Reading Paul’s 30th anniversary with his ’66 F100 was a treat and sparked memories of my long term relationship with my ’70 C10, owned from 1976 to 2006. I was working for a VW dealership in Hollywood, Ca. and my co-worker told me I needed to sell my ’66 VW Fastback I was driving at the time and buy his truck. The Fastback was my replacement car after the buggered Sport Bug was sold. I bought the VW for $600 with a rebuilt longblock that was not installed. After I got it running, the car was in great original condition with about 60k miles on it, but I had in high school owned a ’65 C10, and this truck was offered to me for only $1000 with around 60k miles on it. I sold the VW for $1000 and bought his truck which he had owned it since new.
It was a base longbed, 307 V8, 3 on tree, armstrong steering and non power drum brakes. It had the custom upgrade, which gave it chrome around the windshield and back glass, along with chrome front bumper. Also had oil pressure, temp and amp gauges, the third and final option was heavy duty rear coil springs. The paint job was peeling in typical GM fashion, and the cloth seat had a tear, but the body was straight and the truck ran well. When I drove it home the first night, it stalled out on Barham Road by the Hollywood Bowel. Raising the hood revealed a pinhole leak in a heater hose that was directly squirting the distributor, drowning out the ignition! Not off to a good start, but a little tape and drying out the inside of the cap got me home. At U Pull I found shoulder belts off a ’68 Opel Kadette that matched the lap belts, since the Chevy had mounting points I installed these and a center lap belt as well.
I drove it daily for 4 years with the intention of getting a VW as daily once gas reached the crazy price of $1.00 a gallon! In 1979 gas hit the magic number, and it was a now weekend and hauling only machine, or a backup when the VW was down. I found another ’66 VW Fastback in ’79 for $300 with the engine in a box, and rope towed it home with the Chevy and the VW”s seller steering the engineless car to my house.
By this time I was working in Santa Monica, and rebuilt the VW’s engine in the dealerships shop, when finished the engine came home in the back of the truck and was installed over the weekend, this was the end of daily driving for the truck.
the Kensill trailer after I sold it
I had a ’69 Kenskill 19ft travel trailer that I bought in 1980, I rented it out in the backyard of the house I was renting. it was my first land lord experience; my landlord wasn’t thrilled about this and raised my rent a little, but I still came out ahead. In 1985 I moved to Santa Maria for a job, and decided to live in the trailer at a KOA.
By this time the truck had about 90k miles on it, and one day when I started it the engine developed a deep knock. I thought it was the bearings but a mechanic at work noticed the knock was actually the timing chain slapping the cover. The fiber gears were worn, so new steel gears and chain, along with a rebuilt waterpump since it was off, fixed the issue. The 3 speed transmission was replaced by me with a 4 speed Saginaw and Hurst floor shifter as well; towing was useless going uphill with the huge gap between second and third, the extra gear made all the difference climbing hills. Instead of being stuck in second at 30 MPH, the same hill in 3rd was good for 45-50 MPH, and better engine braking as well.
Fast forward to 1989, a new girlfriend and I decided to move to Washington state where parents and friends had recently moved; we were getting burnt out on LA, so we hitched up the trailer and headed north. By the time I got over the Grapevine, the engine developed a miss and lost some power, but we pressed on. Every time we stopped for gas, I would hear a strange gurgling sound under the bed of the truck. By the time we reached Shasta, I noticed the front of the trailer was covered in oil, pulled into a rest stop and heard the same gurgling noise.
in 1995
I had blown out the original muffler by turning off the ignition going down steep hills and scaring the drivers going up the hill by turning the key back on as they passed by, and after amusing my friends, like Paul, I blew out the muffler, blowing the seam wide open. I had a muffler shop install a glasspack, and the tailpipe on our trip had broken right next to the diff pumpkin, and hot exhaust was blasting on the diff, boiling out the gear oil; this explained the gurgling sound. I rigged an auto parts store flex exhaust pipe away from the pumpkin, and refilled the diff with 140wt gear oil. It was noisy, but got us to Washington.
