James Drury's 1961 Chevy C-10 Shorbed

We Remember 11 September 2006

# 1663

From Dru :

         August 4, 2006 seemed like a rough day but ended up quite a nice surprise!. I had a load of scrap from my Grandfather's farm over at the scrapper under the McKinley Bridge in north Saint Louis, Missouri. Pulled up at exactly 12 noon, just in time for the workers' lunch break. I thought, "Damn, just my luck another half hour of waiting after fighting traffic to get here." Then a rollback pulled up with a baby blue '61 Shortbed (later hood), passenger door/cab. Two feet of the bed was smashed pretty bad. Other than that, the thing was cherry.

         I asked, "How much are you getting out of it?" The man says "$300." I know scrap wouldn't have brought that much, but they made him come up with the title for it so I doubt it would have met "the jaws" anyway.

         Long story short, I got $84 for the scrap I brought in. I turned around and brought this truck for $300 with keys, title, good 6 cylinder with part of the Thriftmaster (?) sticker still in tact. The ticker shows 21k miles. It's gotta be accurate. The wood bed is still all there -- not even rotted. The interior is almost perfect minus the little duct tape on the drivers seat. All glass in tact. New tires. With a battery and some fuel, the engine runs. Got the original spare tire as well. The fellow even had the old battery with the individual white caps on it, but discarded it and the gas tank.

         Since picking it up I have made a trip to Chicago to get a door from Brian McGee and all went well. (Thanks Brian .)

         After all that I picked up a basket case 1963 drag project. Between these two, I plan on putting it back to original but with a dark blue/white paint scheme with new bed floor and the big window cab.

         I appreciate all the help and info just from August 2006 I have received already!

James Drury
"58biscayne235"
Bolter # 4483
Herrin, Illinois (approximately 80 miles from St. Louis, Missouri)