Joel Oswald's 1965 Chevy Longbed Fleetside -- Restoring a classic truck to original condition

Here is my 1965 Chevy Longbed Fleetside. It has a 230ci engine, 3 speed on the tree and 3.73 gears in the rear end. It's quite a story how I found this truck.

Christmas 2004 me and my family (I was 16 at the time) traveled to Australia for the first time to visit some old friends. Some other friends, whom we had never met, were visiting our Australian friends and soon became our friends as well. This young man and his wife were wild rice farmers in Fall River Mills, a small town in Northern California. We live in the San Francisco Bay Area. They invited us to visit them on their farm some time. So that summer we did.

Upon our arrival at the farm, me and my Dad noticed the truck. So, we inquired about it. Our friend said that a fellow farmer had stored the truck and other equipment on his farmland for the last five years and never returned to pick it up. The truck was in Fall River Mills the 42 years it has been around. He kind of jokingly asked if we wanted the truck. My Dad said he would love to have it ... but he didn't know. My Dad likes to think things through alot before he buys anything.

Over the next few months, we decided we wanted the truck, and Mom allowed such "deciding."

So after almost a year of phone calls and getting the title transferred to us, last May we towed a trailer behind our '86 Chevy Suburban for seven hours to go pick it up.

The truck was not in as good condition as we had imagined all that time, but it was still a very good truck. We went to the DMV in Fall River Mills to get it registered. There was one lady working there and one man in line behind us. She gave us tags and two new licence plates right there! We gave our friend $400 dollars for the truck.

Once home, we rebuilt the carb and it started up instantly! The engine runs good but needs some tuning. The body has usual rust on fenders and parts of the cab corners. There were only minor dents and creases on the body. The odometer says 32,000 but it may be 132,000. I'm leaning towards 32,000 because of the condition of the engine.

At first, it was going to be my Dad's truck that we both work on. But at the end of this summer, I ended up paying him back the cost of the truck and anything he had bought up to that point -- so the truck was now mine!

Currently, only the cab is on the truck. I have cleaned and painted the frame and all chassis parts. The rear end is all done as well as the front end, with new springs and disc brakes. I have taken auto shop classes and auto body classes so I have learned "everything" I need to know to restore this truck. I am doing all the body work myself, with very little bondo.

I will also paint the truck.

I'm not sure how much I will do to the engine and tranny, but at least replace all the seals. I am restoring this truck completely stock and I am still debating over two tone light blue and white, or just white like the truck was originally.

I got the truck in May last year and I hope to be done and running by May or June of 2007. I seem to be pretty well on schedule. I am now 18 years old. I love old cars and trucks and would rather have a classic than any new truck. This truck will be my daily driver and hopefully will serve me for 42 more years to come!

The photos here show the truck in its hometown of Fall River Mills. You can see Mt. Shasta in the background! I will send more photos in when it is finished.