Old trucks

[Mailman]

I know there have to be some old truck lovers with this bunch of gear heads we have.
I used to own a 1960 Chevy stepside that I had for 13 years. It was a former forest service truck and was still
Painted forest service green. My truck looked like this one , but unfortunately I don't have any photos of my old truck.

It had the 235 straight six with a four speed stick on the floor with granny low speed first gear. The transmission had straight cut gears so it had that old farm truck whine to the transmission. Gawd I loved that truck, didn't think I'd ever sell it. My ex wife ( pardon me while I spit ) coerced me into selling it. That truck was so easy to work on and it never let me down. I have looked at getting another one, but right now old trucks are all the rage with hot rodders. They have been doing some pretty cool builds stuffing big engines and modern brakes and suspensions under old crusty trucks. They just spray satin clear coat right over the old original finish and it's a pretty cool combination.

The downside is, old trucks , no matter what shape they're in are fetching top dollar, sometimes without a drivetrain! I like the old Dodges, they aren't as common. I also like the old A-100's they come up for sale every once in a while here, but again for top dollar.

How bout you? Got an old truck? Had one you wished you never let go? Or just dream of having one?

 

[Jim]

Had a 57 Ranchero when I was a kid. I put a 4 spd. tranny in it, built up the stock 272.... Crane cam, 312 Thunderbird heads. the biggest Holly I could afford. headers, glass packs.....
Sure wish I had it now.

 

[Mailman]

Had a 57 Ranchero when I was a kid. I put a 4 spd. tranny in it, built up the stock 272.... Crane cam, 312 Thunderbird heads. the biggest Holly I could afford. headers, glass packs.....
Sure wish I had it now.

Well now, that was a very cool little truck!

I also like the 59 Chevy El Camino, the 50's had such cool cars!

 

[TimeMachine]

Tho my F150 swb isn't old enough in my opinion, it still drives like a good old standard truck. 6cyl 5spd! , and No Options at all . But lately I spied my true favorite right over along the Columbia river on weekends.. hmm , how am I going to get that 67 Chevy ?

 

[Mailman]

Oooh baby! That's a sweet looking old Chevy!

 

[TimeMachine]

Trucks that haul bikes. Could hardly live with out one. Yup that 67 swb Chev is low enough for loading ez

 

[motormike]

Back in the day I wasn't in the market for a 1964 Elky.. but it had Utah license plates and this being the land of salted roads.. it wasn't a rusty bondo bucket.
Toss'd the 6 banger and 3 on the tree.... got a 350, stuffed a old school bump stick in it and 4 barrel carb... behind it a four speed rock crusher. Headers with duals ..... Being a auto wrench.. I did all the work.... Made custom valve covers and air filter cover.
The cam really came on at mid range and it really rip'd along... but.. I didn't upgrade the drum brakes. I discovered any speed over 90 the brakes faded quicker then my hopes on a first date..

 

[TimeMachine]

Motormike, cool elcamino , that 77 im guessing XS looks like it took you for some good rides ? Dual discs even.. checker emgo fairing.. top speed ??

 

[Mailman]

Very nice , I very nearly bought an El Camino myself back in my dirt bike riding days!

 

[halfmile]

I`ve had a El Camino every year since I turned 16. I`ve never been without one. I had all the years made except a 1973. I still drive a 1982 Conquista that turned over 408,000 mi last week. The salty winter streets here in Topeka have taken their toll on the body and frame but it still runs great and is my daily driver. Stored in my shop is a white 1984 El Camino SS with 20,235 miles. Doesn`t belong to me. It`s too nice to drive and just sits there. I can`t imagine ever being without one.

 

[geedubya]

I know there have to be some old truck lovers with this bunch of gear heads we have.
I used to own a 1960 Chevy stepside that I had for 13 years. It was a former forest service truck and was still
Painted forest service green. My truck looked like this one , but unfortunately I don't have any photos of my old truck.
View attachment 109120
It had the 235 straight six with a four speed stick on the floor with granny low speed first gear. The transmission had straight cut gears so it had that old farm truck whine to the transmission. Gawd I loved that truck, didn't think I'd ever sell it. My ex wife ( pardon me while I spit ) coerced me into selling it. That truck was so easy to work on and it never let me down. I have looked at getting another one, but right now old trucks are all the rage with hot rodders. They have been doing some pretty cool builds stuffing big engines and modern brakes and suspensions under old crusty trucks. They just spray satin clear coat right over the old original finish and it's a pretty cool combination.
View attachment 109121
The downside is, old trucks , no matter what shape they're in are fetching top dollar, sometimes without a drivetrain! I like the old Dodges, they aren't as common. I also like the old A-100's they come up for sale every once in a while here, but again for top dollar.
View attachment 109126
How bout you? Got an old truck? Had one you wished you never let go? Or just dream of having one?

