I recently recalled a CC article where the author shared his experiences with driving early 1970s Chevrolet cabs. He went on to tell of their lack of power, handling and proper maintenance.
This began me thinking back of one of the first jobs I held: delivery driver for Wally’s Farm and Garden Center in Fort Myers, Florida.
The year was 1982, I had just graduated high school and was 19. Looking at things as a 61-year-old, I’m simply amazed at the way our trucks were pushed to, and oftentimes over the safety threshold. However, by some miracle, in my almost 3 years there, I was never pulled over for anything.
The business owner was Wally, a very kind man who grew hybrid Hibiscus plants. And I mean award-winning, just beautiful plants. Wally had a passion for anything that grew and he had an extensive nursery. Then, there was my direct boss, Roscoe. I learned to respect the man with the 6th-grade education. He had quit school to help his dad support the family, so he unloaded box cars. He handled all things vehicle, pick up and deliveries. Another fine gentleman.
One thing we carried was bulk cypress mulch, and we sold so many full truckloads of it. The truck for the mission was a well-worn 1972 F350 with a 300 inline-six and a four-speed with a low first great. The bed was between 10-12’ in length and about 5-6’ wide.
Wally, never the one to understand, or even care about vehicles or proper safety standards, asked my boss Roscoe to build the sides up high enough to allow 14 cubic yards to be hauled at a time. So Roscoe used a steel U channel in each of the stake holes and built the sides with 2×6 boards, fastening them to the channels with carriage bolts, nuts and washers. The rear gate was a one-piece unit that swung to the curbside because, you know, having a one-piece 6’ wide gate lends itself well to tight spaces, like the smallish streets of Sanibel Island (a place I must have driven back and forth to some 700,090 times.)
This chart, borrowed from the Internet, gives the best visual.
So, as one can see, this looks relatively safe, giving the height and the excessive weight. Seems fine. I don’t know what the rear axle ratio was, or just how hard we really were on this vehicle. I do know that when second gear was selected, it made a noise something like a spoon dropping into a running garbage disposal.
The only issue I ever had with the F350 was the muffler trying to leave the scene by coming free from the piece of chain that held it together with the front half. It eventually did. And on quiet, peaceful Sanibel Island. So that made me popular with the neighbors. That would be fixed in the next six weeks, right after a customer called Wally to complain about the noise.
Those were budget-friendly vehicles!
The other major player in our up-to-date fleet was a 1973 GMC 7000. Wally needed a truck and decided it would be best to buy a used unit from Trans Florida Express Company, because it would not be too worn out or anything…
The GMC could be heard rusting away if you were quiet enough. Also, the truck had been on fire.
It seems the reason I was hired was because of the total lack of any common sense of the man I replaced. The story was told that while driving back from delivering a Purina Chow order in Naples, he was sitting at the stop light waiting to turn from US 41 and onto Gladiolus Drive. Suddenly, the 366 engine caught fire in a big way.
There was a Mobile service station on the corner so, not knowing really what to do, he jumped out and ran to the station. However, instead of asking for either help to put out the fire, or even if they had an extinguisher, he handed the clerk a quarter, wanting change so that he could put a dime into the pay phone to call Wally for instructions on what to do.
Thankfully a mechanic in the service bay saw the fire and ran out with a large fire extinguisher. He was able to put the fire out, but not before all the wiring was burned.
I remember looking at the gauge cluster for the first time. All of the orange needles were amazingly still in place and appeared to have been passed over an open flame, just charring them enough to look slightly burnt.
Since the truck was now completely inoperative, it was towed to our mechanic. Kevin, the mechanic, was a laid-back person who had done work on all of Wally’s vehicles for many years, and had a real understanding of how best to handle things for Wally, like running things like replacement engines by him. Wally just wanted the bottom dollar and how soon could they be pressed back into service!
Knowing that we were a rather large retailer of Purina Chow, Kevin also knew that this truck hauled some serious weight. So he found a fitting replacement: a Chevrolet 454 with a 4-barrel carb and dual exhaust. What a torque monster. I believe that truck could take a building off its foundation!
We picked up our loads of feed from a larger warehouse about an hour north, and we usually made the trip to pick up a load every 2 to 3 weeks. Normally Roscoe would take care of this, but occasionally I would pinch-hit. My turn came around and it was the first time I had taken the GMC monster out on the freeway.
So Roscoe gave me some helpful advice on how to drive the thing and what to look for. Due to not having a fuel gauge and only being able to guess that it got 2 to 3 miles to the gallon anytime we drove that truck it was filled with gas.
Roscoe explained to me that the only way to tell the speed was when you hit 55 the front of the aluminum box would buckle back and forth repeatedly. He said that was about the fastest. I should drive the truck because it really didn’t have any front work done on it and didn’t have the best tires. That was fine with me. I didn’t feel I needed to try pushing it any faster than that anyway.
I arrived earlier than normal on a Wednesday morning to make the trip. I wanted to check the oil to make sure everything looked OK and top off the gas tank. I hopped up into the cab and was just about to turn the key when a rat came out from under the seat, ran up my leg across my stomach and out my arm through the permanently down window on the driver door. I believe the rat was about the size of Ohio! Roscoe thought it might be smaller!
Anyway, we made sure there was no other vermin family living in the truck and I went about my business.
I started up 75 north towards my destination and sure enough, the front of the box buckled constantly. I knew that I was at about the right speed and it actually drove pretty well. The only issue was that the transmission was the original four speed with the granny low first gear. Therefore, you could only go about 4mph in first.
