Your Trucks Past History

[DJ72CHEVY]

Don't know much about the po, but on my dash is a small metal plate with Exxon field truck info. I don't remember all that was on it, I will have to look again.

[54blackhornet]

Great job you guys! I spent the last hour reading all of your stories and feel like I know a little more about you all and your trucks! it is interesting to read about who bought the trucks new. I also have a 68 GMC 1500 that was given to a gentleman upon retirement from his company in Idaho. It has 56k original miles, 292, 3spd on tree and thats it. The guy would go to his old place of work everyday and just stare out the window abd watch what was going on. He would smoke cigs all day then go home. The drivers side door is rubbed down to primer where his arm rested while he sat and smoked all day. Poor guy must have loved his job!

Thanks for the memories

[Lippyp]

I don't know anything about my trucks history before it crossed the atlantic. I'm the third owner here in the UK, I bought it from a guy near Ipswich in East Anglia and he bought it fairly locally. Theres a lot of US Air Force bases over that way so I suspect it may have come over with a US serviceman and stayed behind.

I believe its a california truck originally and the condition kind of bears out it being a dry state vehicle. I've fixed a fair few previous owner bodge-ups, like the badly lined up home made power steering brackets and odd hoses, the electric fan fitted from some japanese car with no relay so the switch used to get red hot after it had been on for a while. It also has one front fender from a 68 or later as the side marker light hole has been filled. Found about 75 cents under the carpet when I ripped it out.

[54blackhornet]

Hi Phil,
Good to hear from someone so far away! Can you help me with info on my 57 Thames Ford e400 van. I would like to sell it. It is rust free but needs restoation. It is complete except the seats. It is a window van.
pm me with an e-mail and i can send photos.
Jack,

[1968SWBBigBlock]

My truck came up from Mississippi to Indiana about 10 years ago.
Rumor has it that it was bought with a supercharged small block and driven by a teenager to school, Must be nice.
It sat in Indiana for several years as an unfinished project before we bought it and brought it to Ohio.
I have traced it back to the Mississippi owner but have been unable to contact any of them.
The address for the PO no longer exists.

[Lugnut64052]

Great posts, everybody.
I got a good chuckle out of the bullet hole story

Originally Posted by elektrik

Don't know much about mine

Same with me. I bought mine at a junk yard about 40 miles away (Craigslist find). A '72 C20 air cab, but looks as if it's suffered through about ten shade tree wrenchers before me. But it has Custom Camper emblems on the doors and a SPID full o' options. I wondered for a while if I'd done the right thing, but finally decided I did. It was so butchered up that it's kind of like a blank slate-- I've been fixing/modifying/changing/upgrading virtually everything on it, while working hard to keep it looking like a virtually stock daily driver. Mounted a complete mid '90s serpentine drive on the front of the engine a few weeks ago, for instance.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just make payments on a new one?" my wife said.

We all know the answer to that one, don't we . . .

[72lb4x4]

I don't know much about mine but it seems to have mated with an '85 4x4 at one point since the trans, transfer case, rear brakes, and steering column all seemed to be from a truck about that age.

It seems to have had many body parts swapped, including the cab, and finally, some PO didn't understand factory wiring or was in love with red 12AWG wire since it was mostly rewired.

I could go on, but as you can tell, its another frankentruck, although its much better now...

[nicolas72gmc]

This was a friggin cool idea. There are some awesome stories here. I am the second owner of my 72 gmc. The original owner went down to the dealer in Waco and ordered the truck in May of 72. He installed several different cab over campers over the last 30 or so years. He, his wife, and kids would take vacation road trips in it every year. He told me he went to every corner in the US in it. The last 5 or 6 years it has sat in the drive way, he thought about selling it several times but didn't. His wife finally said the truck had to go so he sold it. The man actually got tear-eyed when we got done with the sale. He asked if his granddaughter could come down and drive it when she came of age cause she did cry when he told her he was selling it. I told him she could come down when ever she wanted to. He really loved that truck.

[Lippyp]

Originally Posted by 54blackhornet

Hi Phil,
Good to hear from someone so far away! Can you help me with info on my 57 Thames Ford e400 van. I would like to sell it. It is rust free but needs restoation. It is complete except the seats. It is a window van.
pm me with an e-mail and i can send photos.
Jack,

What are you after? This site might help as it the owners club, tbh I know very little about old fords. Commercial vehicles like vans tend to be quite rare as most get worked to death but sadly they necver seem to be worth as much. I'll PM you my email address.

http://www.e83w.co.uk/

[69halfton]

bought my 69 from a guy in st.louis Mo. when i was 15 years old. The truck was originally made a 6cyl, auto shortbed fleetside truck. coils in the rear.

the truck spent its entire life in the st louis Mo. area, until two years ago when i brought it up to canada. it now lives in mid ontario, but never sees snow or salt.

