How I found My Truck...What's your story...?

[welsh kev]

Sweet Bubba; the truck AND its owner!

How it works this side of the Atlantic; I've owned Harleys for 22 years, always fancied a four-wheeled American to go with them. Gas is such a crazy price over here ( $8.15 per US gallon!) that it had to be something that could earn its keep, so as my present "castle" has two woodburning stoves, I opted for a pick-up.

Parked up at a truckstop in Whitchurch, Shropshire one night back in 2004, across the road was an old gas station with a mint 54 Pontiac Starchief outside. Had to go take a look of course, turned out the guy is a small-time dealer in old American iron, conversation turned to pick-ups and he had a 1970 Chevy long-bed CSD, wanted a fair bit of tin-work but I liked it so we cut a deal.

Trouble was, the guy suffered badly from depression(he did warn me)and when he was ill he couldn't work. Six months down the line, no progress and so I asked for my deposit back, which he did no problem.

Few months later I was passing that way, so I called in to see the guy and find out if he'd recovered. He was getting better but still not 100%; however he'd been to America on vacation, and of course bought a few things back, one of which was this;



That's as I bought it, rust where it usually is, bed wood rotted out, but overall sound, it had even passed our roadworthiness test (what we call an MOT,short for Ministry of Transport) though on closer inspection I'm not quite sure how!

I've owned it for over six years now; British weather is starting to get the better of the bodywork (cab roof rotting out from the inside) but it's been totally reliable till this weekend when the starter failed; but that could happen to anyone. Spends most of its time hauling firewood, and pretty much everything else, turns heads wherever it goes, and best of all irritates the hell out of enviromentalist tree-huggers and show-shiny concours freaks!



Believe it or not I've spent about $5K on the truck since I bought it; check out the fenders and door bottoms! That's all metal too, no Bondo here!

AFAIK there are only two 60-66 GMC's in the UK with their original 305 V-6 engine, and this is one of 'em.

[A.T. RockDriller]

Holy Cow, Kev..
Pretty tight lookin' '63.
I might qualify as your #1 Yank fan.
Very interesting "fun fact"...the one about how few BB V-6's roam the Kingdom.
I sure am attached to mine.
I might add, if you are still pretty much stock under the hood, there are a couple of "bolt on" mod's that I could recommend that would drastically improve
both your drive-ability and even your fuel economy.
#1..........The infamous ' Holley 500 '
#2..........The modified GM HEI distributor.
The carb upgrade makes you wonder why they ever even thought about using the OE Stromburg. Huge difference.
As far as the HEI goes, I'm heading out to finish building and installing mine after this cup of coffee.
I'll report how that goes at a later date.
Here's a couple pic's of mine.
This truck is completely factory as far as the way it's set up. I've done quite a bit of mod's/upgrades......but as far as appearance, this is the way it was ordered. (the suspension is stock, of course the 36" tires aren't)

[welsh kev]

Hi Les

Done the Holley upgrade three years ago, that old Stromberg was like a bucket with a hole in it! Still use it though; as a doorstop, only thing it's fit for!

You're right, improved gas mileage by at least 40%. Never bothered with the HEI dizzy though, mine's always been on the button and if it ain't broke I don't see the point in fixin' it.

All I've really done to mine (well, done for me by a good guy) is fit the bed, tidy the body up and fit a brake servo, the latter being probably the most necessary mod.

[aerotruk63]

I was driving a very rotted 62K10 at the time. While visiting the Stowe Vermont car show they have every year in upstate New York, I heard, then spotted the 63C10 pulling into the visitors parking lot. I followed the guy on foot till he found a parking space and asked if I could look at the truck and wether he was considering selling it. He was into El Camino's and had picked the truck out of a salvage yard. He wanted $1200.00 for it, I offered $800.00 and left him my phone number if he ever was to consider my offer. That Monday he called and we agreed to meet just across the border, States side. I gave him the cash and he gave me the registration and a sales reciept for $300.00. At Canadian Customs the lady told me that for $13.00, I could get a document stating that the truck had been plated State side so I could get a licence plate on the Canadian side without an inspection. Taxes,Duty & Document came to $37.00 CND. Since the cab and mechanical components did not bolt straight onto the 62 frame it was decided that the 63 would be the one to have all the work done to it. Then I found out about all the original Custom Accessories that were available in 63............

