This is somewhat of a past tense build story of my 1964 Chevrolet C10. My progress has been slowed by my living in Arizona during the winter for the past two winters. After far too long a period of time, I took it on the first drive of any distance today. My plan is to use this truck to pull a trailer to Arizona during the winters. It will be my daily driver, and I plan on this truck getting used heavily. There is still a ways to go, but, I figured this was as good a time as any to start a thread on it. I found this 64 C10 short box fleetside on Craigslist. It was located in Port Townsend Washington, and I bought it on New Years Eve day of 2010. Here it is the day we went to pick it up. The snow at the house/on my trailer proved to be a bit of a challenge. It was a pretty typical field truck. It only ran with the aid of starting fluid, and had no brakes. The body however is super clean. It has it's fair share of dents, but, it is solid. What it lacked in functionality, it made up for in cool, at least in my eyes. It's a pretty unique truck, aside from it being a short box fleetside, it has the 292 ci 6 cylinder, and the SM420 4 speed. If you've owned many of these, you know that's a rare combo. I've never found a short box with this setup. My dad has had this combo in long box trucks, and we have always loved it. So, after hearing the story on the truck, looking it over, and striking a deal, on the trailer it went. As you can tell, she was pretty rough when we loaded her up. The previous owner had disassembled parts of it to "start restoration". As usual, it resulted in more damage than good.
The next step was to get the truck home. Port Townsend is a ferry ride for me to get there. The $80 fare it cost me to get there did result in some pretty cool photos. The truck was finally home after a 200 mile trip, and I got to look it over better on the trailer. She wasn't pretty, BUT, it is far more solid than most of them I see up here in northwest Washington.
The downside to buying this truck was that I left just a few days afterwards. On my way to Arizona I figured I'd do some research on the truck. The guy I bought the truck from never transferred the title in to his name when he purchased the truck from the original owner, so, that was one cool artifact the truck had. As I was headed down I-5 I took a detour through Los Molinos California, and found the address on the title. Amazingly, the original owner's daughter still owned the place, and lived there. She filled me in on the trucks history, and I got a few pictures. This is the original farmhouse in Los Molinos that the truck spent its' early working years at. This is the mailbox of the original owner still standing at the farm. Mr. J M Wade ordered the truck in late '63, and according to the daughter "ordered it with some spare matching paint". As you can see from the photo, it's a pretty dead match to the truck. The daughter told me that she remembers her dad painting the mailbox sometime around 1964, she said the truck was still very new when he painted it. I was going to try, and buy the mailbox from her, but, it was obvious that she was very attached to it.So, I quickly dropped that issue. She filled me in on much of the trucks working history while I was there. It was pretty cool to hear so much of the trucks history. It certainly added something to the truck in my eyes.
Bodi, your like the neighbor on home improvement. All the pictures hide your identity. Cool history on the truck. Now you have something to carry the scooter in.
Once I got back from Arizona last spring, I started in on all the typical stuff to get it back on the road. I started off trying to make all the stock parts work again, and picked up some wheels/tires at the Monroe swap to roll it around on. They were one of those deals that was just too good to pass up. I'm still up in the air as to whether I love them or hate them. The orange against the green is kind of cool, but, the wheels are a newer style than what this truck will ultimately have on it. Now that I had the truck at least able to move under its' own power I started on all the typical stuff. I redid everything brake related. Before That just kind of makes everything else look like crap. I rebuilt the Rochester B, adjusted the valves, did all that typical stuff. The Rochester needed re-bushed so in the long run, it got ditched. I had big plans of driving this thing down to Arizona last winter, so, a big thrash was on last fall in order to get it ready.
While the steel on this thing was in great shape, many things were really bad on it. The passenger side door was frozen shut, the seat was shot, it had no rear bumper or tailgate, and the bed wood was completely gone. Like I've said, my plans have been for this truck to be used, and returned to "semi-stock". I basically want this thing to be the truck in the parking lot that no one would ever think of stealing, but, underneath to have it be real sound. So, I set out to find one of the ugly rear wrap around bumpers. The tattle tale marks on the side of the bed told the story that there used to be one. While I was hunting this kind of stuff down, I noticed that the paint wasn't too bad. I like old buffed out paint, so, I gave it a go with the buffer to see what kind of shine I could get back. While the paint is definitely worn, it does show some signs of life. Up next was getting the bed lined out.
