Steve McDonalds' "time capsule" 66 Custom Camper Build

[55-72 GM trucks]

Hey guys - I've been owning and daily driving 1960's trucks since I was 16 when my Mother bought me my first 1965 C10 SWB custom (pictured). I wanted that truck badly because it was the same light blue and white color my Dads identical 66 had been back when I was in elementary school. So thats now been what - 39 years? wow the time flies. Anyway, as I advanced in age I became someone who collected a few trucks and today I own maybe 10-12 I guess and of those only half run and operate. The rest are partially worked on projects waiting for me to get to them again.

Mike Remley, a guy many of you know well, became the defacto guru on Custom Campers several years back and built two extra fine examples and he made build threads on here. I saw those and became obsessed with having one myself. Through asking around online for tips on who knew where one was, I lucked into a super rare 66 Custom Camper I bought in Cottage Grove Oregon (thanks to some bird dogging by Kelvin Hunt) that was special ordered with a huge walk-in cab-over bed mounted camper body originally that was removed before I got it. It was ordered with almost every option you could get - 327 V8, Turbo 400 automatic, oil bath breather, power steering, power brakes, radio, factory A/C, and even had a glovebox light. When we pulled down the passenger side visor, it had a Chevrolet accessory vanity mirror that says Chevrolet on the glass, and it had a vinyl pouch attached to hold a comb. I was floored. Whoever ordered it had spent some serious money on it. It had never left Cottage Grove and lived its whole life within a few miles of the dealership that sold it, so it was a very low mileage truck and the 327 still had most of its green paint, and the power brake pedal pad had zero wear on it. Problem was, some yo-yo had bought the truck and stripped the cab interior minus the AC and under-hood area they thankfully didn't touch, but its cab was shot anyway from the salty air of living on the coast of Western Oregon. The bed had giant square holes in both sides for gas doors it once had for saddle tanks which were long gone, so I decided to hunt around for a better cab and a replacement un-cut bed or a better whole "patina" body somewhere to rebuild it with.

Fast forward to October 2024 - I had come into some money, and as I often do, I was poking around on Facebook Marketplace looking to see if anyone was selling any trucks that were unusually solid and nice, because I had decided if I could replace any one of my non-runner "project" grade trucks with an identical but better model more ready to drive, I'd ditch the project and buy a better one so I wouldn't have to restore or paint it. In that search, my eyes popped out of my head when I found this truck this thread is about.

This guy in Lima Ohio had just inherited his Grandfathers absolute time capsule 9 out of 10 grade, mint condition, factory paint wearing, 66 Custom Camper with (drum roll please) only 11,409 actual miles. His Grandfather had meticulously maintained it, never driving it in Winter or in salt, keeping it washed underneath after each use, so it stayed 100% rust free and stored its whole life in a heated and cooled garage. The photos you see of it wearing its matching camper were taken from his Facebook ad. Like a total bonehead, this Millenial Grandson could care less about the truck and only saw dollar signs, so he pulled the camper off and sold it separately, then proceeded to pull the 327 V8 out and stuck a freshly built 350 in it with cam and headers and all that shiny crap on it as a means of attracting a buyer and so he could keep the 327. So when I found it, it was a match made in heaven for what I really needed to resurrect the Oregon truck with. The Blue truck was Custom Camper, which comes with a myriad of specially grouped options like a sway bar, helper springs, custom appearance and comfort packages, etc but unlike the Oregon truck, it really didn't come "loaded" and barely had any options to speak of aside from dual horns and a lighted cigar well, so I brought it home and have begun the "build" to match the two trucks together into one dynamic truck. The fresh 350 was sold and removed, and I decided it was simplest to just migrate the Blue body onto the Oregon trucks frame and automatic driveline, rather than go to the painful effort of cutting all the rivets and swapping its 3 speed trans to a correct factory automatic.

So I will upload more photos soon - these are just the "day 1" pics of me getting it and bringing it home. Lots more to follow as I am migrating the options from the Oregon truck onto this body and cleaning it up etc.

[55-72 GM trucks]

Camper body protected the mint bed floor and there was an intercom to talk to the passengers riding in the camper - I will probably keep that in it for the history story

[55-72 GM trucks]

Truck is mint mint mint when it comes to the body and as you see, laser straight. Original factory Blue paint still shines nicely. All the original seam sealer applied from the factory is still everywhere it never is - tailgate seams, lower door seams, roof, everywhere. Doors shut with one finger. Tailgate was stored in the camper its whole life and is mint. Chains are also mint. Dealer installed "Barden" rear bumper is awesome and I love that it has that

[55-72 GM trucks]

Unlike high mileage trucks, these seatbelts are clean and bright Fawn and have nice working retractors. The seat - oh my God - I've never seen anything like it. Simply mint as if no one ever sat in it. inside door skin paint and armrest wear is somewhere else you can see indication of mileage - barely any wear at all. Best of all maybe is it is still wearing all four of the original US Royal tires it came down the assembly line wearing. The lock-rings on the wheels were Blue from the factory and at some point the old man painted them white. Probably when he repainted the white on the roof. The zinc oxide in 60-66 truck White cab and roof paint would react with the iron in the steel cabs, and the paint would pull iron atoms into the paint making the paint "rust" or turn orangeish brown. Many of you have trucks whose once-white cab paint is now more like rusty looking or red oxide primer than White. So this man saw that happening to this truck in the 70's or 80's maybe and smartly had it repainted. But the Blue is original and not touched anyway. Odometer shows 11,409 miles and is accurate. Usually low miles on anyones odometer means its 100K+ but that mileage can be told by observing several aspects common to low miles vehicles and most alleged low miles trucks are way over what they show but this one is the real deal

[55-72 GM trucks]

This is where it all started. My 65 from when I was 16. Back then I was a kid in the 80's so of course I had to have chrome wheels, Pioneer radio, Chrome valve covers and all that stuff. I didn't care about preserving history by keeping one all correct the way I insist today. I scorched the tires every chance I got too.

[TJ's Chevy]

Now that sure is one heck of a time piece you've found! Congrats on that find and look forward to seeing the progress!

[Braunschweiger]

Wow, This is really an incredible story,
such great trucks, congratulations.
Greetings Harald

[55-72 GM trucks]

Originally Posted by TJ's Chevy

Now that sure is one heck of a time piece you've found! Congrats on that find and look forward to seeing the progress!

Thanks TJ! I am excited to see it back running again so it won't be long now.

[55-72 GM trucks]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

Wow, This is really an incredible story,
such great trucks, congratulations.
Greetings Harald

Thanks Harald! I've wanted one of these so long I can't believe I found one in this kind of condition after owning a lot of "project" grade trucks over the years which all needed so much money sunk into them. This one just needed a new power brake booster, and brakes re-done and AC re-furbished and installed and maybe some tires to be used daily so won't be long now before she's running and operating again