'64 Step Side C-10 in the UK

[disasterbus]

This week I saw an ad on eBay for a 1964 C-10 stepside for sale 5 miles from where I live in the UK, which is about 30 miles outside London. This is the truck....



Today I picked it up and brought it home for the first time, and loving it already!

The pick up has only been in the UK for a month, I bought it from the guy who imported it. The story goes that it was a Texas truck from new until 2008, and then went to Iowa. It’s obviously had lots of work done at some time and doesn't look like a 50 year old truck underneath....





The paintwork is 'fake patina' over incredibly straight and solid metal, I can't believe how good it is. I wasn't sure about it at first but it's definately growing on me.







Sorry the photo's aren't great - they are the ones from the eBay ad but hopefully you get the idea.

First thing is to order a fitted outdoor car cover for it to keep the English winter weather off the truck. Can anyone suggest anywhere that sells them in England (or Europe) or somewhere that will ship to the UK?

Thanks in advance, this looks like a great forum!

[Clyde65]

California Car Cover is where I got mine and my dads. His is a crew cab 1964, and we had to use a dodge double cab pattern.

[Mathew21]

Welcome, Nice truck!

[Bears63]

Welcome to the forum and thank you for sharing your truck with us!

[Grizz1963]

Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh...... Mr Disasterbus !!

Now there's a name I know well.

Welcome to this lovely board Kerry.

I am sure you will get all the help and advice you need over here.

There are quite a few of us on here.

Lovely looking truck you seem to have snagged yourself.

I hope to see you over here again soon for a BBQ.

Regarding the cover, I wonder if that German company that makes the VW bus covers, would be prepared to make you,one for the truck.

[Grizz1963]

PS. Those who know will be able to tell you if your rims take centre caps and where to find so em too if you want them..

[mjh1965]

Hi well you finely got one then I look foward to seeing it when you drive over to Rians in it

[Palf70Step]

Nice looking stepper!

[Black66]

Wow that's a really nice truck! I especially like that last picture; nice paint!

[Indian113]

Nice looking 64! Welcome to our Addiction, it's a disease you will have trouble getting OVER

[Micmac]

Nice truck, welcome to the forum.

[Captainfab]

I agree, that is a nice truck you have acquired. Do you have plans for any changes or upgrades?

[markeb01]

Outstanding! Nice looking truck. Welcome to the forum!!

[Ta2Don]

and Welcome aboard!!!

Cool to see another UK member and truck bouncing around...

Was chatting with Rian and he told me to find this thread…
What's up with the Disasterbus moniker?
Should be a cool story behind that one...

[Ta2Don]

As for the center caps for those wheels, I vote "Baby Moons"

[disasterbus]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

and Welcome aboard!!!

What's up with the Disasterbus moniker?
Should be a cool story behind that one...

Thanks to all for the great welcome to this forum. I'm loving my new truck so far

The Disasterbus user name is one I've had for a while, ever since I brought an old VW bus from the German Government when it was de-commisioned from use. This was it -



It had been one of 102 'katastrophenshutz' (disasterbus) vehicles held in Government reserves in Germany for use as a command vehicle in the event of major incidents or nuclear disasters. It was only used for one or two exercises per year so when the government sold it off when it was 30 years old. It had only done 20,000km and had been stored indoors for it's whole life so was like new. I converted it to a camper and eventually sold it to a guy who shipped it to Texas where I think it still is.

[Ronw435]

Very nice truck and welcome to the forums.

[Ta2Don]

Very Cool VW...

[disasterbus]

I’ve always loved old skool style pin-striping, but never previously had a car that had the right look to carry it off well.
I thought as soon as I got it that this truck would benefit from something to add to the overall look and that a bit of pin striping could be just the thing.
I’ve seen work done by Simon, a.k.a. Nefarious Pinstriping (www.pinstriping.co.uk) on a few cars and have always been impressed with the look of the work. Had Simon round this morning and he did this for me. Really pleased with the result.









And the finished article ............

[Ta2Don]

Very Nice!

[mjh1965]

Very nice looks good

[disasterbus]

When I bought my truck it had only been in the UK for a few weeks and the dealer didn’t know anything about the history of the truck. There was very little paperwork with it except a copy of the last US title.
I wrote to the name on the title document and asked if they could tell me anything about it and included a picture of how the truck looks now.
I got an e-mail back from them today. They were really surprised it had ended up in the UK as they sold it through an auction in Iowa in January 2014.
They were able to tell me it was originally a farm truck from Dallas and she still had the original salesman’s business card with the price of the truck written on the back.
It was sold new for $1632.89 including state tax and registration fee and an optional heavy duty rear bumper by Tom Wicker at the Earl Hayes Chevrolet Dealership in Dallas and it was white originally.


The truck was then sold to Miss Jessie C Ballard who also lived in Dallas and she used it for many years to tow her horse-box.
Jessie then sold the truck to the last owners in the 1990’s. They lived in McKinney, Texas.
The last owners did a total body off restoration over several years and have sent me many of the bills etc for the new parts fitted. They had the frame stripped and powder-coated, all new steering, suspension and brakes, new interior, the transmission and engine were stripped and re-built with a new head as the old one had a crack. After that they hardly used the truck and in 2008 moved to Iowa, taking the truck with them and just putting it into a barn where it stayed until January this year when they decided to move house and to sell the truck.
They were thrilled that their old truck has a new lease of life over here.
This picture is how it looked after they restored it

[Palf70Step]

Very cool that you connected and got the history on the truck!

[Ta2Don]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Very cool that you connected and got the history on the truck!

X2!

[Grizz1963]

Kerry, you are very fortunate to have been able to reconnect with your trucks history, and now it seems even more so that you bought a gem!!

I tried to connect with my trucks California owners, based on information a friend there got me, but zero response.

I think the original resto look was neat and more importantly, t
You can see what hubcaps were fitted.