How the 4-5-6 Chevy Truck illness began

[LILRED66]

Here are few photos of my first 4-5-6 Chevy Trucks. The first one is a black, '65 lwb fleet, that I bought from a retired farmer in Harrisionville, MO in 1981 for $500.00, cold hard cash. I think it was more than I had in my entire savings account at the time, so my father was gracious enough to lend me the $100.00 I was short.

I learned how to drive in that truck with it's three-on-the-three manual tranny and 250 cid straight six. I put the white spokes on it, as a gift from Santa Claus that year and rebuilt a sbc 400, I horse-traded from a local tobacco farmer for helping him put up his crop that year. I operated my small, local mowing business out of that truck. My John Deere 111 fit nicely between the wheel wells. I drove it through the high school years.

I sold the '65 to my neighbor in 1983, to make way for the '66 Chevy C10 lwb fleet. I bought it for $1,700.00, complete with a matching aluminum shell. It had a 292, big six and an SM420, granny-low four speed. I drove that truck through the college years and took an autobody course, to fix some minor rust spots. A semester later, I had it in aviation-grade zinc-chromate epoxy primer and GM Victory Red paint/clear. Shortly after the build, it was stolen in Merriam, KS on a Friday night. It was recovered by the PD, however it was torn to shambles, so I took the insurance settlement of $3,400.00.

Looking back, my 4-5-6 Chevy Truck illness started almost 27 years ago and unlike all other illnesses, I hope I never get over this one. If you have a rig you like, do everything in your power to keep it around, because once it is gone, it is hard to fill those shoes...kinda like an old dog!

Hopefully, you have a story to tell about how you contracted the 4-5-6 Chevy Truck disease and you chose to share it.