By the time we arrived the engine was missing badly as well. Three exhaust valves were burnt; unleaded fuel had destroyed the valve seats. I think Paul’s newer engine in his ’66 probably has hardened seats for unleaded gas since he has had no valve problems, unlike me. I found a shop that did the whole valve job for $400, and found a rear end at a u pull for $100 that I changed myself; this got the truck running well once again.
Both my job and girlfriend were gone by 1991. I had sold the Kenskill trailer and bought a 32ft ’76 Layton 5th wheel trailer, and installed a used 5th wheel hitch I found in the newspaper. It was a great design that had 2 side rails that mounted to the floor and wheel housings, so when the hitch was lifted out you still had full use of the bed.
I planned to move out of the trailer park and back to LA in ’91 I was out of money and had a job offer in a Reseda VW dealership. I took the truck to a RV repair shop and had the hitch mountings extended under the truck and welded to the frame, and had wiring installed in the bed for the brakes and lights on the ’32 ft 5th wheel. One thing I didn’t do was install overload springs, so the back of the truck rode almost to the rubber stops from the weight of the trailer.
in 1995
The 5th wheel towed nice, and the truck ran well heading south, but I noticed when using the turn signals the truck seemed to lurch in time with the blinkers. So I quit using the blinkers and all was well, at least until I got to the top of the Siskiyou Pass and started heading downhill. Shifted down to 3rd, was still picking up speed, and as I braked the pedal got rock hard and smoke started rolling off the trucks wheels. Holy Niedemeyer, the trailer brakes had failed!
But the newly rebuilt transmission stayed in gear, and down to second I went. The engine sounded like it was going to fly apart, but my speed was held to the flow of traffic, at least in the left lane. That is, until a lady in the right lane decided to pull in front of me. By this time I had both feet on the rock hard brake pedal and my hands were turning blue holding on to the wheel. I hit the horn and no sound; it had quit working. At the last second she saw me on her bumper and pulled back into the right lane. I rode all the way down the road in second, smoke rolling off the brakes and out the tailpipe a as the engine over revved like crazy. The next 20 minutes down the road to the bottom seemed more like 20 years!
with nephew in 1995
As the road flattened out, I pulled off the first exit into a gas station. As I walked around the truck and trailer, I found a flat tire on the trailer as well; thank God it was a tandem axle and the other tire held. The truck’s wiring was smoked, and the battery was dead. I put the trailer spare on, walked across the street and bought a new battery; the truck started and I was directed to a RV repair shop a few miles down the road and drove in. The guy was closing for the night but allowed me to park on his lot and plug in for the night.
He was super cool; he discovered the back of the trailer plug had been rubbing the tire because the truck sat so low and had oversize rear tires, shorting out the wiring for the brakes and lights. He repaired all the trailer wiring as I repaired the smoked wiring under the hood, along with a new alternator. The brakes had got so hot the springs lost all their tension, so I installed all new brakes springs on all four wheels as well. The trailer’s flat was due to the rim rusting out from the inside. I don’t remember the total cost, but it was not cheap when all was said and done. The engine had thrown 3 quarts of oil over revving down the hill but still ran well. Small block Chevy’s are tough old birds.
Around 1995 I moved my terminally ill sister (AIDS) and her son from San Diego to Washington to live with our parents with my truck and a U haul trailer, along with my ’85 Yamaha 700 Maxium motorcycle I brought along to get registered. I still had a Washington license and needed to have the motorcycle I bought in California inspected in Washington to get plates. Took a few nice rides up the mountain roads on the bike as well.
In ’97 the Chevy did its last long haul, towed my 3rd trailer (and home), a 29ft 1974 Pioneer 5th wheel from LA to my rental house the parents found for me, then back to Napa with a u haul trailer to move my niece and her family up to Vancouver as well. Dad came along to follow in my car and her car during the moves. The truck ran flawlessly, but used a few quarts of oil. Wound up buying the rental house in ’98; still here today.