[SIR]

we made up "WANTED" postes and put them up at all the local "mom & pop" stores all over the area and at the local feed stores with PICTURES & DISCRIPTIONS of what we where looking for and within 2 weeks we had 2-TWO 66 C-10's ready to work on...both for $1000 COMPLETE!!....

[A.T. RockDriller]

There ya' go, SIR...
Now that's how ya' do it.

Down there in Grass Pants, they actually troll for their trucks.....and catch
'em, too.

[pdxhall]

I had just come back from a camping trip with my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) and as I left her house I noticed the truck about a block away at the curb with a "for sale" sign on it for $700. The minute I saw it I new I wanted it and after stopping and taking a closer look I knew I couldn't let it get away. I talked to the current owner and he said that he had purchased it a couple of weeks before from a friend who's father had died and left it to him. The father had bought it new. The current owner had planned on fixing it up but decided on a different project and put it up for sale that day. I actually talked the guy down to $650. When I got it, it was a bone stock survivor with nothing missing. I drove it home.

[LostMy65]

I told my; 'How I found my Truck' for my 66 above.

How I found my 65 back in 82/83 was I had worked the summer with my dad doing landscaping. I didn't expect to get paid, because my dad never paid me for working either on the farm or helping with his landscaping business. I was always expected to work just for being a member of the family.
I didn't even get an allowance as some kids got.
After the summer was over, I was thinking of going back down to California to live with my grandparents. My dad called me over to the kitchen table and asked me to sit down.
He said he figured because I worked all summer and didn't ask for any pay, he said he calculates after 'Room & Board' I had about $1200 coming to me. But he said he wasn't going to pay me it, but rather we could go look for a truck. He said I should get a truck.

He wanted me to get a 50 something through 60 something frd.
I didn't like the f:rd trucks for some reason. I wanted a 1967-72 Chevy.
He wanted me to get something even older. I don't remember now why.

It was getting close to time for me to go back to california, and he saw an ad in the Nickle Ads for a 65 like my grandpa's old truck that my uncle owns now.
We made arrangements to go look at it that eve. I loved it at first site.
It was a beautiful deep rich blue and the whole truck was in great shape.
Oh, the truck had slotted mags too.
Sure, the truck was only 17 to 18 years old, but it was obviously well maintained.
I can't remember now if the guy was asking $1100 or $1200. Either way we bought it for what he was asking.

I wrecked it in 84, and then bought a donor and built it back up.
In 85/86 I moved back up here, and sold it in 86/87 --->>> Stupid Me! :cry:

[Chevysdominate]

This whole page is an Oregon and UK love-fest! I must keep this going.

I don't have any good recent picks of my 65' but I found it up the street from my best friends house about 14 years ago. I didn't have the money to buy it but another buddy did. So my buddy Tony bought the truck so that down the road I could purchase it from him. About 3-4 months later I got the money together and ripped it from Tony's cold dead hands.

Both Tony and I have had many 60-66 trucks over the last 14 years, but this one was the first.

[LostMy65]

Tony sounds like a great guy.
If I don't have the money when I find my 65, maybe he can buy it and hold it for me until I do

[KIC]

My 1960 Suburban is, and always has been, part of the family. My dad purchased it new in New York in June of 1960 to complete a newer version of 'Go West Young Man". With a 1960 Shasta travel trailer behind the Burb he drove our family out to the wild west of Arizona.

All 3 of us boys learned to drive in that beast. Then after my younger brother parked it after taking out the spark plugs (??? go figure) it sat for many years along side my parents house.

One day my dad called and said the Burb and the trailer had to go..who wanted it ? I took the Burb. Damn well wish I had taken the trailer too. Cool thing is that i still have all the original purchase paperwork, sales literature and mileage log from the New York to Tucson Arizona road trip. (all that can be seen in the build thread linked below)

[fryer1979]

Well, my story is kinda similar to Chevyrestoguy's. As my aquired '65 basket case was turning into a giant paper work mountain, I began looking for a complete truck I could drive and work on as I go, WITH a title. I found my '65 longbed in the Reno Nv craigslist. The old guy I got it from had pulled it from a farm a few years back and got it running. He was driving it to work and back daily until the snow hit. He and his wife were looking into traveling a bit and had just bought a new motor home and tow jeep so he wasn't going to have time to work on the truck. Said all he wanted was for someone to buy it that wanted to restore it and enjoy it as a classic pickup. I took it for a drive, fell in love, made an offer, and drove it home. According to the old guy I am the third owner and the truck spent most of it's life in the high Sierra desert.