When I got to the feed store, I was simply told to back up to the dock and that it would be loaded for me. Now I’m not the best at understanding loads and weight, but I’m pretty sure I was driving back with a load that was probably over the weight limit. Allow me to explain and maybe you all can tell me.
Think about the average size of a feed bag. They weighed in at 50 lbs and were stacked 10 high on plastic pallets that were a few inches bigger than the bags. So I had two rows of that stack, nose to tail. As near as I can figure, that would be about 15 stacks on each side, or 30 stacks total.
So 300 bags times 50 pounds each should total about 15,000 pounds.
On my way back, I was coming under the overpass of 75 and could see about a half mile before the overpass was a convoy of five dump trucks. I wanted to see if I could get into the traffic without making any of them move over.
I pressed the accelerator stick to the plywood covering the gaping hole in the floor and rowed through the gears. That four-barrel was sucking in as much air as it could. I was almost to the end of the ramp when I put it into fourth gear and I did it!
Man, I was feeling dapper. And now I was really impressed with that ole GMC. (And what is my daily driver? An 18 Sierra!)
I was about 15 minutes from the store when a terrible storm came through. Remember the always-down driver’s door window? Yeeeaaah!
But I did learn a life lesson. The box on that truck was always kept dry and I was told not to unload until the rain stopped. Wally explained that if any of the feed got wet, and got mold or mildew, and an animal ingested it, that animal could get very sick. And that was a very big liability for Wally.
Anyway, I want to wrap this up by saying that I really enjoyed that job. It helped me grow, taught me some morals, and allowed me to work for Wally, who I would later learn served at the Battle of the Bulge. And Roscoe was active in the National Guard. Those men have passed away. But I can still share my memories
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1973 Ford F-350 Super Camper Special – Ford Goes Camping In A Superlative Way
Fine story!
Sounds like Wally understood the way to keep a business going. Hibiscus for the prestige, mulch and feed for the cash flow. Too many companies fail because they stick to the prestige, so there’s no Plan B when the prestige item goes out of style.
Worked part time as a mover post military retirement for a company that used mostly second handed U-Haul GMC moving trucks. The 454’s offspring, the Vortex 8100’s, were monsters. The dang trucks were too fast for their own good. They were governed at 75 mph, but one in the fleet had a faulty governor- and with would easily bury the 85 mph speedo, while violently shaking on it’s bald retreads like a space capsule on re-entry. We often were running late to the 2nd and 3rd jobs. Can see how our GMC’s, while evolved, are basically the same thing as the early ones.
Thanks for this write-up! I’ve got family (mostly the Elders) in SW Florida. I love the área, you can still find that funky, old style, offbeat Florida alive and well.
41 and Gladiolus! Know that intersection well. During snowbird season, it often takes 15-20 minutes to get through.
Another good story well told .
I drove a 1963 Chevy C60 bobtail a while, it had a V6 and Muncie SM420 with compound low, yes those trucks could pull anything from a dead stop, I doubt I ever exceeded 50MPH as I’d seen too many results of crashes .
Once rodents get into your vehicle they’re sometimes *very* difficult to convince to leave .
WWII & Korean Veterans made me who I am today , they gave me a work ethic I love .
-Nate
Fun tales and a good life experience. Thanks for sharing. When I occasionally haul mulch in my own Tacoma I’ve noticed that moisture has a huge effect on weight, obviously. Our local yard uses a scale for gravel but not for mulch.
The only work truck I’ve ever driven more than a few hundred yards was a 1970-ish F100 with a six and 3-on-the-tree, for a summer job back in 1975. I don’t think it was ever NOT overloaded. The biggest issue was starting on steep hills without a very low first gear. Clutch slip was your friend. Even on unpaved roads, which was most of the places we used it, traction was great with all the wight on the rear end. No on had 4wd in that part of rural Virginia in those days. I’m sure it’s different now. The few times I had it out on the highway unladen, it felt like a sports car.
Reminds me of the various work trucks I drove back in the early ’70s. Middle-weight Fords and Chevys, and Super-Duty Fords. I so vastly loved driving over the other manual labor jobs I often found myself in. The sound of an FE or Super Duty V8 being wound up tight is deeply embedded in my aural memory banks.
Great stories Chip – I hope we get to read a lot more about your experiences!
I have great memories of the Chevy Rat motor – though mine was in a Corvette, so a bit less weight to pull. Maybe the rodent was just admiring his namesake?
your got love old truck, I vist a private collection in Penn, once it like 50 big trucks and 150 later model cars 80 and up, and the 2000 plus all had current licence plate. the owner own a trucking firm with 500 tractore and 5000 trailers.
Thank you for all the kind comments!
I had to really reach back for this one!
One more thought I had: Wally gave out hats that said
I got mine at Wally’s
I used to joke with him that having a pregnant lady come into the store wearing a hat like that may cause him a ton of heartache!!
Having done a lot of driving in my life, and owning 73, wait, 74 cars (just bought a new Rogue for the Mrs) I still have a few stories left!
I absolutely love Curbside Classics and read it daily.
I have always found driving those big old trucks to be a great adventure. I still remember a short stint in an old GMC V6 grain truck from maybe 1960 or so that was still in active service on the family farm of my brother in law. I loved this story!
A 2-ton Chevy or GMC with a (gasoline, of course) 366 or 427 is a thing of beauty. I remember them as farm trucks in North Dakota, and they barked so sweetly with a full load of grain while pulling up to the elevator. Now everyone runs diesels…and it just isn’t the same!