I am the third owner. the man i had bought it from had owned it since he was 15 also, and it was his little hotrod all through high school. he now had a wife and two kids, and needed the money to buy a new house, but it made him feel good knowing that I was buying the truck to do the same thing he had done for so many years.

somewhere along the road somebody had put a small block in it out of about a mid 80's vette i assume, at least the aluminum heads on it were from a mid-80s vette. they also swapped in a T350 tranny.

as far as i know, the truck has never worked a day in its life. according to the guy i bought it from, a man had bought it new as simply a driver. its been someones toy since new. It hasn't seen snow in about 30 plus years.

It now has a 383 stroker & is on about its third T350 Tranny, ( i cant seem to get one that will hold together)

its pretty fun driving it to highschool, in this era of tuners and imports, most of my friends dont know what to think. all the older teachers love it though.

[19673ontree]

my 67 C10 shortbed was purchased new in august of 1967 at REEDER CHEVROLET of Knoxville Tenn. by a man named Jimmy Collin's it stayed in Knoxville until septemper of 2005 when I purchased it , I have all the truck's original paperwork the warranty book (USED ONE TIME) I have the original protectoplate and owner's manual ,

[100%Chevy]

I love this topic!
And some great stories!
For my truck,it's a 68 golden anniversity special.CST.Longbed,big window.
327/turbo 400.
373posi.
Has power steering,buddy buckets,in bed spare carrier and under bed spare carrier.Other options as well.
Has original wood bed in good shape and no dents bigger than a quarter.
Very little rust,but lots of patina!
I bought the truck from the son of the first owner.The son never transferred the title,so technically I'm the second owner.
The first owner lived in Vancleve,Ms.and worked for the forestry commission.He always had a company truck to drive,so this one only has 58,000 miles on it.I have some documentation.
It always sat under cover,so even the dash pad is like new!
It still had the original tires on it when I bought it!
It has add-on A/C and cruise control.
I paid $1800.00 for it!
When I first heard of it,I started not to buy it because I didn't know anything about the 67/72 trucks.
Got on line and asked about them and Longhornman told me all there was to know!I even offered it to him if I didn't buy it!
Now I have a 68 GMC and 69 or 70 Chevy parts trucks also!I don't know why i need them as I haven't needed any parts yet!Plus the first owner left me with a lot of extra parts!I got oil filters,air filters,trans filters,spark plugs,and a brand new set of air shocks!It has air shocks on it already.
Oh,and an 8 track player under the seat with about 20 tapes that still play!All rock and roll! My kind of guy!
O.K.,I'll shup-up for now.
Mike.

[sick69]

The story I got when I bought my 70 c10 was ....

The truck was bought new for the father of the woman I bought it from by the company he worked for in Lubbock Texas. The truck was his until 1999 when he retired. At the retirement party the owner of the company gave him the truck because it had always been his and it wouldn't seem right to see someone else drive it.

After he passed away in 2002 the daughter kept it with intent on restoring it. After checking with several bodyshops in Texas and in Colorado after her and her family moved up here, she had been quoted 3000.00+ just to do the rockers,cab corners and a couple small spots on the floor. The family decided they couldn't spend the money to have a bodyshop do the work and they didn't have the mechanical abilities to do it themselves so they put it on Craigslist after several of their "friends" told them the truck was only worth 3 or 4 hundred. I bought it October 24, 2006 for 400.00 and gave them an extra 50.00 for holding on to it for a week until I could get there on October 31, 2006 with a trailer to pick it up.


After disassembly I fould the only rust in the truck was infact the rockers,corners, 2 floor supports and a couple spots in the floor about 4" in diameter. And there was probably close to a couple hundred pounds of dry silty Texas dirt in just about every nook and cranny.

I have been sending the family pics off and on as they requested of the progress. Although I think they were hoping for a stock resto,,,,,,,,not exactly what I had in mind though. I did do a records search on my truck and found out the daughter wasn't trying to bs me. According to the records search the names and dates are exactly wha she said.

Although I am the fourth owner the records only show 3 because the daughter never changed the title into their name.


Frank

[joekewl_chevyfreak]

Dont know that much about mine, But

My gramps bought the 68 in 71 used by some guy as a worktruck, its never been in a garage and you can tell. My dad drove it for a while (around 3-4 years) before he died and my gramps in his later years couldnt keep the comon repairs up, being that one door didnt open and one didnt close, bad clutch, cancer (She is so rusty that one year the FFA used her to haul the float in the Christmas parade being so Green and Red), and all kinds of stuff.. He promised the truck to my uncle, his son, who is in jail and i started tinkering with her as a kid so he gave her to me about 2 years before he passed, thats about it... wish i knew more.

[ahgar]

I've got a 63 gmc short bed step side, purchased new by my father in law when his ford suddenly started drinking oil while he was out making service calls. He limped the ford into the local GMC dealer and said "I need a truck and i can pay $50 a month" the salesman said something along the line of, well i've got those 3 new step sides i can put you in for $55 a month. As the story goes my fil answered with "I need a truck and i can pay $50 a month" after some serious dickering he limped the ford up to the gmc transferred his tools and started a 45 year partnership with the "jimmy". This truck is a base model with the only option being the 305 V6, the odo shows around 73k and there's no telling how many times it's rolled over. After 45 years of working, hunting, fishing and general all around use, and after around 23 years of subtle hints he gave her to me and i couldn't be happier. The motor is still strong and the only thing that doesn't work is the gas gauge and with help from this forum and Vaughn in particular i'll be able to fix that. These really are great old trucks. and just in case you're wondering, he paid $50 a month.

