Newbie..Major Project!!! 1969 C20 Thoughts?

[grantpo]

Hello and glad to be a new member of yalls Forum! Little back ground on me, I'm 27 yrs. old and love 67-87 GM trucks!! Well pretty much anything old. My first Vehicle was a 72 C10, and regret selling it every time a see one. I have the opportunity to get a 1969 C20 350/3 on the tree LWB for free!! It is rust free minus some surface rust and natural patina, lol. It has been sitting in the same spot since 1979 in Southwest Texas. Some idiot robbed alot of parts from the truck. Took a torch to the front control arms guess to get the spindles, took the driver door, rear diff., and the interior is pretty much stripped. Guess I'm glad he didn't take the whole truck though. The same guy is willing to also give me a 1971 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight with a 455 BB and Th400 that he parked under a tree in 1977 for free.







I was thinking about putting the Olds. 455/400 in the truck, complete K-member from a junkyard 73-87 C10 to replace all the missing suspension components, and I already have a Ford 9" from a 67 Galaxie sitting in the shop for the rear diff. to make a budget Rat Rod.

Problem is there both 600 miles from me in South Louisiana and its gonna cost me about $1200 to get them here. Do yall think its worth it? Any suggestions on a better plan? Sure would hate to see them be domed to the scrap yard!!!

[SS Tim]

Buy the best truck you can afford. Shipping a stripped truck and mismatching parts is not good use of your money.

[Already Gone]

Welcome to the site. Tim is giving you excellent advice and with that in mind if you want a C20 this truck on Ebay is a good value and the reserve is already met. I bought a 69 CST 10 from this seller last year and he is an honest dealer. You would never be able to restore the truck your looking at for the same money as you could buy a decent running driving truck.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1972-...orcev4exp=true

[Mint68]

I think in this case free cost too much! If it was a father's or grandfather's truck, there may be a point in keeping it, but with no emotional attachment, I wouldn't see any value other than parts. For the price of shipping, you should be able to find a running and driving truck in your area.

[grantpo]

Yeah I had a feeling yall would say that So do yall think it would be worth getting the Olds. for the Drivetrain? It would only cost me about $600 for transport on it and could scrap the rest of the car and get back approx. $300 maybe more.

[SS Tim]

Originally Posted by grantpo

Yeah I had a feeling yall would say that So do yall think it would be worth getting the Olds. for the Drivetrain? It would only cost me about $600 for transport on it and could scrap the rest of the car and get back approx. $300 maybe more.

Your previous statement "...1971 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight with a 455 BB and Th400 that he parked under a tree in 1977..." Kind of sums up that question. It has been sitting for 36 years under a tree. It will likely take major work for that motor and trans. to be useable. Plus take in the fact that
people rarely "park" and walk away from a drivable car. When it comes to motor vehicles, only the odometer benefits from sitting.

[Mr Chevorlet]

Not only should you walk away from this, Run, I agree with everyone one on this, that will be a parts truck at best, and like sstim said the car was parked for a reason and probabbly not a good one either.

[bollybib]

I dunno about getting a truck like that to work on but the first pic in the first post is awesome !

[buckskins4ever]

Originally Posted by grantpo

Yeah I had a feeling yall would say that So do yall think it would be worth getting the Olds. for the Drivetrain? It would only cost me about $600 for transport on it and could scrap the rest of the car and get back approx. $300 maybe more.

Grant: As many have advised already, I would look to buy a driver. If this guy parked the Olds in 1977 and hasnt moved it since then I would be very apt to believe mice and other critters will have gotten into the engine.(sorry, seen it before) You can look a the Olds engine and trans for power, but rebuild/real good tuneup will cost you a lot. For what you will spend on shipping, rebuilding, swapping, and restoring.....you will way better off spending it on a nice started driver.
Either way, good luck with whatever you decide.

[grantpo]

Well yall have changed my mind. Just kills me that they will be dragging them off soon to through them in a dump that is located on the property because the are a eye sore according to the owner. Was just wishfull thinking I guess. And yes I took several pictures of the truck and the old tanker bed next to it, that came out awesome and will be printing some out to frame. Oh well, the hunt continues!!!

[nightmare]

if the car is mobile (on it's own power), i'd say it's worth it. shoot, you could even drive it around, get all the kinks worked out of the engine and transmission, then scrap the rest when you want to. make sure to get the title to it too.

[~Whitey~]

Welcome to the site! Surely you can find something closer and get more bang for your buck! That truck is like a piece of art sitting there though. I see alot of $$$ signs just getting it road worthy.

[Katrina/10]

Truck looks fixable to me. Borrow a trailer and go get it!

[MARKDTN]

I would split the middle on this one. If you want a project:
-Borrow a trailer and go get the truck and buy another rust bucket truck locally for the rolling frame. 1200 miles at 14 mpg with $3.50 fuel is $300 in fuel. Take a friend for an adventure.
-If you can pull the engine (and trans if it's easy) and radiator from the Olds and leave the rest do that, but it's not worth moving the whole car. With a tractor and boom and a torch you could have it out within an hour.
-sell the 455 and either use the motor from the rusty truck or buy something to go in there. I would not put an Olds 455 in anything but an Olds. There is definitely a market for that engine though. BOP long TH400 not so much.
-while the cab is off, fix bushings and suspension on the other frame
-put the "patina" cab and bed on the other frame.
-Sell the scrap and the Olds motor. If you had 2000 lbs of scrap left it is worth about $250 with $11.50/100 scrap price. The 455 complete assuming it's not cracked or locked up might be worth $1000.

Now none of this values your time at much. It all depends on if you want a project and an adventure or if you just want to get in one and turn the key.