Bodi im digging the truck!!!!!! Very glad to see you finally got around to starting your build thread!! Looks like you did pretty good at getting a solid truck for up north and some really nice shots on the ferry. I really dig that you made a effort and stopped and got to meet the old owners daughter and get some back story on the truck that just adds more character to the truck. I havent been able to work on mine lately or add to my build thread due to some life issues so your build thread should be perfect to tie me over till i start working on mine again I'm subscribed already and will keep a eye on your build! Gotta love them trucks!
GasserSteve, I'm usually the one behind the camera. I'm sneaky like that. This truck should be about perfect to haul my gear to Arizona and back this year. Hopefully I have room for the CT70 to make a return voyage with me this year. I'm already on the hunt for a trailer to haul a full size motorcycle or two for everyday commuting while I'm down there. LostHope, Your thread is really what inspired me to do one. I've enjoyed watching what you've been up to, and on more than one occasion your thread has gotten me off my ass, and out in to the shop. This truck isn't getting a notch or any serious drop. It will however be my primary source of transportation once it's far enough along. I love this generation of pickup. No matter how they are done, they just look killer. Fortunately I also have a '63 short stepside that I'll be working on here pretty soon. Thanks for subscribing!
Bodi, Dude, that's one solid lookin' truck coming from Port Townsend! I would expect salt air and such to kill that sort thing pretty quickly around there. Believe it or not, the Plymouth has been on that Ferry quite a few times, I just have to make sure it is at High tide! Good to see you gettin' on it, and I can't wait to see it next fall. You do know that if you need me to look for anything down here for it I'm happy to do so; Right?
The bed on this thing was in pretty sad shape. All the steel was solid, but, most of the steel bed strips were torched, the wood was toast, and the original owners had installed a ball in the center of the bed for a gooseneck trailer. I had found one of the ugly rear wrap around bumpers that I was looking for, and had cleaned painted and installed it. After doing so, I pulled the bed to start removing the remaining wood, and bed ribs. You can see the ball mounted on the crossmember for the gooseneck trailer. This was installed by the original owner to tow their orchard trailer, and small cattle trailer. This is also the reason the truck had no tailgate, I was told it was ordered without one. My apologies for the picture including a Japanese vehicle. The bumper turned out as ugly as I expected. We'll see how long it stays, at least it is handy! Once the bed was cleaned up a bit out doors, it was time to get it in the warm shop and get to work on cleaning the ribs, and installing the wood. This was all done in November of last winter. Here's the bed pretty well gutted. Above the drivers wheel well, you can see the homemade bracket for the truck end of the trailer plug. The bracket was also painted the same color as the rest of the truck. Kind of cool. The ribs required some persuasion from the hot wrench, but, they all came out in fair shape. Now it was time for some POR15. With the bottom of the inner bed, and all the ribs cleaned and POR'd it was time for reinstallation, and to get some stain on the bed wood. I learned a valuable lesson here. The oak bed wood really should be lightly sanded before any stain applied. As it was, it didn't absorb the stain very well. This made it a huge mess when it came time to install the boards. Speaking of installation, it was time to call in some favors. I didn't have enough hands to hold all the pieces and still get the bolts in. Great minds pondering how the hell this all goes together. A nice color contrast.
Hey Chip, Fortunately the truck didn't spend much time in Port Townsend. It was garaged in Sequim for a few years until the owner moved to Port Townsend and almost immediately put it up for sale. Thankfully it was a NorCal truck for everything but the last 4 or 5 years. I have no doubt that's to thank for its' shape. I would love to see the Plymouth on that ferry, as was we were getting looked at pretty strange hauling this thing around. Thanks for the offer. I have pretty much everything I need for it, so, I'm fresh out of excuses! I'm on the hunt for a clean gas tank right now, but, I think I'll just try to find a new one with the cost of shipping and all. I'm pretty excited to get this thing going, and see how well it will pull a trailer. Thanks again man!
Ya, if I can get my scanner happy,I have a couple of shots of it on the ferry surrounded by people shooting pictures of it on the ferry!!
That's awesome. We've had a few problems on ferry trips over the years with low vehicles at low tide, and haven't had much sympathy or ANY help from the ferry workers. I even know a guy that got threatened with a fine after the bottom end of a U-bolt dug it's way in to the ramp deck on his 3rd and slightly more aggressive attempt to disembark. I think he told them where they could mail it. My experiences have led me to believe that they don't see many older vehicles on the ferries. I think Subarus are almost all they see.
