Michael "Jolly" Goodfellow's 1960 Chevrolet Viking L-60 LCF

06 March 2006
# 1456

From Jolly:

           This is the one style of Chevrolet truck I like better over it's GMC counterpart. The guys over at Chevy called these trucks "Low Cab Forward" because the cab was lower than on the older "COE" style trucks. Of course, that got shorten to "LCF." LCF trucks were about the same as the conventional trucks in series, only instead of being a C-series, they were L-series. They came in all the series, 50-80. I had seen one of these many years ago and really liked the looks of the short hood. It had the look of the pickups but some how looked meaner.

          Well, myself and Brad Wells (Stovebolter #1422) made a trip to the Utah Valley State College Auto Expo & Swap Meet in 2003 to try to sell some extra parts at the Swap Meet. (We had a bad day selling, good time hanging out and even managed to get over to the car and truck show to see the rigs.) We were set up just down and across from this guy selling this truck. I wondered over a few time during the day and checked out the truck. I asked the guy what he would have to have for it and he told me to make an offer. I told him I would need to think it over (meaning I needed to get it OKed with the wife) and I would let him know at the end of the day if it was still not sold. Well, it was not sold and he took my offer so I ended up with a Chevy truck in my collection.

          Some history and specs on this truck -- it was used to haul Hillbilly mansions from one place to the next in Southern Utah, which is why it has that weird looking bed on the back. It has been re-powered with a newer Chevy 400 small block, has the stock SM-240 4-speed and the optional 15,000 lbs, rear axle, the GM H-150 2-speed, offers ratios of 6.40:1 & 8.72:1, controlled by a smooth-acting vacuum shift system. This being a 1960 model, it also has the smooth riding "Torsion Spring" Independent Front Suspension. These were used by both GMC and Chevy from 1960 to 1962. This truck has the shortest wheel base offer in 1960 on the medium duty trucks: 121 inches.

          After getting it home (I hauled it on my gooseneck trailer pulled by my 1994 GMC Dually), I replace the bad driver's door, removed the big ugly mobile home mirror setup and cut down some of the bed side so I could use it to pull my gooseneck trailer. The truck needs lot of work. It has a bad case of rust, and I'm looking for a good LCF cab and front clip. It would be nice to find a '60 - '61 hood too, but any LCF body will do, even a 1966 model.

          This is just one of many project I have lined up now and I'm sure there will be more as time goes by. I have been toying with the idea of re-powering this truck with a GMC Twin-Six V12 engine, but I guess time will tell.

Thanks,

Jolly Goodfellow
"Jolly"
The 6066 GMC Guy
Bolter # 62
Honeyville, Utah

         Jolly's got a 1965 GMC 2500 1-Ton Dually in the Gallery and a great-looking 1953 Farmall Super C Tractor in our Alternate Gallery, too. ~~ Editor