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Hi All,
Several years ago I got the bug to find an old Chevy pickup just to knock around in and tinker with. Sound familiar? My dear wife (I'll put the blame on her) should have known better, but she also thought that might be fun. Well ... to make a long story a little shorter, four years and tens of thousands of dollars later ... as you all know, once the bug bites - it itches until you scratch it!!!
So, as we all do, we started driving the back streets and alleys of every small town in our area looking for just the right truck. My heart was set on a '64-'66 Chevy because I always liked that body style and I used to have a '66. Fleetside or Stepside was optional but it had to be a Shortbox. Then it happened. While driving down a busy street in a nearby town, my wife spotted a '64-66 Shortbox Fleetside sitting in a driveway on a car trailer with a "For Sale" sign on the windshield.
Around the block we went. It was all in gray primer and the closer I got, the worse it looked. In fact, I turned and was walking away when the owner came out of the house. I told him what I was looking for but said this one is way too rough for me.
"Well," he said, "you might be interested in what I have in the garage."
"Oh Yah?" my mind was thinking as my heart beat a little faster. "Let's see it!!"
He opened the garage door and my life hasn't been the same since. There it was: a 1964-66 Shortbox, Stepside, with the optional big back window!!! Ignoring the pool of transmission fluid on the floor under the truck, we quickly negotiated and I reached for my checkbook.
So here are the specifics. Not unlike Johnny Cash's Cadillac, it was a '63 - '64 - '65 - '66 Chevy.
It is licensed as a 1963 but that's only the frame. The cab is a '66 and you name it in-between!!
It now has a rebuilt 350 Chevy small block with an RV cam and a modest 625 cfm Carter AFB.
The transmission is a soon-to-be-replaced, aluminum Powerglide. In a few weeks it should have a completely rebuilt 700R-4.
An extra feature I really like is the 1964, 60 Series truck grille I installed. It had a beat-up '63 grille and I wanted something different.
Of course, everyone I know wants to know if I'll ever grow up. After all, I'm only 80 going on 16!!!
So that's my story and I'm sticking with it. Looking forward to communicating with some of you about our old Chevy trucks.