So, after some aligning, hole drilling, and quite a few hours of struggling, and grumbling came the big pay off. We finally got the wood in, got the perimeter holes drilled, and every single last bolt installed. I'm still glad that I sprung for the stainless slats, and bolt kit; mostly for durability. Doing this bed certainly made me respect the finished ones I see at shows a bit more. It wasn't incredibly hard work, it just required some patience, and there's something like 140 bolts holding all that stuff together. Almost all of the perimeter bolts require you to drill through the oak wood yourself. It just takes some time. After completing the installation of the bed I installed some tail lights, and got everything cleaned up and working. This truck has taken many hours of just tinkering. Around this same time I got the windows working well, and the passenger side door freed up, and operational. I was in a huge rush to get this thing road worthy as I had to be in California mid December for the Winfielf class at Gambino Customs. At the time I was hunting parts like crazy to get this thing going, and as luck would have it I stumbled upon a killer deal. Isn't that the way it always goes? I found this '63 short box step side on Craigslist just a short distance from my house. The guy had been putting adds up for it for nearly a year, and hadn't had a single person show up. I went up to look at it and found that he had drastically understated what he had had done to it. I instantly struck up a deal. If you are wondering if that is a ZZ4 crate motor..... Yes, it is. So, that is my next project. That truck will be notched, and low. Should be fun.
Definitely more pics to come. Just trickling all this out there to get everyone up to speed to where I'm at. It's mostly taking me time to go through my photos, and make sense of all of this. I'm trying to not make it too boring!
WOW! The second truck is a beauty also(except the wheels). An your doing a great job at writing the build thread it is keeping my attention
Yeah, I didn't dig the wheels either, but, they're on it. They'll be hitting Craigslist before long. The guy I got it from was a finance manager at a local GMC dealership that has gone out of business. I'm pretty sure everything on the truck was paid for by the failing dealership. The ZZ4 crate motor, the 4l60e trans, the rear diff rebuild, the radiator, the control system, and most everything else was done by the dealership. I think those wheels are even take offs from a trade in. He said the shop at the dealership got it wired and running for him just a few days before they closed down, he then had it trailered to his house, and there it sat. Crazy.
Amazing how the deals follow after the original purchase.. Soon as I figure out how to upload pics from my iPhone I'll make a build thread, beginning from 2 years ago! Lol.. Beautiful truck btw!!
Time to update. All of this so far has taken us up to when I left last winter. As it worked out, I just couldn't get the parts I had to work well enough to make this thing reliable for the trip to Phoenix. As much as I hated to, I parked it out back, and left it for the winter. So, that's where I picked things up this year. The truck looked like it had lived another miserable winter, and I promised it that that wouldn't happen again. It's amazing how much it deteriorated this winter. Kind of bummed me out, but, onward! First step was to ditch the stock intake system. I had rebuilt the Rochester B last year, and after just a short time sitting when I went to start it, it instantly overflowed with fuel. The thing was just shot, and I was tired of wasting my time on it. So, out it came. Now it was time to start dropping some coin. After some cleaning, on go the new parts. I had planned more cleaning, and painting, but, the hell with that for now. I really want to get this thing going. That was the pricey part, but, now I know that I've got a good foundation to work with. In addition, the distributor got replaced with a new HEI unit. I couldn't find ANYONE around here to rebush my stock points distributor, so, that's why the change to HEI. I did have a little learning to do when installing the Langdon split headers with my Offy intake. Unfortunately you have to do a little trimming on the intake for the headers to clear. I also used some neat pressure equalizing washers from McMaster Karr that work on flanges that aren't the same thickness. Thanks to whoever it was that recommended them. They're pretty slick. I'll get some closer photos of them later.
So, I missed a few photos where I got everything plumbed correctly, the cable run, and all that good stuff. Actually, in that photo, the carb is on backwards from how it actually ended up. I'll get some photos of how all that stuff turned out this weekend. Anyways, I had the truck up and running fairly decent, and made a few trips around the block with open headers. It will be much easier to tune with the exhaust a little more quiet. It sounded cool, but, I don't think it would've made it to Arizona without a couple dozen traffic stops. Time to get it on the lift: And get to work on some tubing: In this photo the trucks getting 2" 14ga AK aluminized tubing with 30" overall length Cherry Bombs. I ran them all the way out the back, and under the stock bumper with a bunch of spread to get the noise seperation on those split manifolds. More photos of that to come.
The Jalopy Journal
