1964 El Paso C10 Shortbed

[Nevada51]

I finally thought I’d better start my own thread rather than hijacking other people’s posts with my questions…

Wind the clock back to around May 2021, and a Craigslist ad for a very original looking 1964 C10 shortbed caught my eye. I left it for a while as it looked to have rust in the usual places and some significant damage to the right rear bed side… and it didn’t run. More work than I really wanted to take on so I left it for a few weeks. Having had a long bed before, I was really wanting an original shortbed but they were all going for crazy prices (I’m sure you can relate…).

I finally contacted the seller and it turned out that it was still owned by the original family that bought it. It was an original paint truck, and importantly the seller seemed genuine - a very important consideratiowhen buying a truck without being able to inspect it in person.

Anyway, I bought it for all those reasons, figuring that there wouldn’t be too many major surprises given how original it was. A big thanks to the owner Jerry for selling it to me and all the assistance to get it sorted and good to go for transporting.

Enough talk, some pictures…

A picture from the ad. It had rust in each door corner, mostly the outer skin only, and the front guards in the usual spots.


Finally getting collected for transportation. Now rolling on new original size cross-ply tires that Jerry kindly had mounted for me to make transportation easier.

[bigmoe]

Nice find. What are your plans for it?

[notsolo]

Great Truck, more important what's in the box...?

[Braunschweiger]

Congratulations on the great C10,
I'm excited to see what you make of it

[Nevada51]

Originally Posted by bigmoe

Nice find. What are your plans for it?

The plan is to get roadworthy, cut out all the rust, and lower it a touch. I like stock trucks on original tires, so nothing crazy. Of course I’d also love to put a V8 in it, but my budget says otherwise!

[Nevada51]

Originally Posted by notsolo

Great Truck, more important what's in the box...?

That really stands out huh! That’s is a new rear bedside panel. It was way cheaper for me to get a bunch of parts shipped with the truck, so I ordered most parts I thought it would need. Jerry kindly packed them in the bed and cab as seen below. I ordered a lot of stuff…..

[Nevada51]

Here’s a screenshot from the original 1964 brochure. Even back in the day they knew they looked better lower. This looks to be about five inches lower than stock in the rear.



That would have to be one of my favourite colours too. Mine will be staying in its original paint!

No idea why some of my pictures appear so large or how to reduce their size, so there’ll be more big pics coming!

[Fleet '66]

Congrats, nice find. that should be a fun project. I agree with you that the short fleets are getting harder to find. With a little work you'll have that one lookin' fine. Have fun!

[Nevada51]

This was the first time I saw it in the flesh, and it had few surprises thanks to an honest seller and good photos. Only key thing different to my expectations was the floor mat was shot. Not a big deal.

Note the panel gap between the tailgate and bed side. I’ll come back to this in a later post…

Nothing quite like original paint in my view.

[Nevada51]

First order of business was to get it running which was relatively straight forward, but the original gas tank was no good having sat for years with gas in it. After driving it around with a small makeshift tank (and stopping for gas all too frequently) a new tank, sending unit, gasket, filler neck, grommet and gas cap were purchased and installed. The gas gauge now works!







Apologies for the large photo format…

[PowerdbyChevy79]

subscribed....

[Nevada51]

Well I had good intentions when I started this thread, but I dropped the ball! I still have it, so I'll update with what I've done over the last few years over the next few days.

Continuing where we left off, I was having issues with the carb which was an old Ford carb I believe.



I'm all for originality, but in this instance I replaced it with a rebuilt carb from a local GM Holden HQ 202 six cylinder as it meant parts were readily available.



It required going with a Holden air filter set up to fit the diameter of the carb. The only issue I've run into with it is the choke cable which I just can't seem to get to operate properly - the cable moves freely, but once it has all the bends in it to get it to the carb it doesn't work. It might also be the slight different positioning of the cable mount vs an original carb as it works ok when in location but not bolted in to the carb. It's a bit annoying, but fortunately I rarely need to use it. I'll deal with that at a later date.