While the truck is not a family eirloom or anything, the way I got the cash to buy it makes it very special to me. My grandmother passed recently and left us all with a small inheritance. In my envelope was a letter my grandma had written before she passed. In short (I'll spare all the details), she said that she had hoped that since I was the only one who takes after her late husband (my grandfather), I would take some of the cash and put it into a classic car or truck I would enjoy. None of the rest of my family does much with cars, and my grandpa was always tinkering and building old hot rods. To me that truck means more than any other thing I could have been left, cuz I'm always riding with grandpa and grandma.

Here she is just a day or two after getting her home.

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by fryer1979

Well, my story is kinda similar to Chevyrestoguy's. As my aquired '65 basket case was turning into a giant paper work mountain, I began looking for a complete truck I could drive and work on as I go, WITH a title. I found my '65 longbed in the Reno Nv craigslist. The old guy I got it from had pulled it from a farm a few years back and got it running. He was driving it to work and back daily until the snow hit. He and his wife were looking into traveling a bit and had just bought a new motor home and tow jeep so he wasn't going to have time to work on the truck. Said all he wanted was for someone to buy it that wanted to restore it and enjoy it as a classic pickup. I took it for a drive, fell in love, made an offer, and drove it home. According to the old guy I am the third owner and the truck spent most of it's life in the high Sierra desert.

While the truck is not a family eirloom or anything, the way I got the cash to buy it makes it very special to me. My grandmother passed recently and left us all with a small inheritance. In my envelope was a letter my grandma had written before she passed. In short (I'll spare all the details), she said that she had hoped that since I was the only one who takes after her late husband (my grandfather), I would take some of the cash and put it into a classic car or truck I would enjoy. None of the rest of my family does much with cars, and my grandpa was always tinkering and building old hot rods. To me that truck means more than any other thing I could have been left, cuz I'm always riding with grandpa and grandma.

Here she is just a day or two after getting her home.
Attachment 780161

Great story
Your grandma did you right.
Posted via Mobile Device

[mweishaa]

After years of driving older BMWs (including on the track), I decided I needed a truck. So I looked on CL and found the one I wanted....a 1996 Ford Ranger extended cab. I emailed the guy, he was looking for a car, so we worked out a trade. Tags were good for 4 more months. Sure enough, a month before the tags expired the check engine light came on. Can't even get tested for emissions like that. I won't go into it all, but after several months, parts, and $$ I was fed up with it. I put it up on CL priced to sell (full disclosure of the issue). Several bites, but no takers.

So I started to look for what I wanted on CL. I figured it worked once before. So I found a 1964 GMC pickup. I've always loved old trucks, learned to drive a stick on my dad's 60s Chevy 3 on the tree. Turns out the guy with the '64 used to have the EXACT same truck as I have, and was what he was looking to get. He wanted to trade. I checked out his truck, it ran great. He had put a little $ into getting it running well. We set up a time a week later for his mechanic to check out my truck. The next day some guy shows up at my door, cash in hand and offered me what I was asking for my truck and I jumped on it. I then bought the '64.

Here's a pic of it when I looked at it...



More pics and how it looks now in my intro post:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=476330

[Clyde65]

Well, my story starts a while back, I got out of the Army in Sept 1989, when I got back home, I was looking for a truck that I could afford yet still is reliable. I looked at a bunch of trucks then and even looked at a 72 Chevy SWB, man I loved that truck, but the guy wanted $4K for it, which I thought was fair, but no way I could get that amount.

I found an add in the local newspaper for a 65 chevy truck, needs engine work, $900. so I called the guy and went to look at it. he told me he just drove it back from the OK panhandle and this is where it stopped.

