"The Sled" Ride of 2016!

[WannaBe68]

If you are like me and have been bumping around this site, as a "guest", for a few years now – Hold your hand up - yep...me too. Now that I'm the proud owner of a 69 Sled, I thought it was time to join up. Great site by the way!

My story in a Reader’s Digest version is - I've been looking for a 67-72 4x4 3 door Sled for several years now. With a wife and 4 young boys means we have a traveling circus to shuttle around and while I have a late model Chevy Suburban and the wife has an import mid-sized SUV, I’ve always wanted a 67-72 4x4 classic Sled! I’ve been looking on and off for a few years now… I have found some that were already fixed up and really nice, but not how I want it. Or I found some needing $20k worth of body work alone...before doing anything else! So no joy for a long time. A few weeks ago a buddy emailed me a link to a listing of a 1969 green 4x4 Suburban located north of Sacramento, Cali. I was hoping to find one closer to Texas / Houston area, but have had zero luck with that. This one was boasting original metal and no body work with rust only in the rear top tailgate door…with the owner throwing in a replacement and a recently rebuild 350sb. The seller and I had numerous back and forths and he was kind enough to send me a ton of additional pictures from different areas I requested. I’m in! And as I am thinking about freight costs and shipping companies...it hit me like a ton of bricks. ROAD TRIP! So I grabbed my 2 oldest boys, 13 and 11, and we flew to Sacramento…picked it up and spent 5 days driving “The Sled” back. No ac, no radio…it was wonderful! I confiscated their phones and we had a road trip I hope they will remember for a long time. And since this Sled has spent its entire life in the same area not venturing farther that 30 miles (per sellers), she showed a ton of heart on the road trip to Houston! Future plans are to slowly fix her up, because the interior is pretty original and pretty worn out...decide on a new color. I'm leaning to Chevy 503, because of Chris's awesome looking Sub.

If it is okay with the moderators, I’d like to post some highlight photos from the trip. And since this is a Suburban centric site, I’ll try to post only photos with The Sled as the subject leaving out all of the goofy kids/Dad’s stuff…which was a lot!

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by WannaBe68

If you are like me and have been bumping around this site, as a "guest", for a few years now – Hold your hand up - yep...me too. Now that I'm the proud owner of a 69 Sled, I thought it was time to join up. Great site by the way!

My story in a Reader’s Digest version is - I've been looking for a 67-72 4x4 3 door Sled for several years now. With a wife and 4 young boys means we have a traveling circus to shuttle around and while I have a late model Chevy Suburban and the wife has an import mid-sized SUV, I’ve always wanted a 67-72 4x4 classic Sled! I’ve been looking on and off for a few years now… I have found some that were already fixed up and really nice, but not how I want it. Or I found some needing $20k worth of body work alone...before doing anything else! So no joy for a long time. A few weeks ago a buddy emailed me a link to a listing of a 1969 green 4x4 Suburban located north of Sacramento, Cali. I was hoping to find one closer to Texas / Houston area, but have had zero luck with that. This one was boasting original metal and no body work with rust only in the rear top tailgate door…with the owner throwing in a replacement and a recently rebuild 350sb. The seller and I had numerous back and forths and he was kind enough to send me a ton of additional pictures from different areas I requested. I’m in! And as I am thinking about freight costs and shipping companies...it hit me like a ton of bricks. ROAD TRIP! So I grabbed my 2 oldest boys, 13 and 11, and we flew to Sacramento…picked it up and spent 5 days driving “The Sled” back. No ac, no radio…it was wonderful! I confiscated their phones and we had a road trip I hope they will remember for a long time. And since this Sled has spent its entire life in the same area not venturing farther that 30 miles (per sellers), she showed a ton of heart on the road trip to Houston! Future plans are to slowly fix her up, because the interior is pretty original and pretty worn out...decide on a new color. I'm leaning to Chevy 503, because of Chris's awesome looking Sub.

If it is okay with the moderators, I’d like to post some highlight photos from the trip. And since this is a Suburban centric site, I’ll try to post only photos with The Sled as the subject leaving out all of the goofy kids/Dad’s stuff…which was a lot!

Good deal! Glad you finally scored what you wanted. Post up the pictures of the truck and your adventures......

Oh, and to the board.

LockDoc

[WannaBe68]

Picking up "The Sled"
Olympic Village on the way to Lake Tahoe
Overlooking Lake Tahoe
Entering Death Valley

[WannaBe68]

Looking back on a dust storm we just drove through.
Letting her cool off while climbing out of the Valley
Below sea level with no ac! Like an oven...
Via Las Vegas baby!
Driving over Hoover Dam

[LockDoc]

-
Ha! Great pictures. That would be a blast....

