1979 Chevy Question

[Already Gone]

I know I should post pictures but I do not have any. A man on my block has had a 79 Silverado long box that I've liked for the 10 years I've lived where I do. Last night I saw a For Sale sign on it so went to check it out. Its a monotone navy blue with tan factory buckets and console 350 auto trans truck with cc, tilt, power windows, power door locks but no air conditioning and what looks to be a factory tach in the big hole beside the speedo. Its a rust free truck with 72000 miles and he wants 6500. for it. I have 2 questions. Has anyone ever seen a factory tach in one of these trucks and does the price sound right . Considering it doesn't ahve A/C I think he's a little high.

[Jonboy]

To me the price is a little high, but I don't know what the CDN conversion is, either. If it is really clean, the price might be OK. I think the only thing it would come down to is preference, and the market prefers shortbeds to long beds. If it was a SWB, it sounds like it would be a steal. It sounds like a really loaded up truck either way. The lack of A/C probably doesn't hurt it in Canada as muck as it might here in Texas.

[lindstromjd]

Factory tachs are super rare, but they ARE indeed an actual option. I have one in mine, and it is where most people's fuel gauge is, in the big hole on the right side of the speedo like you said.

How much rust does it have? Is everything in good working condition? 6500 seems a little high to me, but if it's optioned right and everything is in really good condition then it would be worth close to that.

[N2TRUX]

It sounds like a nicely optioned truck. If you don't mind it being a LWB then I would look hard at it. In the rust free states, it would be 1000 to much. If it truly is a rust free truck, that adds at least 1000 to the asking price in your area. For you to find anything that clean you will have to spend that much or more getting one shipped from the Southern parts of the USA.

[Already Gone]

Originally Posted by lindstromjd

Factory tachs are super rare, but they ARE indeed an actual option. I have one in mine, and it is where most people's fuel gauge is, in the big hole on the right side of the speedo like you said.

How much rust does it have? Is everything in good working condition? 6500 seems a little high to me, but if it's optioned right and everything is in really good condition then it would be worth close to that.

Its rust free and I've never seen a factory tach in a 73/87 truck. The A/C is not as much a problem here as it would be in the Southern USA but it'd be great to have. I ws thinking it'd be a great deal at 3/3500.

[Keith Seymore]

Tach was an available option from the factory for 73-87. My '87 has it (RPO U16).

Price seems high. Sellers don't seem to realize the market has tanked, and that Barrett Jackson is not a good indicator of what they can sell their vehicle for.

K

[tucsonjwt]

For the asking price you can get a rust free southwest US truck and bring into your place and still have money left over.
No matter how nice an old square looks, these are old trucks and things just break/wear out no matter how well it was cared for. For this reason, I prefer a rust free body to start with and put the extra dollars into new/rebuilt engine/trans, interior, etc. and then you will have a truck which will last 10 years easy without major problems, and it will be almost as good as a new one at a fraction of the cost.
Like Keith says, nice old rust free squares are all over the place now, although the price in AZ has not dropped much because new/newer truck are still holding their value - this is big truck country. Still, I see great trucks for $3-$4K all the time.
I would never buy a vehicle without A/C, even in the great white north. It still gets hot/humid in the summer at times and people expect A/C nowadays. I always look at a vehicle as transportation and how much I can sell it for if I have to unload it, even when I buy new vehicles.

[Already Gone]

Thanks for the info guys. I wasn't really looking for a truck but have always liked the look of this one and if it had A/C I'd be making him an offer today. I'll wait and see if its still there in a week or two then make him an offer.

[motornut]

check the glove box for that rpo code
and other RPO's will tell you what options were stock

[DetroitDan]

I've seen lots of factory tachs. It is a desireable option. Usually a high-line Silverado option, but also a lot of manuals came with it. I had a manual 79 with it, and that dash followed me through probably three different trucks I had.

$6500 is very high, keep in mind GM made 14 million of these trucks, they're not rare. You could probably build a new one out of a catalog for less than that.

You can get all the parts to put ac in. Personally I don't like ac, never use it and never fix it in any of my vehicles. I always seem to buy trucks with non-functioning ac, and it seems like any time I ever spent money fixing it, it didn't stay fixed.

[DetroitDan]

Being in Canada where they have real winters, I'd be sure to look under it and hard. Unless he can document it's been stored inside every winter, I bet it's got rust somewhere. Never as nice as people think they are, and that's the problem with vehicle sales. Sometimes the imagined value is so high because it's worth way more to the owner than it really is worth. Kind of like the thousand dollar tailgate in another post.

