New guy with an '80 SWB.

[Cue-Ball]

Hey, everyone. I've been lurking around this board for a month or so as I was searching for a truck. I finally bought one, so I figured I'd join the forum and introduce myself (and, of course, show off my new toy).

Bought this 1980 Chevy on Saturday for $2800. It's not perfect, but it's in really good shape overall. Mostly, I wanted to make sure I bought a reliable truck that would get me to work and back without worry. This definitely fits the bill. The truck is a V8, automatic, short bed, fleetside, with no A/C and a single fuel tank. This is exactly what I was looking for, since I prefer simplicity and have a "less is more" attitude towards my vehicles. Here's what she looked like when I brought her home on Saturday:



The driver's door has a dent in it from a Home Depot rolling cart (you can see it in the first pic). There's a tiny dent on the roof and the paint is getting thin, especially on the hood. Otherwise, it's in very nice shape. It's never been wrecked, there's virtually no rust, and everything looks pretty straight.

The maroon (red) interior looks to be almost completely stock. When I bought the truck it had a seatcover installed, but otherwise it's mostly untouched. The headliner is in great condition, visors, gauges, etc. The dash has two cracks, but is far better than any other truck that I looked at. The carpet has a hole on the driver's side, but still looks pretty decent. And the truck has tilt and gauges, not idiot lights (no clock or tach though). One thing that the owner did add, which is really nice, is a variable delay on the wipers. The box stuck to the dash isn't particularly attractive, but it works fantastic.



The previous owner had installed some compartments in the bed. They're covered in ugly 70's shag carpet, but the design is actually pretty cool. The compartments on the side hold stuff in front of and behind the wheel wells, while the center pieces can be moved up into a track on top of the side pieces. This basically creates a completely flat raised floor the height of the wheel wells, with a big storage area underneath. The idea is that you can go camping, store all your gear in the "tunnel" between the wheel wells and in the storage compartments, while still having a totally flat area to use as a bed. Pretty ingenious, really. But still ugly.


The truck was originally a 250 6-cylinder with a TH350, but the previous owner installed a 305 crate engine about 47,000 miles ago, and replaced the TH350 with a remanufactured trans. The engine bay was tidy, but dirty, and the cheap air cleaner had begun to rust. I hosed everything off real well and replaced the air cleaner with a spare I had sitting in the garage. It could still use some paint, but it's good enough for now. The original jack was behind the seat when I bought the truck, so I put it back on the fender where it belongs.


I removed everything from the bed and was greeted with nearly perfect sheetmetal. Dent free and barely even scratched. The only issue is some rust at the front edge of the bed that will need addressed.

I'd like to remove the canopy, but I don't really have the room to store it and, as much as it rains here, it would come in really handy for keeping cargo dry. So, I'm torn. I hate the looks and how much it limits visibility, but it's useful and I don't want to get rid of it permanently. For now it's gonna have to stay.

I cleaned up the interior a bit and removed the seat cover. Underneath is the original upholstery in very nice condition. The driver's side is worn a little on the edges, but there are no rips or stains. I'm not crazy about the velour, but it's stock and in good condition, so I'll keep it for now.


I wasted no time removing stuff from the truck once I got it home. The first thing to go was the bug deflector. Second was the cheap, rusty fog lights that the PO had installed. Getting rid of both cleaned up the front end very nicely.


I'm the third owner of this truck, but the previous owner bought it barely used, with only 5,000 miles on it, and kept it for the last 30 years. So, it's essentially been a single owner vehicle for 99% of it's life. He gave me a stack of paperwork with the truck, including the original owner's manual and documentation, build sheet, tons of receipts and hand written notes, etc.



For now I plan on just driving and enjoying the truck, and not doing anything too crazy with it. I've already got one project car and don't want to start another. Plus, I need to be able to depend on the truck when the weather is too crappy to ride my motorcycle to work. However, I do plan on doing small stuff here and there to make it nicer without ruining the utility of the vehicle or putting it out of commission for more than a weekend at a time. So, for the foreseeable future I'll just be doing little stuff like aligning the driver's door, painting the engine bay, lubing hinges, etc.

The first big job that needs addressing is the handling. This thing is a turd in the corners. I crawled under the front last night and it looks like it came from the factory without a front anti-roll bar. That needs addressed right away, because as it sits now you practically roll to the other side of the truck when making turns. I'm not going to make it an autocross attack vehicle, but it needs to handle better than my parents' Winnebago.

It's going to remain a utility vehicle, so it won't be getting slammed to the ground and I won't be putting on 20" wheels (sorry, lowrider fans). I've already got one lowered vehicle and don't want to have to crawl over speed bumps in this thing. However, I'm open to possibly lowering it a couple of inches front and rear. Just nothing too drastic. I want to retain a stock-ish look.

The interior doesn't NEED any work, but I would like to replace the door panels. They're plastic one-piece units that look and feel cheap. I'd like to dress it up a little bit and make it feel factory fresh inside.

I actually like the 1980 front end the least of all the years of these trucks. Figures that's what I'd end up with. So, I'm considering changing to the earlier, round headlight front end. But that's far in the future, since there's nothing wrong with what's on there now, and it's actually in really good shape other than a little rust pitting near the headlights. Also, the whole truck will need bodywork and paint. But, again, that's going to be far in the future. I've already got one car in paint jail, and can't afford to have a second one there too. So, maybe in a year or two I can start worrying about bodywork and paint.