Raymond

[Elliot949]

Ok... Lets start at the beginning... I am going to give you the long history of this truck...

July 1966 My Dad went to Branine Chevrolet in Mulvane, Ks and spoke to his friend Don Branine (owner) to order a 1966 Chevy Pickup to put his slide in camper in... When he got there he was informed that he could no longer order a 66 that the 1967's were being ordered and it had a complete change in styling... They didn't have any pictures of the new model but had the order specs... Well dad looked over the specs and decided that he would go ahead and order a 1967 C-20 Custom Camper... At the time, dad ordered a Light Blue (code 507) and White (code 521) two tone Truck... Well time went by and the order got kicked back for some reason so Dad and Don set down to figure out why it was kicked out... I don't know the answer to why it was but anyway they reordered the truck... Well somehow Don screwed up the order and didn't get the Two tone ordered....

The beginning of November 1966, Dad got a call ( not on his cell phone... LOL) and was told that the truck came in but there was a problem and it was solid white not two tone... Dad being the calm control person he was (NOT!!!!) he calmly (NOT!!!) told him he would be over... Dad and I got in his 62 Chevy pickup and headed for the dealership...

When we got there, the truck was setting out in front ready to go in to be setup for delivery... Dad got out, walked over to the truck and turned around and looked at me and said "Damn that is a ugly truck"... I know now that at the time he said that from it just not being exactly what he wanted... But there was a C-10 sitting there in the lt. blue/white two tone and dad said that maybe the white would be better but went in to "renegotiate" the deal... After much discussion Dad and Don came to a mutual agreement...

Dad got his truck and hauled his camper all over the USA with the first few years towing a boat then later on towing a 5th wheel camper...

Fast Forward to 12/4/04... Dad passed away and I inherited the 67 Pickup... This is what he said would happen the day he bought it and he kept it all those years just for that reason... He owned other pickups during those years and basically retired the 67 from service and just used it for play and to haul stuff in from time to time...

When my mother passed 3/8/11 my sisters and I were cleaning out my parents house and I was loading up the rest of my inheritance (all of dads tools, equipment and basically all of the garage stuff)... We had the truck sitting in my parents garage on Sunday night and decided to leave it there that night because we were worn out and we would go back over Monday after work and get the truck that was loaded to the hilt ( looked like the Beverly Hillbillies) and take it home and unload it...

Well the next morning I get a phone call from my sister asking if I had came and got the truck... I told her nope, she then informed me it was gone... Some assholes broke into my parents garage approximately 20:00 Sunday evening and stole the truck and all the contents... Man I was devastated...

Two nights later Around 22:30 I get a phone call from the Wichita, Ks police department saying they had found the truck but it had been stripped and would I like to meet them or just have it towed somewhere... My wife and I went to where the truck was located, they were dusting it and making their report ( that is all the fricking police department did on this stolen truck and I believe that was only for show not for actual attempting to solve the crime)... Two weeks later I called the Police department and asked if they had any leads and was told at that point it hadn't even been assigned to a detective... Anyway we won't get into what I think of the Police department...

Anyway, we tow what's left of the truck to the house and stick it in the garage... Man guys I have to tell you I was just destroyed I couldn't even look at the truck for like a month...

My wife and I for months tossed around to try and decide what to do with this truck, do I just send it to the crusher or do I want to "restore" it back to its original glory... After alot of cussing and discussing we decided that there is a good history here with this truck and this was to be passed on to my oldest son (we will see if I EVER let that happen)... So I started collecting parts to build it back as the C-20 Pickup that it was...

I have to tell you guys my heart really could never wrap itself around the restoration... I was going through the motions of getting stuff for the truck (lots of help on parts from Mike (cash3481) and Randy (teeitup) but there was just no excitement in the restoration...

One night sitting out on the patio having a scotch, my wife looked at me and said why don't you just build the truck you always wanted which is a C-10 Short Fleetside... So after alot discussion, away we went which brings us to today...

I sold /gave away all of the longbed stuff that I had collected Went to Kansas City to Classic Parts of America and spent about 5K and bought a New Fleetside bed, cab Floors, and alot of other stuff... Then with the help of some friends (specifically Mike "cash3481") we are underway...

In the following post are pics of where we came from (starting when Dad owned it) to now...

Thanks for reading... Dan

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