63, GMC, Step side, short bed.
2nd owner.
and when i can't drive her she'll go to my boy.

[69lemans]

Previous owner of my truck is a good friend of mine who was a long time mechanic at a Chevrolet dealership where I worked for a while. he acquired it in 1980 from his dad after he got stiffed on a paycheck from an electrical contractor he worked for-it had been their shop truck till it broke down and they didn't figure it was worth fixing.Since he worked at a Chevy dealership he could get OEM parts pretty cheap ,so all the work he did to it was done with genuine GM parts. He used it as a beater for several years,then around 1984 or so started to fix it up a little bit.He replaced just about every body part on it,including the cab,and had his cousin throw a crappy paint job on it.He told me at one time there were parts from 23 diferent trunks on this one,not including all the new parts. . He used it as his daily driver until I bought it from him 2 years ago,logging over 200,000 miles on it. He lived in West Virginia,but moved to Phoenix ,Arizona for a few years and made over 20 cross country trips with it.He had a 100 gallon auxillary gas tank he put in the bed and could drive from WV to somplace in Arkansas before he had to fill up again.While he was in Arizona,he picked up some extra rust free sheet metal to keep as spares,and when I bought the truck he gave me all the extra parts he had for it(which was a lot). Being a mechanic,he always kept the truck in tip top running condition.


http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...y/SANY0211.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...y/SANY0212.jpg

[mrtoni]

Jack, I hate to hijack this thread but is your 57 Thames still for sale? Matt in Reno

[t&tkennels]

bought from the original owner, truck was purchased new from edward-brim chevrolet in creedmoor n.c. po grandson blew up the original i-6, & the engine was replaced with a 350.his granson was responsable for all the dents im having to repair.truck had 95,000 original miles on it.

[72lb4x4]

Long and painful. Call it the opposite of unmolested.
It has a lot of parts from and '85 truck on it.

[theyammieguy]

I wish I knew the history on my truck. I have a feeling its been handed around more than a phillipino hooker.

[Sinister]

I'm the 3rd owner of my '69 C-20, I got it to replace a '72 C-20 I had sold. Original owner had it out in the desert for most of it's life as his ranch truck. He sold it to his brother about 4 years ago, who had plans of restoring it. Turns out his HOA didn't like the truck so he sold it to me. Truck had only 50,000 miles on it when I got it.

[BluTrukker]

Mine was originally purchased from Fergus falls Chevrolet in Fergus falls, MN by a guy who worked there. He drove it until he died. His son pulled the clip and the bed and rebuilt, repainted, and freshened up almost everything. He sold it to a guy in Fergus, who owned it for two years bfore I bouhgt it. The day I bouhgt it I drove it 6 hrs home no problems. Also 107,000 original miles.

[1970cstblazer]

My Blazer was bought new by my dad in March of '70 at Elm Chevrolet (still there) after waiting a few months for it since it was special ordered. It was given to me in 1987 with 54k miles. I drove it until '98 and it has 93k miles. It is undergoing a FULL restoration mainly due to body cancer.

My truck's history is unknown before 2003. The guy I bought it from off E-Bay 9/07 bought it in Euless, TX in '03, and drove it to his mom's home summer '07. I performed some paint repair and a total interior restoration.

[Daves72'GMC]

My 72' 3/4 GMC, Sierra Grande, Custom Camper, 402BB, Turbo 400 AT,Factory A/C, was bought new by my Grandparents in 72' and it had a big camper on it which my sister has on their 75' chevy truck in Calif. I had to have the camper taken off to have it transported to my home in Asheville, N.C.I finally convinced my uncle and my 96 year old Grandmother to sell it to me. I remember she said to me as I was backing out of the driveway she said We had alot of good times in that old truck and I'll miss it. After I got the truck my uncle passed away and my Grandmother passed away 2 years later.My Grandparents only used it in the summer time, so my truck only has 67,000 origional miles on it and they used to take it camping and hunting in Utah. I even have one gas receipt signed by my Grandfather which shows they had it in 74' and gas was 98 cents a gallon for the high octane.a receipt showing they camped in Beaver Utah. I sold it to a nice gentleman on the board Bill Athey at Bill Athey truck parts and started missing the truck after about 9 months I bought it back from him and then I decided to have it restored.A 3 year painstaking ground up rotisserie restoration done and alot of grey hairs and money later its almost done.I only drive it about once a month only on sunny days and it sits in the garage with a cover over it. I'm hoping to be at the Maggie valley GMC/Chevy truck nationals this year to show it. Hope to see you all there.Dave

[weasel29gm]

My 69 was a NC truck,came to WV in 82. I got it from the 2nd owner in 86. I think I have a tag from NC somewhere. Had 75k when I got has 104k now.