Hey Ernie,
FWIW my brother-in-law is still driving his dad's 1951 5 window, 235 - 6 , 3 on the tree, hasn't done a whole lot to it -- drives about 40miles rt to work daily and has for close to 14 yrs since he got the truck when his dad passed away. Richard bought it new in fall of 50--drove it until just before he passed away
Also I have several friends whose families farm in Colorado, a lot of them have "ditch runners" that are pre-55 Chevy PU's, plus "beet and onion trucks", 1 1/2 or 2 ton they use for all kinds of things and especially at harvest. I'm not a mechanic but when you get into farm and ranch country you see lots of these early Chev's running around with the same engine it came from the factory with
the 235 cu in Chevy 6--dippers and all--so that engine must be pretty sound IMO