A New Blog... Again

I couldn't stop myself. I clicked and created... yet another blog.

I had all these thoughts of truck stuff swirling through my head the last few months that I thought I should have a place to park my findings, doings, and goings-on.

I bought my first car at 15 years old, and several cars and years later I finally bought my first truck. It didn't take long for me to wonder, "Why the hell did it take me this long to buy a truck?"

I was working as the lube guy at our local Pontiac, Buick, GMC dealership in the early 80's. One day a fellow traded in his old blue pickup for a new GMC. I looked at that truck (which was butt-ugly at the time) with interest and went to talk to the sales manager. I ended up buying it for $600. Not only that, but about two weeks later he summoned me to his office and there was a brand-new tailgate standing up against the wall behind him!
 "The guy found it under his porch or something." the sales manager continued, "Apparently, he bought the canopy right after he bought the truck, and the tailgate was removed never used after that because the canopy had a big back door."

My first truck: 1965 C10

Sweet! By that time I had been buffing the truck out in my spare time, and it was finally shiny. When bought there wasn't a shiny spot on it--it was all terribly oxidized. Because it was one owner vehicle, it was in beautiful shape--especially the bed. The wood was like new and still had the factory black paint on it! Well, that tailgate really tied the together. The shiny sky-blue paint, the new whitewalls, and the baby moon hubcaps transformed that truck. It had a 230 6-cylinder and 3-speed on the column. I found an overdrive transmission for it in the Little Nickel want ads and paid $75 for it--complete with kickdown switch and wire harness. All I had to do was have the driveline shortened a tad bit. That truck just purred like a kitten and drove like a car. I loved it. I owned that truck for 11 years before I started to have yearnings toward something 4-wheel drive 4 instead of 2-wheel. When the driver's door skin rusted apart at the bottom and the wood bed developed its first rotten board (OMG!), I started the search.

I found a super-straight 62 Chevy K20 in original (read that 'rusty') condition. I fell in love with it when  I heard that 6-cylinder run. What a purr! It would idle down to 300 rpm before it started to stumble. I think I paid $600 for it from the 2nd owner. It was a long-bed stepside, and had a 261 6-cylinder, 4-speed, and 4:56 gears in it. It had a Detroit locker in it when I bought it but I didn't keep it long. We took it up into the snow one time to find a Christmas tree and I could hardly keep it on the logging road when the snow got deep. Every time the wheels would spin, the truck would try to 'walk' off the shoulder on one side or another. I hunted around and replaced that locker with an 'open' rear. What a difference. The body was rusted all over the place like so many are, but the interior was intact. It was always nice and warm and dry inside. I loved the way this truck ran and drove, but the 4:56 gears were a little low for my taste. I guess it was a good pair with the 261 though, because it was not a powerhouse, but had torque like crazy for slow going. The seat in it was absolutely horrible. It was a tube-framed thing that felt about as bad as an Army truck with canvas and springs. I swapped out the seat from the 65 before I sold that on. Ahh, there's that familiar feel... I forget how long I owned it, but I sure got used to the 4-wheel drive.

62 Chevy K20

At some point (I can't remember exactly) I owned this 63 Chevy C10 during the same time frame, but it was mainly a buy it/fix it/flip it thing, so it wasn't around long.

63 Chevy C10

After I sold the old 62 4x4 I bought an interesting old truck from my brother: A 66 Ford F-262 4x4. It was sporting a 410 FE engine that his wife's grandpa transplanted from a mid-sixties Mercury, backed with the factory truck 4-speed. It was a lot of work making that truck halfway decent because it was so neglected. I guess I wanted a challenge. By the time I had gotten it halfway decent I was tired of it. The engine was starting to make a little lower end noise, I was tired of the rattling tailgate chains, the off-center steering wheel (Ford borrowed heavily from other models when they put these 4x4's together), and all the other idiosyncrasies. Even the bed was different because of the wheelbase. It was just an odd truck all the way around and I was tired of its crap.

66 Ford F-262 4x4

66 Ford F-262 4x4

 

After dealing with such a "patchwork" old truck I was in the mood for something more modern. Something you could find parts for anywhere, unlike the 66 Ford.

Time to go on the hunt!