I was on holiday when I ended up seeing this 1991 C1500 short bed truck. Apparently it was for sale if I wanted it. It was a manual transmission 5 speed hooked to a 5.7 small block. I don't have a pic to how and where it was sitting. I did some work on the truck and decided to buy it. I paid 300 for it. I figured for 3 hundo, I could do something with it. It had an exploded 10 bolt diff. I would have to replace the carrier and gears.
The last people that owned the truck was a commercial lawn service with a fleet of vehicles. Before that, It was a Forest Service vehicle. When the previous owners quit using it, they robbed parts form the TBI to use on other trucks. They stole most sensors. There was another truck to borrow parts from to try to get this one going. After rebuilding the TBI gaskets, sensors, stabbing a distributor, and a starter, the thing would spark but not start. We pulled the bed to check the fuel system and it all checked out fine.
We then foud out that someone took the ECU as well. We plugged one in, and the truck fired right up. At this point I knew my $300 investment was worth while.
Stock Engine Bay. You can see the old forest service color.
The interior was nothing fancy. It has hand crank windows, old rotary looking gauges placed within that old square looking dash. You sit on a miss matched blue bench seat that is not mounted to the floor.
The odometer was right at 100k and it is accurate.
I never thought I would be so excited to buy an old lawn service truck, but I have always wanted a short bed, standard cab, full size 2wd with a manual transmission.