MI Cab Find

[Willowrun]

Last summer my daughter and I hit up an estate sale at a farm house out in the country. The older gentleman who was having the sale had an interesting mix of stuff including some square Chevy parts. As I was checking them out he asked if I had any idea of what a truck cab from the 70's would be worth. I wasn't interested, (figured being in Michigan it would be rusty, plus I have way too many projects) but asked to see it anyways. This guy had stuff everywhere and once we got out to the barn it was difficult to see through the chaos, but I saw the cab. That's sunlight shining in on it from the holes in the barn roof.

[71swb4x4]

I hope that's not the end of the story!!

[Willowrun]

As I got closer to it I could tell it was pretty clean. The guy said he was pretty sure it was a '79 cab because he had purchased it in 1980 and it was only a year old then. He was going to use it for a pulling truck but never got around to it (he seemed to have a lot he didn't get around to) and it had been sitting there ever since. I opened up the door...didn't look too bad.

[Willowrun]

Although it had the classic mouse urine smell, the interior was pretty intact and original. The gage bezel was sitting on the pass floor but other than that it was all there. I poked around a little bit in the interior and the guy was telling me he thought it only had like 20K miles on it. I had to correct him...just a little over 13K miles.

[Willowrun]

It's a very base model truck as it has no air and the low end door panels.

[Willowrun]

Vinyl seat and rubber floor. But then it has the shiny plastic bezel....no cracks though. I'm not up on what options came with what trim levels, but the bezel seemed a little out of place.

[silverbear]

Nice find! The cab I picked up with in Romulus last year was very far from being in the good of shape. Ended up replacing mine with a Florida cab. Much much less rust. What are your plans for it?

[Willowrun]

Dash was mint with no cracks. Floors, doors, and cab corners were all perfect. Now I was in a predicament....I had no need whatsoever for a cab, but the tan interior intrigued me as I have a SWB from California with a sun trashed interior that's been sitting in the corner of my barn just waiting for some attention for years. I hate doing negotiating in front of my daughter but I decided to see if I could get this thing for what it would take me to get the interior of the SWB fixed up for.

I knew I wouldn't be able to write this post without talking about the negotiation and what I paid for it as I hate it when people won't talk numbers, so here's how it went:

I offered him $400. He said $1,000. I asked him if it had a title...nope. I came up to $500, he said $800. Then it started....he started getting sentimental about it...said he might get to it...said he had a buddy that said it was worth a grand. I made him a final offer of $550...no dice.

[john@thepier]

So did you buy the cab or is it still for sale. You have my interest.

[Willowrun]

I left somewhat stressed that we couldn't make a deal. I didn't need it, but as I thought about what the sum of the parts were I felt maybe I could go a little higher. I slept on it and then headed back to the sale the next day with my daughter and son in tow. Those of you with kids have used your kids as a bargaining tool before right...."my son and are going to put a truck together so we could really use this cab"....there isn't anything wrong with that right?

Didn't work. I went up to $600, he was stuck at $800 and wouldn't budge. GRRRRR...
I gave him my number and told him to call me when he was ready to deal.

[john@thepier]

Well its been 3/4 of a year did he ever call?

[Willowrun]

Just want to make sure everyone knows this isn't a for sale add.

Months went by and then last fall when I was in a meeting in MX with a potential customer the guy called to see if I would go $750. I was in the middle of a meeting so I said I would call him back. I didn't want to go that high so I didn't...but it never left my mind.

About a month ago I figured out his phone number and gave him a call. The long winter has been tough on a lot of people and he was hurting for money (he told me this...he's actually a really nice, honest guy). He was still stuck on $750 so I said that's fine....I'll take it. I went by and gave him most of the money and then as the weather breaks I'm going to go dig it out of the barn.

I'll just hold on to it for now and keep it intact. I'll take more pictures and post them in a couple months.

[john@thepier]

I believe this is not a for sale post, so keep me in mind after you get the interior swapped out.

[john@thepier]

About a year and a half ago I sold a 85 K30 with 11,000 original miles on it. I got a call from the guy who bought it today saying that we had an agreement when I sold it to him that I could have first writes if he needed to sell it. Guy never drove it and had an exhaust put under it then parked it in his garage. Well he just offered it back to me for a lot less. I have been fiending all day, thinking of how I am going to get it back within a few weeks. Wife is keeping a watchful eye over me, but she knows when I set my sights its as good as done.

[smashingchuck]

dude 800 for a rust free cab in michigan and you choked? wtf. I'd buy it and i dont even need one.

[Willowrun]

Finally got around to picking this cab up today. It's perfect except for some surface rust on the outside of the pass rocker which I'm guessing is from it sitting on concrete for the last 35 years but luckily it's just on the surface. The underside is nice and dry. I'm gonna pull the interior and doors and put the rest in the classifieds. I'm just not as ambitious as I used to be regarding the heavy labor involved in a cab swap.

[Willowrun]

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[Willowrun]

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