409 Chevys which came in 80 series for a couple of years and are an interesting but almost forgotten part of grain hauling history in Texas. Literally hundreds of them hauled grain from the Texas High Plains to Corpus and Houston. They were only offered for a couple of years but grain haulers put kept putting crate engines in their trucks until the cab was almost shaken off. The low profile of the truck and the low grain trailer made them outrun many cab over diesels of the day. Gas was cheap and no one seemed to care if they got less than 3 miles per gallon. The first oil embargo changed the whole picture when the cost of gas doubled. Most of the 80 series were tractor equipped short wheel base with a million miles on the chassis. Therefor they were not used much as farm trucks and hardly any of them survive.
