just had to share this

[DetroitDan]

Out in the woods at my uncles farm there is a little junkyard, everything they ever owned ends up there. Since I was a kid I have been eyeballing an old orange stepside, wishing I could restore it. I could have had it for free, but it was just too far gone to restore, someone appropriated the doors, the front fenders and headlight and grille assembly, so its been open to the weather for many years, and this is New Hampshire so we get some snow and cold. They also cut off part of the rockers with a sawzall, so now theres no rockers and much of the floor is gone. The cab is pretty far gone, the hood would be perfect except that one corner is smashed hard. Bed is rotted away, one fender is probably saveable, other one disappeared. Tailgate is mint. Frame and driveline is still good, basically only thing above the frame worth saving is the tailgate, and front and rear window glass. So anyway, year after year I walk past it going hunting, and it always made me a little sad, but I knew it was beyond my abilities to repair.
The other day my 18 y/o cousin got ambitious and decided he wanted to do something with it. He dragged it out of the woods, towed it back to his shop and we pushed it inside. Here's where it gets interesting. Oil looks brand new and sparkplugs look clean. We cleaned the points up a bit with an emery board, switched the fuel line at the pump to one going into a gas can, and put in a good battery. No key so we had to jump the ignition switch. Guess what happened next?
Not only did we get this thing to run after only ten minutes of fooling with it, it runs beautiful!! Purrs like a kitten, no smoke and sounds strong as the day it was made. This truck, which near as we can tell with so much missing, is a 62 or 63 Chevy C-10. It's a 6 cylinder 3 on the tree, even the clutch feels great. Did a little research and found out the guy stopped driving it because he said a bronze bushing went on the distributor which caused it to be loose (seems ok at the moment) After it sat a couple years he got sick of looking at it and gave it to another cousin who drove it into the woods and left it, near as he can remember it was in the early 80s. So this thing sat outside for nearly 30 years, and in ten minutes it was running like a top! Simply amazing.
Don't know what we're going to do with it yet. I think it needs a new cab and all sheetmetal, my cousin thinks he can weld new rockers and floors in it. Ah, the ambition of youth.
I just thought that if there was anyone who could appreciate this story, it would be you guys.

[N2TRUX]

Great story, but we need pics...

[steverino66]

Cool story - ambition of youth is right.

[Hoser's Girl]

She's alive!!!! That is an awesome story!!!!!

[Keith Seymore]

Very cool -

Originally Posted by DetroitDan

Ah, the ambition of youth.

I need you to put a little of this in a bottle, and send it to my home.



K

[LinkbeltOE]

Great story, Pics please!!!!!

[DetroitDan]

OK, took two pics today with my camera phone, will try to load them. Believe me, this truck is uglier than it sounds.

[aerotruk63]

Looking at the brake master cylinder pointing forward , I would guess it's a 63.
Deluxe heater, is the valve and heater core any good?
Would be a 230 originally.
There's no such thing as an ugly 60-66!

[fryer1979]

There is quite a few guys on here that can help with your missing parts, and welding in new panels is pretty much common to just about every truck on here. Hope to see this one followed through to complete. Congrats on bringing her back.

[jonathan-m]

I'm thinking leave the doors and hood off, slap on some tires and turn her into a proper dune buggy/ woods truck.
Trying to restore that old girl without complete replacing everything frame up would be.....tough....

[markeb01]

No matter what comes of the truck, that is a cool story. Thanks for sharing it.

[Sillyoldman]

Originally Posted by markeb01

No matter what comes of the truck, that is a cool story. Thanks for sharing it.

^^ Yeah great story for sure. Thanks for sharing it.

['63GENIII]

Sitting thirty years and starts in ten minutes.... Mine takes thirty minutes to start after sitting for ten minutes, ha ha! Thats an awesome story! Hope you guys get it driving soon.

[raycow]

I always enjoy hearing about another one being brought back from the dead. Good luck with it, and don't give up until it is on the road again.

I think it is a 62, judging from the center cap on the valve cover. AFAIK, the 63-up engines had the cap at the front. Would still like to see a close-up pic of the engine if you can manage it though.

Ray

[Captainfab]

I agree, this is a great story. It really doesn't look all that bad to me. As long as the cab isn't rusted out above the windshield. As already mentioned, replacing rockers and floor sections is pretty much a given on these trucks. It looks like a '63 to me also. It would be great if you or your cousin would keep us up to date with the progress on this longtime survivor. This truck obviously doesn't want to die, so it should be helped out and put back on the road.

[ChiefRocka]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

I agree, this is a great story. It really doesn't look all that bad to me. As long as the cab isn't rusted out above the windshield. As already mentioned, replacing rockers and floor sections is pretty much a given on these trucks. It looks like a '63 to me also. It would be great if you or your cousin would keep us up to date with the progress on this longtime survivor. This truck obviously doesn't want to die, so it should be helped out and put back on the road.

I agree man .... with such a cool story, it needs to be restored !!!

Do it man !!!



Thanks for sharing !!

[Turkey]

Originally Posted by jonathan-m

I'm thinking leave the doors and hood off, slap on some tires and turn her into a proper dune buggy/ woods truck.
Trying to restore that old girl without complete replacing everything frame up would be.....tough....

New Smyrna Beach fishing truck!!

[1ATony]

That's pretty cool.Heck of a story. I live up here in NH and know how tough the weather is.

[ratskin]

Look at the frame, and you can tell if it's a 62 or 63. They made the change between those years...

[DetroitDan]

looking into replacement cabs and donor trucks. what years will fit? Please tell me 64 -65, because we've got a line on a couple of those.

[Greg63]

The '60 - '63 cabs are all the same (generally) but the '64-'66 cabs are different (windshields, doors).
I suspect you could mount a '64-'66 cab onto your frame with some minor modifications, otherwise you should be looking for '60-'63 cabs for donor parts.
Greg

[raycow]

The frames changed quite a bit between 62 and 63. If you want to swap cabs across that break, you will need to rework the mounts. Btw, an easy way to tell the years apart is that 60-62 will have torsion bars if it is stock.

Ray

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by '63geniii

sitting thirty years and starts in ten minutes.... Mine takes thirty minutes to start after sitting for ten minutes, ha ha!

lol!

K

[aerotruk63]

63-66 cabs will bolt right on, but then why not wait it out for a 63 cab.

[DetroitDan]

Originally Posted by raycow

I always enjoy hearing about another one being brought back from the dead. Good luck with it, and don't give up until it is on the road again.

I think it is a 62, judging from the center cap on the valve cover. AFAIK, the 63-up engines had the cap at the front. Would still like to see a close-up pic of the engine if you can manage it though.

Ray

the cap is actually toward the front, like 2/3 of the way forward. I wrote down the VIN somewhere, just need to find it. And I took some pictures of the engine but now my phones broke so I cant upload them.