Project '64 Cheapskate

[chevyrestoguy]

I have owned Chevy trucks for years, and have had most all of the styles except oddly enough, my favorite one, the 60-66 version. I've seen some nice ones but it always seemed like there was something around the house that needed my attention (and money) more, so I always passed. I've always been keeping an eye open for one, but because I have so many other projects, it had to be cheap and close by. I'm always looking through Craigslist for parts, and always look through the local area for Chevy trucks. Well, last Thursday, I stumbled on an ad that read, "1964-to1966 Chevy truck", and it was 8 miles from house and it was listed at $300. Needless to say, my Spidey Sense was tingling, and I had to go and look at it.

The owner was a guy going to school full-time who had no money, and the truck was constantly being bounced from friend's house to friend's house because he had no place to keep it. It was at a cousin's house who was going to be evicted, so the seller was desperate. While I was looking at the truck, HE was knocking the price down. I stayed quiet and cordial, and finally he got down to $200 and I just reached over and shook his hand and said I would take it. He was a nice kid, and I wasn't going to let him whittle down his profit anymore.

The truck wound up being a 1964, 3/4 ton. The engine is missing, the 4-speed trans is still in it, and the interior is complete. The body has definately seen better days, but the thing that sealed the deal was the fact that it had factory in-dash air and tinted windows. I've never seen in-dash air on a '64 because I was always under the impression that the in-dash A/C option didn't come out until '65. This thing has all of the A/C-specific holes in the firewall so that leads me to believe that it's all original. I'm going to pick it up in a few hours, and after I get it home, I'm going to do some more investigation because the A/C has really got my interest. Anyway, enough of the BS. Here's the pictures:







It's also got 3 tanks and they are all still in the truck. For starters, it needs a new grille, marker lights, hood hinges, rear window, taillight lenses. It's also missing the A/C stuff on the firewall on the engine side.

I have a '79 Suburban (454, th400, disc brakes, power steering, A/C) that is going to be the donor to get this truck back on the road. I want to build a cool Home Depot hauler and parts chaser. I am naming this truck Project Cheapskate because I want to spend as little as possible. I plan on hitting the swapmeets, wrecking yards, and Craigslist for parts, and I am going to utilize a lot of parts I already have. I am going to sell off or trade a lot of my excess parts to buy what I need, and trade work with friends to get anything else. This is going to be fun.........