Very Very Very Rare 69 CST Shortbed
 

Hello everybody. I am a new member and this is my first post.
I have a question for 69 to 72 gurus. I have just bought a truck and I want to know what it's worth.

This is the rarest 69 CST Short bed I have ever seen or heard of. This truck was custom ordered. Instead of having a 17 digit Vin # it has a twelve. Everything on this truck is original. Here is what it's got and all of it is factory....original 396 motor, VINYL TOP which is something I have never heard of but it is in the glove box, it's original !!, bucket seats with console, Tach, Spotlight mounted on left side, I think an 8-track player but not sure, Air, Power steering, original 3 speed on the column transmission, anti sway bar, color is green. The body and interior is shot lots of rust.

An old man bought this truck in 1971 for 2171.00. He has owned the truck ever since. He has ran off no telling how many people wanting to buy it. He told a friend of mine several years back that when he died he was going to give him the truck. He is now on oxygen does not have long to live. He gave him the truck about a month ago. My buddy didn't want it so I bought it.

Has anyone ever heard of a truck like this? What is it worth?

Thanks

let me welcome you to the board and might i add that vinyl top will be one probably most of us have never heard of. (notice i said most)

first...welcome to the board from NE Ohio

second...my GMC only has a 12 digit VIN #...I think that all of these trucks should have 12, or at least a close number, in their VIN #

third...vinyl top?? never heard of that one...

fourth...that does sound like a strange truck...BB CST with tach, air, and buckets, yet a 3 on the tree...hmm

hard to say what the truck is worth without some pics of it...try to get a pic of the glovebox option sheet too

HI and welcome to the board :) Sounds like a very interesting truck you have on your hands. By a vinyl top, you mean the headliner correct? That would be the only vinyl top i could come up with in my mind. I hope this board serves you well!

Aaron :bowtie:

i know of 1 other vinyl top truck of our body style, it's a white with black vinyl top short bed fleet side w the 396 auto, buckets,
tach tilt and who knows what else. i had always been told that it was factory but i had my doubts. i always thought that it was done by a company outside of g.m. or something. can you post a picture of the option sheet that is on the inside of the glove box lid for us? It would help us substantiate this as a legit option.
i gotta see if i can find out if that truck is still out there.
for any one out there in blount county alabama you might have seen this one tooling around. the same guy has owned it since the early seventies, maybe since new.
oh and by the way welcome to the board.

someone posted a pic of a yellow gmc with a peeling off black vinyl top , it looked kinda cool! except for the rust and all the other ****iness

WElcom to the board from South Mississippi!!

Another welcome from South Mississippi!

Welcome from Oklahoma.

My VIN also has 12 digits, I thought they all did? The options you listed sound interesting. The spotlight, 8 track and buckets I have heard of, but a vynil top??? Never heard of that one. I was thinking the headliner too. LETS SEE PICS!!!

Yes, lets see some pictures.. welcome also.

Welcome from New Hampshire!

To anybody on this board, does anyone have close up pics of a factory 8 Track player, or know of ID marks or numbers I could check? A friend of mine has an almost all original (someone put F@rd mirrors on it!) 67 C-10, and it has an 8 Track, but we're not sure if it is factory or aftermarket. Thanks,

-Jay

Welcome from Missouri... please post pics...

Welcome from the top of Niagara Falls!
I think all old vehicles had 12 dig Vin! I think it changed in the 80's

:metal: :metal: :metal:

I will get some pics as soon as my parents get back from vacation. They have taken the digital camera with them. My truck is like the one described above, vinyl has peeled off. I went out and checked the glove box again. It does state vinyl trim. The guy swore that this was the way he bought it in 71. There is a bunch of paperwork that came with it. I am going to try to go thru it this weekend. Someone has already got wind of me buying it and is coming to look at it this afternoon. I'm not gonna price it till I find out what it is worth.

does it look something like this?

The value of a truck that is shot to pieces due to extensive rust, dents etc. is not worth more then the sum of the parts. It may be rare to have a few unusual options but that does not make the truck worth a bundle unless it's overall condition is really nice then the rare options help it's value. If it runs and could be restored, is a SWB with a big block, then it's probably worth $1,000.+ depending on the buyer. If it's beyond restoration---cab, bed, frame, drivechain all worn out, then less. Good luck ---I have a friend looking for a Big block engine for a project (rebuildable blcok or running) so when you come up with a price, let me know. Huck---Bagdad, Ky

Koolgt,

No, it is the exterior of the cab that has the vinyl. Everything from the top of the bed to the top of the front windshield has or once had vinyl. Man I wish I had a digital camera right now.

Huck,
Thanks for the interest. I don't believe that this is a parts truck. The motor is locked up right now. Havent tried anything yet to free it up though.

Someone told me Chevy made the 396 with 3 different horsepowers, 375, 400, and 425. Is this true and how do you tell? Where are the numbers on a big block?

Welcome to the board.... and I'm in the market for an original 8 track if its for sale. Rod

Welcome from Victoria BC and it sounds like you have a good project to start with. Enjoy it, spend lots of money and ask lots of questions as they people here are very knowlegable... :bowtie:

Hi Kowboy,
Welcome from California. :)

Pics, we need pics. :D
I wanna say i've seen a truck just like you described running around town back in the late 80's- early 90's.

To free the engine, mark each sparkplug wire with some masking tape + marker with a # for each cylinder. Remove the sparkplugs, and put them back on the spark plug wires. Then pour some Marvel Mystery Oil down the cylinders, pour more down the cylinders every few days for a week. The engine should be free to turn over. :) Do an oil change, and a tune-up to the 396, and she should be about ready to fire. When you go to fire the engine, DO NOT use the gas that's in the tank. Run a temp line from a small gas can to the carb.
David

Welcome to the board.

I would be interested to see the option tag to see just what is listed as the vinyl top. Could be it was to have the top vinyl on the inside and then someone added the vinyl to the outside. Of course the more that is known about these trucks the more it seems that nothing was truly ever written in stone on what they had or did not have.

Vinyl trim does not equal vinyl top, dude. ;)

Vinyl trim is far from a rare option on these trucks. As far as I know, GM didn't do a vinyl top on any of these trucks from the factory (or any truck for that matter, now that I think about it).

Also, people's memories do fade. My dad swore up and down that my '70 had a '71/'72 black/chrome grille instead of a '70 full chrome grille until he had it rechromed...until I showed him an old picture of it - that he had taken, no less! - proving him wrong. :D

Regardless, the rest of the options are pretty nice ones and it sounds like it could be a pretty sweet truck. Waiting for the pics. :)

Edit: One other thing, the 17-digit VIN didn't come around until the 1980's, IIRC.

Finally got my hands on a digital cam. I havent had time to clean all the junk out of the bed and cab. My batt was going dead on my cam. Will make more and post tomorrow.

Another