I ride in the hills outside Portland, Oregon to lose weight and seek silence. There are still a number of 1950 and 1960 farm trucks out in the fields, rusting into the hills... I spotted this truck and watched it for some time thinking it would be cool to restore. I saw the owner on one of my rides and I asked if he was just trying to torcher people or if the truck was for sale. He says he is about to retire and was willing to sell it for cash, today... I could not say yes fast enough. That was in February before the Covid lockdown. The truck was literally in 6 inches of water. 15 years of sitting in swampy ground, maybe 20, had done some damage. Anyway, here are the starting pictures. The body is not too bad but almost every bolt on it needs to be snapped or cut off. Seems it will be a frame off restoration, mostly original if all goes well. Thanks ahead of time for all the input from the Forum members as I will have a lot of questions. I have never done more than power train swaps and simple doors, etc....
1960 C20 Apache Step Side Long Bed Beautiful eyes hooked me, and what a great ……
Thanks, but did you see Adrienne B. in her swamp movie???? But my wife puts up with the truck.
I am in process of figuring out how to handle the lifting off of the Cab and what to do next. Thinking about mounting the cab on a pair of 4 x 4 boards and setting it on my trailer. Then I can get it dipped and start replacing rusted metal. Looks like LMC has most of the patch panels I need. I will be posting more questions on the forums soon. Having problems locating a couple pieces.... seems no respect for 3/4 ton Apache's when you need parts.
Going to switch and post on the Project Journals now.... have it stripped down to the frame and running gear..... now the work starts, or so it seems to the newbie
Just remember the Project Journal Forum is for documenting your project and not for asking questions. Let the fun begin!
Martin '62 Chevy C-10 Stepside Shortbed (Restomod in progress) '47 Chevy 3100 5 Window (long term project) ‘65 Chevy Biscayne (Emily) ‘39 Dodge Business Coupe (Clarence) “I fought the law and the law won" now I are a retired one! Support those brave men/women who stand the "Thin Blue Line"! Hug a cop! USAF 1965-1969 Weather Observation Tech (I got paid to look at the clouds)
Lower control arm shaft (kit) for C20..... confusion and blood letting. Really, I have spent hours chasing down a pair of new control arm shafts with seals and grease covers. Half the sellers seem to say that the C10 and C20 use the same part, the others show the C20 as being different. Often the parts are listed only as 1960 with no remarks as to which model it fits. So I called 4 different vendors of good standing and received answers after they checked with their suppliers. Again, some said part would fit C10 and C20, others said they would be different parts for C20. Then, after ordering what is suppose to fit my 1960 C20 I find out that nobody actually has them in stock. I have no problem with sellers drop shipping from the supplier / manufacturer. But some of the companies were showing they had parts available. Then you order the parts and get notified they are on hold. Some did list ship dates of late November or said they were on back order. I did find a pair that I was told were in stock. Instead of being the normal price of 80 to 100 bucks each these were about twice that. If you got em... well you know. Just my observations, not a big whine. I want this truck to drive like new but still have some money for gas and tires. hhhmmmmmm good to be retired and have a fun project
Yes, Jim Carter is good. I am a newbie and posted this for other newbies as well as getting input from Veterans of the rebuild world here. Just pointing out that you really need to ask questions about many parts before ordering. The issues with 1960 C20 parts are immense. The fact that many parts were for 1960 and 1961 only cause a lot of problems. Many vendors only post the common parts and some do not make any note that you need specific parts that fit only the 3/4 ton model. LMC is very good at listing parts by year and model. That said, many parts just are not available for this beast... So you just learn and roll with it. Oh yeah, you also find out that every part is 3 times as expensive or worse. Bearings are $50 to $200 more each than a similar part for a C20 if you can find them. Brake parts can be non-existent ie springs and such. Just a heads up and thank you to those that have helped locate unusual parts. still learning
Parts Update: I went through Six States Distributors to get the bearings. They were able to source the bearings I could not find for the HO52 and axle bearings. Some bearings were available from catalogs or parts stores. Most had to be obtained on-line for high prices because the C20 is very unsupported. The lower control arm shafts were another wild ride. I finally paid the price through Rare Parts on line. About triple the price everyone else quoted BUT they actually had the parts and shipped them promptly. Sometimes the price is justified. As for the other on-line sources: I could not find one that would guarantee a ship date. Seems the supplier / Manufacturer waits until they get enough orders or maybe it just fits in their schedule and then they just do a huge batch and everyone will have them. Well, I did not want to wait. Pictures: posting more pics on the Project Journals, 1960 C20 Swamp Thing
Parts Update: I went through Six States Distributors to get the bearings.
Good outfit. I use them as well for my driveline stuff.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