[motornut]

here in Ont we need to buy a used car packge
it will tell you the other owners and the online phone book will tell you their phone #

i always use thin fridge magnets to check for bondo

[Hoods69BadBowTie]

Yea it sounds like a pretty cool truck and having a tach is a bonus. Just like was stated earlier I would thoroughly underneath and every where for and sing of rust since its up North. I would let it sit for awhile like you said and make him and offer in the 5k dollar range and go from there.

[f.monroe]

Tilt, Tach, Bucket Seats, Cruise ,Power windows, Power Locks, Rust free sheetmetal , Kind of sells itself. I place a pretty good value on a well optioned truck if it is still original. I say 5,500-6500 is right in line considering the location. You can buy in country and not have to ship and mess with the authorities and getting all of your paperwork Ok'd . I say go for it after you have crawled under it and verified if it is nice all over.
Frank

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by f.monroe

Tilt, Tach, Bucket Seats, Cruise ,Power windows, Power Locks, Rust free sheetmetal , Kind of sells itself. I place a pretty good value on a well optioned truck if it is still original. I say 5,500-6500 is right in line considering the location. You can buy in country and not have to ship and mess with the authorities and getting all of your paperwork Ok'd . I say go for it after you have crawled under it and verified if it is nice all over.
Frank

I rest my case, the resident expert on super clean low mile trucks has spoken.

[DetroitDan]

I couldn't see where it said anywhere, can we assume it's a 2wd half ton? Around here not having 4wd shoots the value down by about 80%. Bet that truck didn't cost $6500 new. IDK, I know not many here will agree with me but I wouldn't pay much for a 2wd truck, unless it was a lot older.

Funny how the options work out on these trucks. All those nice options but no ac. My 82 is loaded, Silverado, nice interior, tilt, cruise, ac, but no power windows or locks. I would trade the ac for power windows any day.

[Already Gone]

Originally Posted by DetroitDan

I couldn't see where it said anywhere, can we assume it's a 2wd half ton? Around here not having 4wd shoots the value down by about 80%. Bet that truck didn't cost $6500 new. IDK, I know not many here will agree with me but I wouldn't pay much for a 2wd truck, unless it was a lot older.

Funny how the options work out on these trucks. All those nice options but no ac. My 82 is loaded, Silverado, nice interior, tilt, cruise, ac, but no power windows or locks. I would trade the ac for power windows any day.

Yep its 4 x 2 long box. As for the way its optioned I spent a lot years ( 25) working at Chrysler dealerships and I know back when that truck was new you could order options individually. For instance you could order cruise without tilt or vice versa. In the early 80's the factories, claiming it was more efficient for them, started packaging options so if you wanted cruise you had to take the tilt with it.

[80SPORT]

The tach option was fairly common ....factory buckets is the rare option....not many buyers ordered them.

A rust free 79 loaded except for air ....saskatchewan tax paid...I would say is a good buy at 6500.00.Nice original trucks are hard to find ...especially with lots of options.I would not be concerned about no air...we live in Canada after all.Even in the USA I doubt if more than 10% of 79 trucks have a/c that still works.
I purchased an original paint full load 80 GMC from the original owner in Sask about 5 years ago....paid 12,000.00 .Every possible option inc tach,buckets,sport mirrors,aluminum wheels.
If the truck you are looking at has original paint and you dont buy it let me know .....

[Already Gone]

I've been thinking a lot about this truck and decided to see what kind of deal I can make on it. The owner of the truck works up in the Uranium Mines in Northern Saskatchewan on a 2 week in 2 week out basis. I talked to him Thursday night ( the 16th) and he was leaving to go north the next morning. He is coming back July 1st and will be home for 2 weeks and I told him I will stop by when he is back and see if we can do a deal on the truck. I will take some pics then and post em on here.

[Already Gone]

Originally Posted by 80SPORT

The tach option was fairly common ....factory buckets is the rare option....not many buyers ordered them.

A rust free 79 loaded except for air ....saskatchewan tax paid...I would say is a good buy at 6500.00.Nice original trucks are hard to find ...especially with lots of options.I would not be concerned about no air...we live in Canada after all.Even in the USA I doubt if more than 10% of 79 trucks have a/c that still works.
I purchased an original paint full load 80 GMC from the original owner in Sask about 5 years ago....paid 12,000.00 .Every possible option inc tach,buckets,sport mirrors,aluminum wheels.
If the truck you are looking at has original paint and you dont buy it let me know .....

You have a real nice truck ..