Early on I installed an electric fuel pump, and the pump would always fill the carb bowel right up and start the engine every time, even after sitting for weeks. In 2004 I bought a brand new Titan pickup; thought long and hard about restoring the old Chevy but knew to do it right would cost more than a new truck. The higher lift even with 2wd is a pain, but it’s comfortable, road trips are great and it has a back seat. The Chevy was starting to smoke and the steering was so loose a quarter turn of the wheel did nothing. It read 60k miles, in 30 years I put 100k miles on her, probably half were in the first 4 years as a daily driver. Sold it in 2006 for $1500, $500 more than I paid 30 years ago. I told the new owner to call me first if he ever sold it.
nephew in 1995
I probably rambled on way too long, but it was a great machine and served me well, although Paul’s Ford was more trouble free for sure. I went through probably at least four clutches, 3 alternators and 2 starters, Chief Auto Parts always honored the lifetime warranty on these parts! Had the radiator recored for $75.00 once, and replaced 2 heater cores. I still miss the old Chevy, would be 41 years now had I kept it. 12 MPG was all the Chevy averaged, about 7 MPG towing the trailers, best ever was 17 MPG at 55 MPH on a flat highway with the tailgate down and the right side mirror removed.
When I was a kid my dad had a 69′ Chevy CST-10, power steering & brakes, factory A/C, DeLuxe black vinyl interior, and 3 on the tree!
The only real problems it ever had that I know of was that the shift lever was some kind of chromed pot metal and broke more than once.
When it happened the first time we were on our way to San Leon Texas from Houston and Pop figured out that a Phillips head screwdriver would get him first and second gears so we limped into San Leon in second and had to drive back from San Leon to Houston with first and second only.
That was a LONG trip, I think top speed was in the high 20 MPH range.
I know it happened at least one more time and Pop would take the broken lever and re machine the base of it and reinstall it, (he was a gunsmith)…
When he traded it in the lever was very short and looked very strange hiding behind the steering wheel.
He traded it in 1980 on a used 79′ Ford SuperCab which was also a great truck.
P.S. The factory A/C in that 69′ Chevrolet KILLED….
That’s me in front of the truck in Lee County Texas (close to Giddings) around 1971.
I still have the three speed shifter handle in my toolbox. The linkage jammed occasionally, but the handle never broke, but soon after I bought it I converted the 3 speed to the floor with a Indy (cheap Hurst) shifter.
I often wondered if that broken lever thing happened to many people and it apparently did not.
I found a picture from 1976 with the C10, still has the stock mirrors and wheels. Not me in the picture, an old friend.
A terrific story about a stout pickup. This generation of Chevrolet pickup has aged quite well.
My grandmother had a ’71 or ’72 C-10 he purchased new. It went away for a ’79 and I never liked the ’79 quite as much.
Back in the day I liked the ’73 up versions better, the dash was nice and the cab seemed roomier. I think the ’67-’72’s were built stronger and less rust prone.
Another wonderful “every old truck has a (lot of) stories” account. Yours reads like a Gus Wilson “Model Garage” episode – in fact the blown muffler boiling out fluids is the plot line in one of the stories.
One of my Uncles had a Chevy truck of this vintage, and was right proud of it (it was a pretty high-trim model from what I remember as a youngster). But our ’69 F-100 outlasted all my Uncle’s trucks, if only because Dad simply couldn’t afford to replace it. (c:
I did seem to have more than my share of Gus Wilson’s mystery mishaps!
Love these trucks but would not own a 1/2 ton. Make mine a 3/4 ton, 68 or 69, with the 396 engine and Turbo 400. 4×4 a bonus. (Yes, I know the big block was N/A with 4×4. Sigh…)
Pulling a fifth wheel trailer behind an old half ton truck? You are lucky to be alive! The biggest difference between the light trucks and the heavier use 3/4 and one ton trucks is the size of the brakes and the strength of the chassis. Especially the brakes. Overloading the truck that way is not a wise choice. I had a ’66 Ford F250 and the brakes were much larger than the F100. I’ve towed a loaded car carrier right at my tow limit of 6,000 lbs. behind my V6 ’07 F150. My truck has four wheel disc brakes but it’s only problem was going up the Cuesta grade coming home from LA. It was very slow at the summit. Wouldn’t want to do that on a regular basis.
