Steve VandenBerg's 1971 GMC 3/4-Ton

06 February 2006
# 1403

From Steve: 

     This 1971 GMC 3/4-ton lived in my Dad�s shed most of its life. It always had a camper in the back from the time it was a couple of months old. It sat there and sat there, and I grew up checking out that truck for many years. When it became apparent that the truck was in need of rescuing, I started to call the owner. He wasn�t interested in selling the truck as his son was just starting a family and he thought it would be a great way for his kids to do some camping.

     After several years of pestering, I finally gave up with the impression that I would never own that truck. The truck continued to just sit there. I guess he had been out there in 1991 to start it. The brake pedal just went to the floor so he never took it out of the shed.

     One day I got a call and was asked if I still wanted to buy the truck. I made a trip to my Dad�s farm that night to make the transaction. Apparently his kid had decided that a new truck was the way to go. So the owner called me.

     We got the truck pulled outside. This was a real "barn find." This is the day I dragged it out (in 2004). It had not seen daylight since 1986 I believe. Thankfully, the tires still held air when we pumped them up. One of the rear wheels was really sunk in the dirt floor of the shed because of a badger tunnel. The camper had to come off for me to get it on my trailer. I looked down at the wood bed and saw all that factory paint covering all the bed boards. It looked almost like new. The truck was just coated with a thick coat of dust and we had to wash with wet rags just to see through the windshield so we could load it. I asked about the tailgate and the owner said he had it in his garage. Now I was just happier than heck that here was going to be a brand new tailgate for this truck too. He searched his garage and couldn�t find it. He then went out back and found the tailgate had been moved outside and set on the ground. So here was a near perfect tailgate without any scratches or dents in it -- with the bottom edge rusted out. I could have clobbered the guy for that.

     I got the truck home and cleaned the fuel tanks, replaced the fuel lines, lubed the engine and made sure I could turn it over by hand. Got new tires and overhauled the brakes. I washed it real good and put in a battery. I primed the carb. It started up after two tries and sat there idling perfectly.

     The truck has zero rust (with the exception of the tailgate) and a couple of light scratches. No air, but power steering and brakes, a beautiful 8 track player and CB radio. The interior still looks pretty good. The truck has 49,961 original miles on it.

Steve VandenBerg
"Builder"
Bolter #6449
Sioux Falls, South Dakota [an error occurred while processing this directive]