It ran fine for a while, but then I had issues with it - ran ok, then it didn't, then fine, then not. Turns out it was specks of rust in the fuel line binding up the needle. I cleaned out the lines and installed a new fuel filter. It then ran fine for months after that before starting to run like a pig again. The problem this time was the float had a pinhole in it and was gradually filling with gas. So that was a lesson in 'just because it's rebuilt, doesn't mean it won't have issues'. It was also good insurance that I went with a local carb vs the original as sourcing that locally for a OEM carb would have been a pain. It's been running mostly fine since then.

I have no idea why my pictures are so large! Imgur isn't the best photo hosting site!

[PowerdbyChevy79]

Glad to see your back!

[0ldSoul]

Seems like it's finally running smoothly. Did you ever replace that bedside panel?

In regard to the picture sizes, try uploading directly to the post. There's an insert image icon when replying.

[Nevada51]

I’ll do this a little out of sync in terms of when I did what, but I replaced the bed side panel. It was really easy to do - there’s a Brother’s Trucks YouTube video that explains everything. There was one weld that had to be cut, but it didn’t have to be rewelded.

Here it is in the process of the old panel being removed. All work being done on the road as I don’t have a garage.


Edit: Now my images won’t even load. I tried adding directly but it wants a http address, so I can’t do it directly to the post. I then tried uploading pictures in the Gallery (Inevere knew that existed! But it says my file size is too large….

[0ldSoul]

My apologies, I steered you in the wrong direction.. it's been a while since I've uploaded a picture. However, there is a way to do it.

Below the reply box, there is a 'Manage Attachments' button you can click and upload directly to the forum.

Then you can upload the pictures directly from your PC.

Finally, don't forget to hit the Upload button to confirm.

I've attached pictures for ya

[Nevada51]

Looks like my file size is too large to upload vs the max size permitted, so it looks like I'm back to looking for alternatives. In the meantime, it looks like my PC lets me upload, but the iPad doesn't, so here's the pic I was trying to post earlier, in the process of removing the damaged panel on the RHS.

[Nevada51]

Next pic, is with the bedside removed. This was a really easy project. As the earlier pics showed, I bought it thinking it looked like a straight forward fix....and it was! That'd be my temporary gas tank (blue container). I was making frequent gas stops while running it off that!

[Nevada51]

Repro panel in the shop getting painted....

[Nevada51]

No picture of the panel refitted (I'll get to that), but as you can see I had it kinda painted to reflect the patina of the rest of the truck. Unfortunately they painted it so it is pretty flay. I've polished it which helps somewhat, but more gloss would have been preferred. My fault as I didn't specify what look I was aiming for.

Next step (well in posting pics - this is out of chronological sequence, but whatever) was sorting out the quarter panel rust and spots in the lower door panels. There's patina and then there is rust...and this was definitely the latter. In my original parts order, I ordered new lower quarter repair sections and lower door panel skins. It turned out that I didn't need the lower door skins as it was easier to just fix the rust through areas - the rest of the door skin and lower door body were really solid.

Here's a (gigantic) pic of the rust on one side. I also ordered the inner panel part as well. When ordering sight unseen it was better to be safe than sorry. Way cheaper to have some contingency in parts vs having to order and pay international shipping. Anyway I was glad I ordered them as one side was OK, the other was shot. I also ordered new seals.

[Nevada51]

Front fenders removed and looking very ugly.



Panels being collected from getting rust repair work done (one in the backseat as well). If only I had a pick-up for jobs like this!

[Braunschweiger]

Great progress!
Regards Harald

[0ldSoul]

Lookin' good, I bet that new bedside has completely changed the whole look!

[SCOTI]

Good looking ride. I bet it stands out amongst the other traffic on the road!

[scottofksu]

Uhm... Sorry, this is off topic, but can we see more of the Porsche???