LockDoc

[WannaBe68]

Seligman - Birth place of Route 66
Roadkill Café - great chicken sandwich
Historic Route 66
Grand Canyon baby!
Meteor Crater

[WannaBe68]

Cadillac Ranch
On the final leg home!

[nastety92]

Great pics, I'm sure you guys had a blast. I hope to do a trip like this someday as well.

Nick

[Average Joe]

Awesome pics and Burb, thanks for sharing and welcome to the site! I saw pics of that Burb on CL? when it was for sale. Needless to say, you chose wisely. Glad you took the time to drive it back and see some sights. Very cool.

FWIW, I think it looks great as is. I love original paint!

[WannaBe68]

Thanks Fella's... Really was a wonderful road trip! Hope to do it again, after it's restored, with the whole family next summer. Already have the Vintage Air Gen4 sitting in my garage waiting on me...

I'm still up in the air on a new color. I had the paint buffed out to see how it looked with decades of funk knocked off... I dig that it's the original color, but it's just a bit too olive for me. My wife found a really beautiful blue 72 that sold on EBay. Have to throw that one in the hopper with the GM color 503 as well. Decisions, decisions!
But I love my new Sled!
BTW...the Sacramento CL is where I first saw it.

And I'm happy to say that I've already doubled my investment. Guy I know offered my double what I paid for it! Turned him down of course :-)

[pwdcougar]

Nice truck and road trip!

Paul

[invicta455]

hope to do it one day also

[Ekliptix]

Love the story and fact you took your boys and took their phones away!

[WannaBe68]

Thanks Ekliptix...I recommend this kind-of trip to anyone with kids. It really did turn out to be a wonderful experience!
Hopefully this Sub will be restored and w/ AC by next summer so my wife and all 4 of our young boys can join us!

Calgary - eh! Love Calgary and have spent a lot of time up there...beautiful country. Caught a massive trout a few hundred yards from downtown once :-) Lake Louise and Banff are two of my favorite places!

[Ekliptix]

The adventure of flying in and driving out never gets old. It's the best way to get to know your new truck while seeing new parts of the country. And bonding with whoever is your co-driver(s). I'm sure your trip will inspire your kids to do the same thing one day themselves (hopefully taking you with them).

It's funny, I was living in Houston and found my truck in Cali (palm springs) and made such a trip too: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=712424

Yep, Calgary is pretty beautiful, and the mountains are only a cpl hours away. You're right, fishing is good here.

Your burb looks freakin awesome btw. I'd love to have one like it.

[WannaBe68]

Okay - that's you. I saw that thread the other week. Very sweet ride!
It's been about 4 years since our last trip up to Calgary and the Rockies... Is the Sky 360 restaurant still kicking it in the Tower? They have a KILLER grilled trout there. I've had really good grilled fish in a lot of places, but the one I had in Sky 360 was something special. - Gonna have to talk to the wife tonight about getting back up there, eh! Later -

[In The Ten Ring]

Congrats on a great trip, what looks like having a great family, and on finding a great suburban.

[mosesburb]

Very cool trip/story!! I have pics of my Sub in some of those same places!! I agree it is a great way to spend quality time with the family. It looks like you found a sweet Suburban there. One note on your air conditioning quest; if you are putting front ac in it, do yourself (and your passengers) a favor and put rear ac in at the same time. It doesn't have to be a factory setup (they do work fantastic), but something for your passengers in the back is needed for them to enjoy the ride in summer. I'm looking forward to more stories and travels!!

[LuckyScott]

Nice suburban, and I enjoyed the story and photos very much.

[TrshTrk]

Diggin' the burb and the road trip! Death Valley looks rad but I hated desert driving when I was touring. Stressed me out to the max.

[Advanced Design]

Congrat's on the Burb...it looks like a really good one!
And the adventure you and sons had looked like a spectacular trip.
Thanks for sharing!

[WannaBe68]

Thanks fellas. Like I've said - I would recommend this kind-of trip to anyone! My boys still talk and laugh about driving through Death Valley with no AC... I must have been crazy to let them talk me into it, but I promised them we would look at a map each night and decide which way to go. During the trip through Death Valley, we had to roll up the windows to drive through a dust storm. We were literally soaking wet by the time we got out of it. The boys and I started laughing so hard that our laughing so hard became as funny as us driving through Death Valley with no AC and the windows rolled up!!
Fun times!

[WannaBe68]

One more quick one - After driving through Death Valley and getting so dirty from the dust and dirt you could scrap it off with a finger nail and leave a clean streak, we drove down to Las Vegas. Hit the strip about 10:00 at night and the boys are wiped out! So I pull the 69 Sled up to the valet at one of the higher end hotels there. The look on everyone's faces was priceless! And then we stepped out looking like a bunch on dirty bums...and I throw the key to the guy and say "Keep It!" Too funny remembering the boys running to the guy yelling, "He's just joking...you really can't have it!"