Well since I have read every page of this thread now, I figured it was time I joined the board and put some pics up of my square.
I just bought this truck a month or so ago. It belonged to my neighbor, who was an old farmer and bought it brand new in 1980. He used it for farm work, so it is pretty rough cosmetically, but he bought a new truck in 1993 and kept this one around, so it hasn't had much use since then. It only has 96k miles on the clock. He passed away a couple months ago and his family sold it to me for $500. A few of his kids/grandkids wanted it, but none could come up with the money, so I was happy to buy it. This is the truck I used to see when I was little that made me fall in love with squares, and GM trucks in general. Its a late 80 model with the square headlights, Sierra Grande 25, 3/4 ton 2wd w/ 350 and auto trans. Don't think I have seen one like this in all 105 pages of this thread, but I could have missed one...
Here is what it looked like the day I took ownership:
You can see its pretty rusty all over
After I washed and waxed the red parts, and spray bombed the white parts with some white rustoleum appliance apoxy, I also removed the single running board, the drivers side had fallen off years ago:
It still looks pretty rough, but at least the rust is somewhat covered up. I didn't even take the time to sand it down, just wiped it off and sprayed over the top. I will probably do it right some time, but for now I am just driving it as is.
And here is why this truck is unique:
He had the hoist installed as part of the deal when he bought the truck new. It is hydraulic and was put on at a shop in one of the neighboring towns, I don't know if the place still exists or not, but its pretty cool and well worth the $500 price tag alone. Actually, I haven't even paid for the truck yet. I have been mowing the grass at the widow's farm and she takes $20 off the price each time. At the end of the year we will settle up. I think she will probably end up owing me, so I will just call it even. Sounds like a good deal to me!
I don't know how far I will go with this truck. Like I said, it is pretty rough. I am afraid of what I might find (and then have to fix) if I start pulling it apart, so I think I will just drive it around as is for now, and maybe do some cheap patch work and bondo jobs on some of the bad rust areas, then sand down and spray bomb the whole thing back to the original colors. Maybe some day when I have the money I will take it to a shop for a full resto, but that is a pipe dream as of now. It runs and drives good, and all the lights and gauges seem to work, I just need to find a few pieces of bed trim.
-Scott-