Wouldn’t do this today, being older, wiser, and better off financially. But the truck took the abuse quite well, all things considered. Those old truck frames were pretty stout, even in the half ton’s, the brakes were weak without a doubt. The RV shop mounting the 5th wheel electrical plug in the wheel well where the back of the connector was rubbed away by the tire ( disabling the trailer’s 4 wheel brakes) was the downfall. In the picture you can see where the plug was relocated next to the hitch, where it should have been installed originally.
Chevy always did make a great series of pickups, for sure! I owned a ’68 Chevy short bed 1/2 ton with a home-made 302 (had a hi-lift, long-duration ‘3/4-grind cam’ as they said back then) that would really scream. Then my dad owned a ’72 1/2 ton step side (long bed) with a 350 – it was about as trouble-free a vehicle as I have ever encountered.
The toughest Chevy I ever owned was a 1960 Chevy Apache 1/2 ton long bed (wood floor) with overload coil springs, 17.5″ diameter rear wheels and an underdrive unit hooked to its 2-speed Powerglide. It had a four-barrel (a Rochester 4-GC carb), 283 engine and would pull really heavy loads as I ran my little summertime home cleanup/trash removal/yard work business to help pay my school tuition.
It was my first motor vehicle; cost only $400 when I bought her in October 1975. I will always love that light blue Chevy pickup and treasure all the time my father and I worked on her together; he taught me the essentials of competent mechanical workmanship as we would rebuild the carburetor, do a tune-up, do a complete brake job, fix electrical issues, etc, etc.
God bless you, dad; you even loaned me some of the money to buy that old Chevy and even let me keep all the money once she was sold …
I had a ’65 C10 (wood bed floor) in HS that I bought from dad when he bought his new ’74 Duster 225 stripper. It had a 283 3 on tree, I replaced it’s 2 barrel carb with a Quadrajet, it sounded great and used more gas, but mostly it just made the old truck smoke a lot more. It was a strong old beast. Think I paid $500 for it.
Great story. Thank you for sharing. Is the truck you pictured your truck? It appears to be of about ’69 or ’70 vintage based on the front end and side markers. The 1st Chevy Blazer had that front as well. I made a model of it.
Bob
It is a ’70, as stated in the opening paragraph. I made a mistake on the title, which is fixed now.
Thank you Paul. I missed that part on the opening paragraph.
Great story! You even kept the 307?! That was one of Chevy’s least loved small blocks (next to the 267) for some reason.
Wasn’t a bad engine, I had a ’65 C10 in HS with a 283 and the 307 felt stronger, had a ’79 GMC Caballero with a 305 THM, that engine had less power even with the 4 barrel.
I love all of your stories. I never owned a pick up as I always preferred vehicles that could carry more people. As I read each of your articles, the original and the remarks, your collective ingenuity and mechanical abilities are what makes a man great, amongst other attributes that a man can have. Turning a wrench is a special talent. Making your way in life and succeeding is another of those admirable characteristics of your manhood. I had two International Travelalls, a 1965 and a 1968. In the fall of 1985 I purchased a new GMC Safari eight-passenger and ran it for 318,000 miles. It was a tough little truck and comfortable, too. Later I would own a GMC Jimmy, two GMC Envoys and then GMC Acadias. Acadias are great, but with not full frame, they lack that truck feeling. I had no problems bouncing that tough little Safari. One of my Travelalls, the 1968, I accidentally drove into a flood in Bridgeport, CT. This three-way intersection never flooded, well, not until 1969 after a heavy squall. Other vehicles were stopped dead. I revved the 304 CID V-8, pulled her into first gear (which had a 3.5:1 stall torque ratio on the slush box) and gunned it. VOOM. The Travelall’s mighty medium-duty gas engine blew out the water in the exhaust pipe and I moved through the flood and on to home. Cod: I removed the carpets and took them to a carpet cleaner who laundered them. Nothing else happened to the Corn Binder, Jr.
