Original owner photos of my truck in 1970

[davepl]

My 1970 GMC Sierra Grande 402 came with the Protect-O-Plate, so I did a little searching on the original owner. I was able to determine that sadly both he and his wife passed away in the last 5 years or so.

Since the owner's name was fairly uncommon and he had lived in a specific town in CA, I did some searching and managed to get in contact with the granddaughter of the original owner. She remembers my truck and apparently spent a lot of time camping with Grandpa in it.

Better yet, she was so nice as to send me a number of photos that her Grandpa took right after he took delivery of the truck in 1970! To see its current state, you can check my build thread http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...91#post5169191

Here are the 1970 photos of my project! The last photo is the truck they traded in on this one, which I note is the same color scheme. Always nice to have some history on your project, and now I have some...

You can see a CB radio that's no longer with the truck, and the phone (according to the granddaughter) is to talk back and forth with the camper.

[YBNORML]

That's pretty cool! I really like that interior shot.

[davepl]

It's a little ironic that I had planned not to use the original door panels because the driver's side was pretty bubbly and wavy... looks like it was that way new in 1970!

[YBNORML]

Question is, are you going to use it now ?
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[70cst]

That is sweet. Congrats

[SS Tim]

Dave, Well Done!
Its great seeing the old pictures of these trucks near new. So are you now going to put an Alsakan camper back on it? :-)

[mcbassin]

That is too cool. Nice detective work. Provenance

[CG]

Those are really cool pics. I bought my 71 K20 from the original owner. I have all the original paper work (he traded in his 70 for the 71). I never thought to ask him if he had any pictures from when he bought it new. Im going to have to find his email addy and see if he has any ... thanks for the idea!

[jocko]

Ha! He dumped the 60's chev and kept the camper! Awesome pics.

[Sicklajoie]

That's awesome!

[special-K]

That was one classy set-up back then. That feller knew exactly what he wanted and got it. This one was a refinement after owning the earlier truck. Those Alaskans out lasted many a truck.

[RenoKeene]

Very cool! That was a beautiful truck, love that color blue.

[vectorit]

Very cool!
Where in CA?

[big_al_71]

Great to see those pictures...Cool Idea!

[yuccales]

Very cool pics! Love that phone!

[black_sheep454]

That's pretty freakin cool
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[jchav62]

That's awesome! I wonder if his old '64 ended up with another board member?

[jchav62]

Got this pic from your build thread. Doesn't look much different than it did on day one! They took great care of this truck... Too cool...

[davepl]

Originally Posted by jchav62

Got this pic from your build thread. Doesn't look much different than it did on day one! They took great care of this truck... Too cool...

They really did. Back in '69 my Dad bought a '69 Pontiac 2+2 that I still have, and in '70 he bought a used 68 GMC 910 that he drove daily until his death in 1996 (truck went to a neighbor), so I have a soft spot for people that keep a vehicle for a long time!

I wish they were still around to see it when it's done, but you can't have it all!

[factorystock]

Thanks for sharing the great photos. I am sure everyone would love to have a photo of there truck when brand new. It appears the '70 was ordered with all the correct options to handle the camper with ease. Many 1/2 tons with coil spring rear ends were traded in on 3/4 tons with leafs when the going got tuff.

[MusicMan70]

Great footwork Columbo! Always nice to have the history/background on a special truck. Those pics are Classic's themselves.

[VA72C10]

That's so cool! As said above, I'm sure everyone would love to have the "fresh off the showroom floor" pictures of their truck

[VA72C10]

That's so cool! As said above, I'm sure everyone would love to have the "fresh off the showroom floor" pictures of their truck

[stllookn]

Dave, I did the same thing with the Protecto Plate from my Longhorn and it turned out that the original owner was still alive and lived only about 1 mile from my parents in Milwaukie, Oregon. Better yet...he had the original tailgate, steering wheel, leaf springs, hub caps and some NOS trim. He was more than willing to part with them since he really meant to send them with the truck. The tailgate is the aprocaphyal 3-day gate (only on the truck for days before he took it off and put a full canopy with rear door on the truck). You just have to love those stories...LOL!

Thanks again for the canopy...I posted new pics of it in your build thread.

He was going to send me pics of the truck when it was new but I never got them. I was going to bring it back and give him a ride in it when it was done. I will have to try to do that this year.

[odog]

This is pretty wierd, but that is my Great Grandpa Fred's truck. My cousin sent me an email that you were restoring the truck. I never got to see the truck in person, but seeing the pics of him and Grandma Jessie standing in front of it make me smile. I know he is looking down smiling that somebody is taking good care of the old girl. Thank you.