rear flanks were “lined with a traditional steel and wood cargo box.” The tailgate, according to that profile, was also fiberglass with a steel plate inside.
Chevrolet didn’t mold those panels itself, either. Ate Up With Motor says the work went to Moulded Fiberglass of Ohio, the company that made the early Corvette’s bodies. That supplier also made the tailgate skin and the spare tire carrier. In fact, the spare tire sat tucked behind the center of the rear bumper.
Engines, chassis and color
By comparison, the running gear was ordinary Chevrolet truck hardware. Old Cars Weekly lists a 114-inch wheelbase, a 6½-foot bed and a 5,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating. Standard power came from the 235 six. Ate Up With Motor rates that engine at 123 gross horsepower.
Buyers could also order the new 265-cubic-inch V-8. For 1955, Ate Up With Motor rates it at 145 gross horsepower and 238 lb-ft. A three-speed manual was standard, while overdrive and Hydra-Matic were options.
At first, there was only one color scheme. Old Cars Weekly says every first-year Cameo came in white, which Chevrolet called Bombay Ivory, with red trim. Inside, the seats wore a two-tone red-and-white pattern. Chrome bumpers, a chrome grille and full wheel covers were standard, too.
What the Cameo cost
The price depends on which source you read. Ate Up With Motor gives a base price of $1,835 FOB Detroit with the six. Hagerty uses the same $1,835 figure and calls it about a 30 percent jump over the standard pickup.
Old Cars Weekly, by contrast, lists a base price of $2,150. That profile says the Cameo cost about 25 percent more than a base Chevy half-ton. A fully loaded one could reach $2,400, according to Ate Up With Motor.
How many 1955 Chevrolet Cameo Carrier pickups were built
Still, the first year was the high point. Ate Up With Motor counts 5,219 Cameos sold for 1955 and notes that some reports say 5,220. Hagerty and Old Cars Weekly both use 5,220.
After that, sales dropped quickly. Ate Up With Motor lists 2,154 for 1956, 2,572 for 1957 and only 375 for 1958. That history totals 10,320 over four model years. However, Hagerty’s tally comes to 10,305, and Old Cars Weekly simply says about 10,000.
Finally, the 1958 Fleetside ended the story. According to Ate Up With Motor, the new Fleetside pickups made the Cameo “more or less redundant.” Chevrolet dropped Model 3124 when they arrived.
What a Cameo Carrier sells for today
Values depend heavily on originality. For example, Mecum sold a modified 1955 Cameo pickup with an automatic at its Monterey auction on August 16, 2025. Classic.com’s record of that sale lists the price at $38,500.
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This article was created with the help of AI and was reviewed and edited by Fast Lane Only editors before publication.
