My new "Longhorn" is home.

[Chris_oz]

Hi all,


I bought a 1970 C20 Longhorn, which I drove home on Saturday, I flew up with a return ticket in my pocket just in case, I hoping it was going to be drivable, it was.

I set off on return trip at 10 am, it was 505 miles, took me 10 hours including 3 fuel/rest stops.

I was by myself so a couple of stops were required to stay alert.


Truck performed well, all gauges including tacho, oil pressure, coolant, speedometer, odometer and fuel worked and were pretty accurate.

It is a 350 V8 4brl with 4 speed trans, I think I have the Eaton rear end, it was doing 3400-3500rpm at 65mph indicated, it has 8.75r16.5 tyres, so I think it will be the 4.56:1


Fuel gauge was accurate, it was reading exactly half a tank and took 39.5 litres to fill (10.4 us gals)

I was doing between 55 and 65mph most of the way, normally closer to 60mph as I didn’t know how old the tyres are, I pulled up several times to check everything out, it all felt fine.


I averaged 15.3 mpg for the trip, once it went over 65 mph, fuel use went up at a fair rate, but given its age I was pretty happy with it.


It came with all the original paperwork, including build sheets, dealer order, warranty cards, owners book, original California registration, in its envelope with receipt.

It still has a build sheet behind the springs on the bench seat.

I also have the order and brochure for a new slide on camper he bought in 1971, an 11ft slid on from ANZA Camper Sales, in Garden Grove Cali.


I had plans on modifying this, fitting headers, manifold, EFI or doing an LS swap………..not any more.


It is just too nice to mess up, I need to get the A/C working, it is all there, but has been degassed to come into Australia.

There are some missing vacuum lines and the one of the vent actuators is a bit messed up, but it should be reasonably easy to fix.


So far I am very happy, it drives well, I need to replace the driveshaft support bearing, it decided to start making noise about 100 mile from home, rubber is shot and has ½” play all round.


I have lots of questions, but I will ask them in another thread with a topic specific question so I don’t get too confused