Saw a '77 K10 at a local dealership

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I was coming home from school when I spotted the sexiest truck I have EVER seen! It was a 1977 Chevy K10! Indeed it was a project truck, it had white smoke coming out of both sides of the exhaust. I thought it had sidepipes but it only had a couple of big holes in the exhaust. The engine bay and engine itself was pretty greasy (not something 'normal' people like, but for grease monkeys, its cool. It had a 350. Its carbureted, but its missing the air filter, so it was just an exposed carb... Not exactly a good thing, but its the heartbeat of America. And Summit Racing should have a nice crate engine I could build up for a good price and drop in the truck.

It chassis is in 'solid' condition. Meaning, it did have some rust on the expected parts, but overall, it could still drive through a brick wall and live another day. The truck has been lifted (suspension lift, not body lift) and has aftermarket wheels and tires (rather used). Its also got an aftermarket front bumper and Hella fog lights.

The salesman was looking for $4,500 CAD as is.

I only snatched two pics of it with my POS 0.3 mega pixel camera phone, but you can get the general idea.






The body's not in bad condition. The bed has some rust, but that's expected from a truck. The only rust thing I'm concerned is the chassis. Its got some parts that need to be cut off and re-welded with a new piece of metal, but other than that, its still rock solid.

As for the smoke from the exhaust, its 10 degrees Celsius here, equivalent to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Its also rather humid, as well. I'm walking around with a very light sweater.

As for wiring, its recently got a new distributor and plugs, and it looks like its been installed correctly and securely.

As for oil leaks, the grime from under the hood looks just like someone made a mess and never bothered to clean it up. But then again, engines and trannies are cheap if you know where to look, right?

As for rust on the body, nothing some small sheet metal can fix... Its got a very clean body. The door window openings are in great condition. The only major flaws of this truck are the dash board... Rotted away to sh!t, and the shocks... The leaf springs are fine, as well as their mounts, but the shocks look like they're dead weight. Looks like a few of the shocks might even be bent...

Body and chassis wise, its fine, it'll last a decade if this current condition is maintained. Longer if I the chassis rust is removed. Shouldn't be too hard, since its a truck, take the bed off, work on the chassis. Put it back on, strip the cab, take the cab and front end off, work on the chassis. Put it back, bam! Overall steering alignment is spot-on, though.

The only thing I'm concerned about is the exhaust, engine and shocks. It smells like its running VERY rich... I can smell quite a bit of gasoline, so it may be the cause of the white smoke... The engine looks greasy, but the price of a rebuilt engine shouldn't be too bad to find on Craigslist or something. As for the shocks, Canadian Tire, Van & Truck World, Summit, or Parts source should be able to fix that no problem.

My dad is good with haggling, but the guy we're haggling is Italian... I don't mean to sound stereotypical, so forgive me if I offend you, but they're just too hard to haggle with. When they found a step they like, they just don't back down on it... My dad says if he'll give it for $2,500, we'll probably take it, but that's too big of a cut from that $4,500 as is asking price...

About the mileage, I wasn't able to see. The dealer wouldn't let my punk-ass kid sit in the 'monster truck'...

I wanted to ask, what do you guys think of this truck.

Thanks in advance for your replies.