Hey Bob you like Dodges!!

When I was about to buy my first car my father advised, 'If you can't afford a Dodge, dodge a Ford'.

GW

 

[ThatXS650Guy]

Love old trucks. Bought a '1976 Bronco almost 28 years ago and would never part with it. 351W with D0 heads and 4:11 gears. Can't put gas in it without some guy asking me if I want to sell it. I also have my daughter's old 1985 Ford Ranger that is awaiting a new head gasket. It's a great bike/parts chaser.

 

[Downeaster]

Been a truck/pickup guy since the 70's.

Had a '65 shortbed stepside Chevy, came with a 283 and 3 on the tree, but the 283 was REAL tired, so I dropped a 350 and a 4 speed Muncie into it. Set of high-back buckets out of a Boltswagen, so I could reach the shifter. Left the body ratty because I couldn't afford to fix it. Did replace the wooden floor in the bed but that was it.

The 350 was warmed up a tad, just an RV-grind cam, headers and a Holley. Embarrassed the shit out of more than one boy racer with that truck.

Next best was a '68 K10. 250/6 and a granny-low 4 speed. Again, the 6 was shot, so I built a 383 (350 block, 400 crank) with a matched Edelbrock cam/intake/carb set and headers. Not real fast with the stock truck 4 speed and rearend, but that 383 was a torque monster and it was a snowplowing sumbitch.

Tore the front diff out of it plowing snow. Priced out rebulding/replacing both differentials and wife says "For that kind of money, you should just buy a new truck."

An '89 K3500 with a 454 magically appeared in my driveway the next day...

 

[Mailman]

That old ‘60 Chevy that I had, the floor of the bed was in bad shape when I bought it, so I went to this lumber yard that specialized in hardwoods. That was in 1972, and believe it or not oak was more expensive than solid mahogany, so being a broke teenager, I bought the mahogany. Repainted the metal strips and put all new carriage head bolts in.
My God you should have seen how beautiful that truck bed was! And just think what that would cost today!

 

[Mailman]

In honor of old trucks, I’m wearing my old Chevy truck t shirt!

 

[ihaxs650]

I bought a 1951 Chevy 3100 from Dry Creek Union Elementary School. That was painted in school bus yellow with a crack along the entire block of the 216 motor. I poured in aluminum flux stop leak and removed the thermostat. Drove it for many years that way. The motor was splashed fed and had a closed drive line! Loved that truck! Gas mileage was terrible worse than my 67 Plymouth GTX. Here is my current truck and I am going to keep it tell my license gets taken away!

 

[fredintoon]

Hi Mailman,
had an F100 back in the day.
That was a real truck, rather than a sawn-off car with a mini-box instead of a trunk.
You could fit plywood 8 x 4s in it and close the tailgate or stack it up with a full cord of firewood.
Twin I-beams, straight six, three on the tree and you could sit on the fender to work on the engine.
The air filter was a pint of engine oil that got changed when there were too many bugs floating in it.
It wasn't my bitch-ex that persuaded me to sell it, it was my youngest daughter.
Then I bought a Ford Courier which was a re-badged Mazda 1/4ton, sold it when I realized it was
hardly truck enough to haul stuff even for the few occasions that I needed to do so.
Built me a trailer instead.

 

[motormike]

Motormike, cool elcamino , that 77 im guessing XS looks like it took you for some good rides ? Dual discs even.. checker emgo fairing.. top speed ??

Had it at 105 ..indicated on the speed 0..and it had some beans left.. but I ran out of gonad's and I was concerned about retina detachment.

 

[TimeMachine]

Mad Max would of pegged it at 115

 

[Mailman]

I bought a 1951 Chevy 3100 with a crack along the entire block of the 216 motor. I poured in aluminum flux stop leak and removed the thermostat. Drove it for many years that way.
[ /QUOTE]

I love the shade tree fix you did. My old truck sprung a radiator leak once when I was hundreds of miles from home. I remembered an old mechanic telling me that you could plug a radiator leak by dumping a can of black pepper flakes in the radiator, so that’s exactly what I did and damned if it didn’t stop the leak.
I never did get around to pulling that radiator and getting a proper fix done.