Thanks for your kind remarks. Auto shop in HS was a class I’m really glad I took, my auto shop teacher even set me up for an interview at a VW dealership which was my first job out of school. When moneys tight, a simple old truck that is easy to work on and uses inexpensive parts is a big help.
Great story! These long term vehicles that become ingrained in one’s life story are my favourite. I am amazed that little 307 had the power to pull those trailers.
These were always my dad’s favourite pickups, but he never did buy on over the years. He always wanted a one with a six, three on the tree and a short box. Just a little truck for occasional hauling.
It actually had pretty decent torque, 70 was the last year for the higher compression (9.5.1). HP was 200 gross, 157 net, according to the owners manual. In ’71 the compression was lowered, but also got the hardened valve seats mine lacked. The 4 speed really made the difference.
I love those old chevy trucks. When you need something reliable, that will just run and run, and take you anywhere, nothing beats those old trucks…i got the hand me down 94 1500 a few years back…my dad bought it in 2001 for 5 grand…at 300k, it still starts right up…took me through highschool and college and now takes me to work…i always work on it, new parts when it needs it much like your 70. Maybe ill have it still in 30 years…
Looks like a keeper to me!
This is a CC that I have been waiting to read for several years now. I am glad you took the time and effort to type it up, as I immensely enjoyed reading it. The 67-72 Chevy/GMC trucks have always been my favorite pickups. I owned three back in the mid to late 1990s when they were still affordable used trucks. The first was a 70 Chevy 1/2 ton with a 350 and 3 speed I converted to the floor. It had a wood flat bed on it. Second was a 69 Chevy 1/2 ton long bed with a 194 straight 6 and a powerglide transplanted from a 68 Chevelle. The third, and my favorite, was a 68 GMC 1/2 ton short bed. It had a 327, 4 speed, and heavy duty leaf spring suspension. All were cheap trucks at the time. I bought a used chainsaw a couple of weeks ago to dispose of some tree trunks at my father’s place. The guy’s girlfriend’s grandfather had three trucks in the barn next to their house: an 85 Chevy, a 40something International, and a white 70 Chevy nearly identical to yours. 307, 3 speed on column. It had rally wheels and bucket seats with a center console. No rust anywhere. Tag expired in 2001. Looked like biased belted tires on it. Sadly, not for sale…well, I couldn’t afford it at this point in life anyway. Maybe I can go out and snap some pics to share on here. Also, during senior year of high school and the beginning of freshman year of college I had a 71 Nova with a 307 and powerglide. I liked the 307, it was rev happy and had plenty of power for those things teenage me did back then!
It would be great to see some pictures of the truck, especially being identical to my old Chevy.
I agree with Rod, glad you wrote your truck up after reading about it in the comments section for a while now. I’m obviously a big fan of these trucks too! Also enjoyed the story about the Sport Bug. Great writing and the do it yourself aspect of your stories is a bonus for those of us who love that sort of thing!
Great story, not too long .
The interest is in the details of how you managed things .
Indeed these were great little trucks, GM made them in so many different specifications so you could order it to be like a car or an anvil with wheels for seriously hard work .
-Nate
Thanks, Nate. Your 6 cylinder Stepside is looking good.
Very fond memories of my Dad’s ’69 Panel bought in 1974 for $900, It was a retired Esso home comfort (Furnace repair) van, with the 250/6 and armstrong everything. I think the only option was the full bench seat. Very reliable and peppy, until the rust got too bad and Ontario required a “safety certificate” to license it, which was a license for the garage to fleece you blind or upsell a new vehicle.
Great old panel, so happy I have lived in no salt states and haven’t had to deal with body rot.
That “Impeach Clinton” sticker sure is funny to see since I was too young to remember those. Thank you for the write up.