The Gallery
 

A 'virtual garage' of antique Chevy & GMC trucks from around the World


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1967 Chevrolet C-10 1/2-Ton Shortbed Fleetside

Owned by

Jim McGinnis
"Dads67"
Bolter # 9003
Oak Hill, Virginia

 

01 October 2007
# 2069

From Jim :

           I thought I would finally sit down today and send a note about my truck for the Gallery.

           My Dad purchased this 1967 Chevrolet C10 (1/2 ton) short-bed pick up on February 8, 1967 (VIN CS147B107808). He paid $1,838.80 with a $250 trade-in allowance on his 1960 Apache that had been totaled a few weeks earlier. (An inattentive driver adjusting his radio rammed into the parked truck, driving the steering column into the roof of the cab). He bought it off the lot of the old Aero Chevrolet on King Street in Alexandria, Virginia.

           The truck was a basic “workhorse” vehicle with few options. Those that he did pay extra for included heavy duty rear springs, heavy duty clutch for the “three-on-the tree” un-synchronized manual transmission, a “deluxe” heater, a wooden floor and a rear step bumper. No radio was included much to my disappointment!

           Dad drove this truck everywhere he went, including to and from his job as an “installer / repairman” with the old C&P (Chesapeake and Potomac) Telephone Company of Virginia. He also carted me to all of my sports and scouting activities and several memorable camping and fishing trips in the Shenandoah mountains.

           In 1972, while teaching me how to drive, he pulled over in the truck on a road in our neighborhood that must have been on a 45 degree incline. The truck was pointed up the hill. Dad got out and told me to “scoot over” behind the wheel. He got back in on the passenger side of the cab and told me to “take off.” I must of stalled the truck out on that hill three or four times. My left leg quivering more each time as I struggled to control the heavy-duty clutch pedal!

           I did learn to master the clutch and non-power assisted, 16” steering wheel. Soon I was driving that truck on nights and weekends throughout the rest of high school and summers during college. Dad also continued driving it to and from work until his retirement in 1984 and afterwards.

           By 1990, the truck was getting pretty well-worn and Dad much preferred to drive the power-assisted family Oldsmobile. I had married in 1981 and had two small children that required a vehicle with a back seat that could handle two car seats and storage space for all the things that children require. I had neither the time nor the resources to give the truck the attention it needed and deserved.

           A neighbor down the street had been looking for a “fixer-upper” to work on in his spare time. So, in June of 1990, Dad sold the truck with 68,000 ± original miles to this gentleman for $250. Over the next eight years the neighbor performed a”frame off” restoration of the truck, sandblasting and painting the frame, installing new rubber where the chassis met the cab. He also replaced all other rubber in the truck, including all the flexible hoses, and all the weather stripping in the windows and doors, installed a new oak floor in the bed with all stainless steel fasteners. New motor mounts followed, along with an engine rebuild with “hard “ valves, rings and cam shaft bearings, new water pump, new fuel pump, new shocks, new exhaust, new master cylinder and rear brakes, clutch and clutch plate assembly.

           He installed carpeting and a reproduction AM / FM, cassette radio and speakers, (Interior 1) reupholstered the bench seat and painted and clear-coated the interior and exterior sheet metal in GM “Flame Red.” (Interior 2) The truck still has its original radiator, ball joints, tie rods and generator and voltage regulator.

           Most all of this work was done just a couple of blocks away from where the truck had called home since 1967. With the restoration pretty much completed by 1998, he began to enjoy the truck by taking it out on weekends to car shows and displaying his handiwork. (Picture from the rear)

           In July, 2003 I was able to purchase back the vehicle I had spent so much of my youth in. Since the purchase, I’ve only changed out the remanufactured Holly carburetor with a NOS Rochester 1-barrel to solve a bad carburetor pump problem in it. I did a few other minor items. It’s in better shape now than when new!

           It was great to see the Stovebolters at Winchester. I look forward to Leonardtown in the Spring!

Jim

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