Chevrolaine's 69 Chevrolet Stepside

[Chevrolaine]

Hi guys, picked up this 69 stepside last week and thought I'd share my story.

I live on a farm in Northern Illinois and have always wanted an older "farm truck".
Well the time finally came to look for one since I finished the 72 Camaro I spent 3 years restoring.
A little side story is that I'm also building a late 60's, early 70's era gas station out of one of my outbuildings and figured it needed an old service truck to go with it.

Scanning craigslist a couple of weeks ago I spotted a 69 stepside that caught me eye as it looked really clean and original. I called the guy and immediately asked if it was original paint on the truck. He stated that yes, it was in fact original and that he bought the truck off the original owner in 75 and drove it until 85 when he parked it....until a month ago!!
He hated selling the thing but with 3 kids headed towards college needed the money. I went and looked at it the next day and this is what I saw parked in the driveway.





Needless to say I was pretty stoked and had to have it. The gentleman was straight, forward and honest about everything and had a lot of sentimental emotions toward the truck. He had several people look at it but didn't like the plans they had for it (slammed, big block, etc) and lucky for me they didn't offer him enough either.
I told him it took 44 years for the truck to look like this and had no intenetion of changing it! I'd simply fix it mechanically and probably drive it pretty much as is for at least a couple years before I did a full resto. He also liked the fact that he could follow along on a forum and see how his truck progresses in the future. We agreed on a price and I picked it up last Saturday.

The truck runs and drives but just needs the obvious mechanical TLC after sitting for 27 years.

[Chevrolaine]

This was a happy day for me!



The seller was accumulating parts over the years for an eventual restoration and those were included in the sale.



Don't panic and chew me out for this next pic. When the seller took it out of storage to try and fire it up again obviously he didn't want to use the gas left in the tank nor add fresh gas to it so he put a new fuel pump on it and simply ran a hose into a gas can, then threw an old battery in it that he had lying around. Not a pretty site by any means but it served it's purpose and got it on and off the trailer! The thing runs beautifully after sitting so long!


I told him I wanted to take it to a cruise night last night but that didn't pan out too well as I have a sign business that kept me crazy for the week so nothing got done. I hope to get the gas tank out this week and flush it out as well as buy a new battery.

I did get some new rubbers put on the original rims last week and piddled around with it a bit.
Teaser til I pull it outside tmrw. Took off those fabulous 70's mud flaps also.



Fixed the driver side mirror.



Took the stakesides off as I'm gonna build new ones for it.

[67c10rustbuket]

Nice score, that's a great find !

[geezer#99]

Good lookin' truck!!
A workhorse that'll keep on chuggin' with a little tlc.
Congrats!!

[oklalawnboy]

Great Find!

[In The Ten Ring]

Could be a brother to mine with about the same story.

Keep us updated and man I wish I could find hubcaps like those.

[yuccales]

I like it!

[special-K]

Great find! Never see anything like this for sale in my area. So,why do I live here? (been asking myself that for about 30 years)

[Lou Boffa]

Love them steppers. Good for you--and good for your truck!

[Racer382D]

Where's abouts in Illinois are you? I'm in litchfield (about 40 miles south of Springfield)

And nice looking truck!
Posted via Mobile Device

[srvivor71]

Beautiful truck! What a great score...

[72bowtiestepper]

Nice truck !! Luv them stepsides..Good luck with it !.........I have done the gas can thing a few times myself.....better than having that old gunky gas runnin' through your motor.

[bigsnookmaster]

Very cool story! Nice truck also! Once you get it up and running, I think it would be a nice gesture to maybe take the guy you bought it from out for a ride or possibly for a burger, maybe let him drive it again. Might mean alot to him.

[toms68cst]

Nice find! That's my favorite color on these trucks. That will make a fun project.

[Chevrolaine]

Originally Posted by bigsnookmaster

Very cool story! Nice truck also! Once you get it up and running, I think it would be a nice gesture to maybe take the guy you bought it from out for a ride or possibly for a burger, maybe let him drive it again. Might mean alot to him.

I've already discussed that with him. May pick him up and take him to a Car Show near his town.

[Chevrolaine]

Thanks guys, I'm happy I found it. I'll be doing updates on my mancave/gas station that I mentioned earlier in this thread also. Here's the pumps I bought for it. Started disassembling them for sandblasting last week also.

[Chevrolaine]

Originally Posted by Racer382D

Where's abouts in Illinois are you? I'm in litchfield (about 40 miles south of Springfield)

And nice looking truck!
Posted via Mobile Device

Thanks, I'm up in the Rockford area.

[bigsnookmaster]

Originally Posted by Chevrolaine

I've already discussed that with him. May pick him up and take him to a Car Show near his town.

Very cool! The guy I got my 68 from turned into a very good friend of mine, and documented the build of mine. We went to some car shows together and had some good times! Sadly, we were coming back from a hockey game in Jan of 2012, and he had a massive heart attack behind the wheel of his truck.I managed to stop the truck without crashing, and he died in my arms. Worst night of my life, but we had some good times and memories together.

[Chevrolaine]

Originally Posted by bigsnookmaster

Very cool! The guy I got my 68 from turned into a very good friend of mine, and documented the build of mine. We went to some car shows together and had some good times! Sadly, we were coming back from a hockey game in Jan of 2012, and he had a massive heart attack behind the wheel of his truck.I managed to stop the truck without crashing, and he died in my arms. Worst night of my life, but we had some good times and memories together.

Well damn, that just sucks. Glad you were able to hit it off with him and have some good times with his old truck though! Thanks for sharing the story.