The body was fair, no real rot only a couple spots so that was good, it did run but had oil in the rad and water in the oil, not good. I told him no way was I taking that thing, too much to deal with.
So I walked away. next day he calls and said he has to get rid of it or someone will tow it off, he would take $300 and pull it to where ever I needed it taken to. I bought it. I tore into it imediately replaced the brakes, block and rad, a little wiring and we were ready for a drive, I drove the truck just like that until 2002 when I parked it for a resto mod, and actually I have been doing the restomod and part time driving it since.

[k1rodeoboater]

My story is super exciting (not really)...I specifically wanted a stepside, longbed, 64-66 Chevy or GMC truck. My only criterea is that it had to be driveable as I don't have a vehicle that can tow it. Found one after a few months of looking on and off on Craigslist. I drove out with my buddy and a set of good wheels, and that night we drove 3hrs back with me in the truck. I was lucky it made it too...otherwise I'd have been SOL.

[awbrown]

Well , have you ever wondered "where that old truck I had is".. Well I was thinking that on the trip we were making home to the great state of Maine ..
It started life as a 72 chevy long bed , but when the farm was done abusing it it was put out back in the farm junk yard .. too many people had gotten the old three speed stuck between gears and I think everyone gave up on it .. So one day I threw a battery in it and it fired up , after rocking back and forth I got it out of it's rest area... My intentions were to graft a 3/4 ton rear end and frame from another truck to it so I had a wrecker .. I was just starting out and was short on cash .. the frame was wider , but I welded one side and rigged the other side so it worked ... this served me well til I found a newer 4 wheel drive truck ...in the mean time I had secured a 78 chevy short bed for the cab to use on the new wrecker so I was left with the rear section.. So I fired up the torches and cut it off in the right place,removed the 3/4 frame from the 72 frame and grafted them together...next I found a 67 nose and got it running and drove the wheels off it ... Then a customer started pestering me to buy it ,finally I relented and sold it to him.. He painted it teal with orange scallops and had every conceiveable dangly thing hanging in the cab .. I told him it looked like Elvis have done the inside of the cab... well i lost track of the truck and knew that the guy had died ,but never did find out who ended up with the truck...

Well when we were home I wanted my son to see what real work was like so my brother was haying some fields we hayed when we were his age so I got him off to the field .. after some sweat and work we took a break and nature called , so I took a few steps into the woods and thought I made out a chevy truck off in the distance turned arond and took about 10 paces back to go to work again and said "that looks like it is teal" .. Sure enogh when I got close enough it was teal and it did have ornage faded scallops.. Sure enough it was my old truck ,still had the green cab interior (the farm had all its trucks painted meadow green) still had the 6 cylinder and had leaf spring rear suspention and I could make out where the frame was welded .. they had replaced the bed with a fleet side .. of course it need everything you would expect an old truck would need to but it was all there minus the stepside bed...

[sigshooter]

My Grandpa bought this one new in 1965, I worked on the farm for him part of a summer when I was 16 for it. I drove the truck some in high school and quit a couple years later when I got married and had kids ( no seat belts ). I started back to work on it last year and have been driving it around, I will tear it down and retore it soon but for now I am enjoying driving it.

The truck is all original ( still no radio, no passenger visor, no inside mirror )I have all the original paperwork and some old love notes to my girlfriend ( now my wife of 22 years ) talking about the truck and what we are going to do with it to get it running.

[purzell]

At work one day in a mobile home park, I see the old girl peeking out next to a trailer. The guy says it has to go ASAP and the crusher offered him $200. He wants $300 and it's non-op'd since 2008. A AAA tow later it came home with me. Fresh fluids, valve adjustment, runs and drives. My 4 y.o. son loves it and calls it his own. 1966 GMC long stepper with 351 V6, super solid running driving project.

