Project Charity Case

[brn agn]

This project started in March 2009. I manage a ministry at my local church called “The Service Station”. The purpose of the ministry is to provide free car repairs and affordable vehicles to people in need. There were a couple of occasions recently when someone wanted to donate a vehicle, but we were unable to move the vehicle legally.

I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed in March and was laid up at home for a couple of days. I started thinking about the situation with the car ministry. I decided to buy a full size truck to use as a 3rd vehicle for my wife and I. It would also be used for the car ministry to move cars as needed. I looked for a “cheap” 1988+ Chevy pickup for sale on Craigslist. Everything I found either had a lot of miles or was $3500+. I then thought, “if I am going to buy a full size truck, why not buy one with some style?”. So, I found www.67-72chevytrucks.com. I went straight to the classifieds forum and one of the first trucks I looked at was a 69 Chevy C10 SWB. It looked all original and was priced right. To my surprise, it was about 130 miles away. I contacted the seller (VA72C10) and he gave me the details on the truck.

A few days later, my wife and I made the drive to Richmond, VA to look at the truck. The truck had some rust issues, but I really liked it. I decided that I should wait a few days before I made a decision. We drove back to North Carolina. Over the next week, I looked at a couple of local trucks in my price range, but they had sloppy paint jobs and it looked like the owners were covering up more serious problems.

I liked the truck in Richmond, but was arguing with myself if I wanted to buy a truck that needed work, or hold out for a nicer one and pay more. I explained this to VA72C10 and he came back with an offer I couldn’t refuse. I sent him a deposit check a few days later.

One of my friends (and a technician that helps with the car ministry) used to live in Richmond, VA and still had a 1968 Ford at his parent’s house there. We worked out a deal that we would borrow a truck and split the cost of gas and trailer rental to pick up his truck as well as my new purchase. On March 30th, we made the trip to Richmond to bring both trucks home (separate trips). Aside from running in to rush hour traffic in Richmond, the trip went well.

The truck was not running well, so after I got it home, my first priority was to get it running right. I replaced the battery, rebuilt the Rochester 2GV multiple times, before figuring out that it was missing the accelerator pump spring. I also cleaned the fuel filter, replaced the fuel line from the pump to the carb and did a tune up. Those changes enabled it to start consistently and run OK.

The owner before VA72C10 was going to tub the truck and had started removing the studs on the rear end (I haven’t figured that one out). There were only 2 studs in place on the passenger side rear wheel. I installed the missing studs and replaced a leaking wheel cylinder. Now the truck was driving as well. I drove the truck around a couple of days. It was not perfect, but I was really starting to see the potential in the truck.

Here are the details on the truck:

1969 C10 SWB-307, Powerglide, 3.73 non posi, power steering, drum brakes. It has been repainted one time. The only modification I found was that the alternator was moved to a top mount (the wiring harness was spliced to make it longer).

Here are a couple of pictures from when VA72C10 was selling the truck:





Here is a picture of the ride home: