My Grandfather's 1969 C20

[hart11b]

I just bought my grandfather's 1969 C20 work truck. He bought the truck new in 1969 and has had it ever since. He used it mainly as a farm truck and it lived in a barn for all of its life.

My grandfather was a farmer his entire life except for several years during WWII. He served in the 99th ID and survived the battle of the bulge and various other battles before returning home. He never talked about his service to anyone in any detail for good reason. My father talks about the nightmares my grandfather used to have for years after returning from the war. I never pushed to get more information about his service, but I wish I had known more to keep his legacy intact. He passed away in February at 94 years old.

But, hopefully his truck can get another life. I live in Arizona and the truck is in Illinois. I was back home this weekend to make the deal, inspect the truck and try to get a plan together. I also received the original title, issued to my grandfather August 1969.

The truck is in very decent shape. It's showing 36,000 miles and my father believes that may be accurate. He only used it around the farm to fix fence or haul some hay. Also, there is very, very little rust. I would categorize it as rust-free. The AM radio still works great. It's got a 327 that still runs great and a 4-speed tranny that feels great.

My plan is to get this truck back on the road. It sat in the barn for the last five or six years while he was getting too old to use it. Now, what do I do with this truck? I think I need to get this truck going.

I'm having a local mechanic give it a good look over and get it in shape to drive. After that, I'm not sure. I'm a military man with a family and I don't have time or a place to properly restore this truck.

I'm thinking I'll do one of two options.
1. After getting the truck mechanically sound, give it do a body shop to fix all the little dents from its over 40 years as a farm truck. Then get it painted to original red/white.

2. Full frame off restoration. I know this isn't going to be cheap, but this would be ideal. Does anyone have a recommendation for a restoration shop in the Midwest?

Here's a few pics of the old farm truck.







And the old 1953 1.5 ton grain truck.

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