’74 Chevrolet C20 image from the Cohort by nifticus392.
While I was carless after our wedding, Barbara did have a grey ‘71 Pontiac LeMans pillared two-door coupe with a 350 engine and automatic that she had found after my ’68 Opel burned. The car was a complete unknown to me, but she did tell me that on her first day driving it the brakes failed, and had to have the master cylinder replaced.
We shared that car, actually, and I took it over when we moved into a city apartment and she got a job at a local hospital that was on a bus route. Later that winter the LeMans refused to start and I was given a company car in lieu of a raise. Meanwhile, the LeMans stayed at the shop until spring when warm weather cured what was probably a frozen gas line.
In February of 1979, we decided to go on a mission program and determined to shop for a pickup truck to carry our necessities into a new city we were moving to. We settled on a ‘75 Chevy C20 with the 292 inline 6 and three on the tree manual. It was a farmer special with a wood bed, AM radio, heater, and trailer towing mirrors. The LeMans was sold to a friend and I put a bed cap on the pickup in preparation for loading up and moving to Utah on a one-year church mission trip.
We quit our jobs and headed to Logan, Utah; a quiet college town (Go, USU Cowboys!). The first morning in town, I got a job at the truck tire operation of the largest Michelin tire dealer in the Rocky Mountains. I worked part-time, and Barbara got a job at a local diner.
Logan Canyon, image source: Wikipedia.
The town was so small that when she applied for her job in the afternoon she was asked if she was related to the new tireman at Jack’s Tire. It was a wonderful time for us, a fresh start and no distractions for us as newlyweds. We learned to enjoy the high desert between the Wasatch and Rocky Mountains.
We used truck tire tubes on the slopes when there was infrequent snow and in the waters of the Logan River/Aquaduct that fed irrigation throughout the Cache Valley. The truck was mechanically sound but quickly became terminally rusty. That was a common fault for this family of GM trucks, especially the bottoms of the doors.
“…in 1980 the truck appeared to be polka-dotted with brown spots.”
I tried naval jelly to kill the rust and then primed the bare spots. Nothing worked and by the time we got back to New York in 1980 the truck appeared to be polka-dotted with brown spots. Still, it was mechanically reliable and hauled us back and forth to California in mid-winter with four people in the cab and six under the cap in the back (all kept warm by the exhaust system running right under the bed).
After Utah, we debated where to go next. We explored Delaware and Long Island but decided to go back to Syracuse, where we stayed with my parents until I found a job. Barbara got a ride from my father to a secretarial job and I commuted to another factory in East Syracuse in the pickup. This continued until we moved into an apartment nearby. Barbara carpooled with my father to a clerical job until problems with her first pregnancy confined her to bed for two months. In the spring she took the pickup to her local job and I carpooled with a neighbor until she quit to have our first child.
…
The pickup’s body continued to deteriorate despite my best efforts to stem the corrosion. At this point with 150k miles, the C20 had long since been paid for but we deferred replacing it as we were saving for a house, which we bought shortly after we became parents.
With the arrival of our firstborn, we decided for Barbara to stay home and me to focus on my career as a shipping manager for a custom industrial equipment manufacturer. I also cut trees and sold firewood on the side, tasks that took a toll on the pickup. Having one car and two jobs, we were putting a lot of miles on the truck with Barbara driving me to work in the morning and picking me up if she had to go anywhere during the day. Also, getting the child’s car seat into the truck was not easy.
It was time to consider a second family car…
Related CC reading:
In Motion Capsule: 1971 Chevrolet C20 Custom Fleetside – Old Bluey
Curbside Outtake: 1971-72 Chevrolet Longhorn Custom Camper Pickup With 8’6″ Bed
Great life story, reminding I need write a story about my college 1967 red fastback 390 powered Mustang. I wish I had more picture, but I did even own a camera in those days.
Hauling six people to CA in the bed of your pickup? Were you a coyote? (Just kidding)
Quite the chapter of your lives. I think it would be difficult to replicate that nowadays as housing has become so much more expensive. It used to be easy to just move into a new town, get jobs and a place to live. Not so much so anymore.
That’s a great next chapter. My dad’s cousin had one same color as your cohort photo, I recall him driving around with his family of 4 in it.
When I lived in Blenheim Ontario in the early 90’s there were Mexican Mennonite families who worked on the area farms. It was not unusual to see a pickup with a cap and Mexico plates with the parents and baby in the cab and the other 8 kids on benches in the bed.
We had a shortbed in the same color configuration as the photo, but different mirrors I think, and a TON of rust. 6, 3/tree, AM radio with a FM converter. Its what I learned to drive on. Always reliable, but replaced with a 83 Ranger 4×4 V-6 5-spd that dad ordered, blue and white longbed with dual fuel tanks.
Great story/chapter. Echoing Paul’s comment, I’m not sure who I feel sorrier for…the 4 people in the truck cab riding from CA to NY, or the 6 people riding in the back. That’s some real Grapes of Wrath style road-tripping.
At least with the column-shift someone wasn’t constantly getting smashed in the leg every time you needed to shift.
Yep ;
Another well written story about long past times .
IMO these were the last really serious trucks GM made, sadly the bean counters made sure they rusted to bits even in Los Angeles .
Looking forward to what came next .
-Nate
A BIL got an 80 with the 6 and an auto when it was probably 10-15 years old. It is getting its third major body overhaul. He loves the truck that much.