[txinliner]

Originally Posted by geezer#99

A couple years ago after I bought my 67 gmc and joined this forum I saw a post from hb32. He was looking for an Offy intake for his 230 in his 65. I pm'd him. I had one I'd acquired along with a clifford valve cover on ebay. He lived in Surrey (Vancouver suburb). I told him I'd gift it to him. Early xmas present.
Anywho along about then I sold my 67 to my retired buddy Jack who lives in the same area. Jack took the intake home when he came over to pick up the 67 and hb32 picked it up. About a month later I'm looking on craig's for another truck and spy hb32's old green 65 on there. I emailed him. Got the sad story about mid-life crisis and needing money for a little red vette. Told him I'd buy his truck only if I got the Offy for FREE!!
A few days later the deal was done. Offy looks and runs great.
So in the end it's all about the connection people have because of this awesome forum.
Oh yes. His little red vette is awesome too!!

oh i dig it, i got my c10 8 years ago from my aunt after my uncle passed away. the truck worked on there peach farm in north east texas and was driven to work for 2 years, i got it with 32,000 miles on the 230 stovebolt and put about 12,000 on since i got it. btw how do you like the 4bl intake on the inliner? looks like a hot water unit

[Chad215]

Cool Thread!

I bought mine off a used lot in '92. It already had a 350/350 in it. Worked on it a bit, got it running and drove it though high school. Threw a rod in 95 and got it towed to my dad's house.
He wanted to bring it back to its old glory, so I gave it to him and went off to the army.
'round the beginning of 2011 he hadn't done much to the old truck. It was still in his backyard, now with a 305v8 just so it could be moved if it needed to be moved. Dad asked me to help sell it for him, and when I saw it sitting there, I knew I couldn't let it go so I packed it up and brought her home.
Been at my house for over a year getting some slow but much needed TLC. Still has tags from '95. So I guess in a way, I've owned this truck twice now over at 20 years.

[LDO]

MY STORY HERE

[rustyrodknocker]

Well I can't be the only one but remember the truck trader? I was more hooked on them 25 years ago than I am on Craig's now . And that's bad. I picked it up from a young guys who grandfather had built him a motor for it. Then passed away before it was installed. Had been sitting for several years with the motor laying in the engine compartment. I wenches it on a trailer with a handyman jack and hauled it home. Put the motor in the next day drained 8 quarts of water out of the crank case and fired it up and drove it for a few years. Got tired of pouring oil in it and pulled the motor . Cylinders 1,3,5,7 were rusted from laying on its side full of water for years. I had bought a k5 out of a guys back yard he said it ran a few years prior. Fired it up and drove almost home when one of the rear wheels past me. ( check those lug nuts fellas). Chased the wheel down and put it back on. Pulled all the good stuff off the blazer and sold it for what I paid and have ran that free motor for 5 years primary transportation.
Posted via Mobile Device

[rustbucket66]

My story is a bit odd also. Originally bought my 66 from a close friend who has a collection of old chevy and GMC trucks. He had got it from the original owner, green with a white roof, custon cab. It was love at first sight. Minor rust, did a complete resto, won a first at the World of Wheels in 83. Took our honeymoon in it, and lots of memories. We called it "Old Billy", after the name of the original owner. I really enjoyed driving it for a while with the original six, and 3 on the tree. I think we should all experience what they are like to drive original, before all the modifications we do. Sold it in 86 to spend the money on another project. Fast forward 13 years, I meet the guy that bought it from me. He had been out of province for 12 years, and had moved back recently. I nagged him for it and after a couple weeks, he called and said I could buy it back. Sold a nicely restored 75 Silverado that ran good, to buy a tired 66 back that didn't run. Makes no sense right? It gets worse, my old truck was complete as it was when I sold it, but completely party'd out and rusted out. He had put over 100,000 miles on it, kept it outside all the time, and drove it every day, winter and summer. Her said it was the best vehicle he ever had, only a starter and waterpump over the 13 years. Now I am restoring it for the second time. This time the floors, all the cab mounts, inner and outer rockers, cab corners, parts of the firewall, inner and outer fenders, header panel, and rad support all rusted out. Spent a whole winter just taking the cab apart and welding in new panels. Getting somewhere now, and I am getting a rare chance in life to fix a mistake I once made long ago, by selling it. It will be better than ever this time, same colors, same wheels, 283 and a powerglide. It don't get more reliable than that combination, Chevy tough.

[roushinator]

My truck was owned by a drug dealer. He had the motor built and used it to run drugs. He got busted and truck was sold at a Sheriff's auction. My friend's cousin bought it and drove it for a while. He died and my friend bought the truck from his uncle. He drove it for a while and it developed some carb problems so he parked it at his moms house. I would talk to him from time to time about it and asked him if he wanted to sell. That is how i got it.