The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 1962 Chev C-10 Fleetside long box questions?

hi all,

i've spotted a 1962 chev c-10 fleetside long box truck for sale. it needs a paint job, the wood in the bed could be replaced but might be able to refinish it, soild body, no visible rust or collision damage, the truck came from oklahoma, the original motor and transmission have been replaced by a more modern small block 305 or 350 not to sure, interior needs to be redone. the guy who has it put 19 or 20" custom aluminum wheels on it. the asking price is $7000 with out the rims or $8000 with the rims. is this truck worth the asking price? any thoughts are greatly appreciated. i know you may ahve seen my post about the 1949 1 1/2 ton. please do bare with me as i am a high school student who is trying to find a sweet looking reliable truck or project truck to be my daily driver to school and to my part time job. i will be asking alot of questions as i find trucks for sale, i'll be asking beause you guys know your stuff and wether a truck is worth it or not. thanks guys for your time.

jordan

That's a lot of money for a v8 in an old truck. Prices vary from region to region. I prefer original trucks, then there are no hassles trying to figure out what year replacement part I need.

(Advertising links edited out here....Cletis)

Be patient I know it's tough at your age.

Larry

Larry

7 grand seems a little steep to me by what you are describing but it really depends on what you really want. Supply & demand are the key. If he is the only game in town & you want it bad then it is a smokin deal. If you can be patient & keep looking you will probably find something as good or better for less. I would pass. By the way LGriffin, Where is modesto? I really like the looks of that 62

gemson, Modesto you don't know where Modesto, I shouldn't say anything I can't remember the name of the movie, Ron Howard(?), Lucas produced Graffiti something. Anyway Modesto is about midpoint of the San Joaquin Valley. About a 100 miles to south San Francisco Bay another hundred to the north end of Yosemite Valley. I'm in Oakdale, gate way to Yosemite, about 10 miles east of Modesto.

Larry

Sorry, My only point of reference in Cali is I went to disneyland with my kids once. Got lost & took forever gettin back to AZ. :o

That was sarcasm, I should have put some "Graemlins" in it. The one and only time I was at Disneyland was a week after it opened.

Larry

That's American Graffiti. One of the best movies ever made, LOL,
Scott

OK I cut the links to Craigs list. Let's stick to the subject, please.

Your friendly local moderator

Cletis, That was a little high handed. Those links were all with in the price range of what Jordan F was looking at, and good examples of what he might find with some patience. Surly I wasn't that far off base. :blat:

Larry

thanks guys for the advice so far

jordan

That's a lot for what you described. I would suggest you hold out and be patient. Do a lot of research. This site is a great start. I believe you could get something twice as good for half the price. One thing you might want to know is that hop-up parts are much more readily available for 55-59 trucks and 63 and later trucks. This is because 60-62 used their own chassis/suspension/hydraulic clutch that no other years had.

bigmacdaddy,

thanks for pointing that out about the 60 - 62's. two body styles i really like are the late 60's fleetsides and the 50's stepsides. whatever truck i do get i am most likely going to swap in a small block 327 or a 350. not to offened anyone by doing so. the reason behind that is i like v-8's and they are it bit more powerful. but if i do find a truck with the original motor in it i will most likely keep it in there until i can afford to do an engine swap.

jordan

You can't argue with the v-8 for cheap, easy horsepower. I prefer a 6, and they can be warmed up to perform just fine, but it's not cheap unless you have machine shop and engine building skills.
Hopefully you are planning on suspension and most essential the brakes as well. Very important if you are going to increase HP. You will also have to figure out proper tranny and rear for today's traffic and how you want to use it.
Just my opinion, but I like the 55-59 for your purpose. They look great all original or as hotrods. And hop up parts that fit are available from the junkyard or from parts houses to vendors that carry high end new stuff. I especially like the 4wd shortbox fleetside. I think the 60-66 look like crap as hotrods but good as trucks.

i will be doing this on a very tight budget as i am still in highschool and i only have a part time job. i will be doing things to it as i can afford to. i like the idea of scrounging junkyards for useable parts, everytime i'm in a junkyard i feel like a kid in a candy store. is a manual transmission a good choice? the reason i ask is that i have been toying around with the idea of the v-8 swap backed by a manual tranny. is an automatic better for cruising? is a standard more fun to drive?

jordan

i don't mean to overstep my boundaries here but i agree with larry on this.

We will have to give Cletis a little leeway. They were advertisements, this board is very busy, and it was late. :punch:

Another thing to consider is a 3/4 ton truck. They are usually work trucks and owners that depend on a truck for work usually take care of them. They also have bigger brakes, more likely to have a 292 six, 8 lug rims, and ride a little rougher. The 292 has as much bottom end torque as a 350 v8. They arn't as desirable as 1/2 tons so you can find one in better shape fr less. If you look for pull offs, you can nice looking late model rims and tires cheap.

All of these trucks have high gearing in the rear axle, especially 3/4 tons, so you'll need an overdrive. Typical rear axle gears are 5.12, 4.56, 4.11. You can replace the rear axle cheaper than a tranny, but you would probably have to have some welding done to mount the new rear axle. If you go with an automatic look for a 700r4 or an early 4L60. One of the considerations with an auto is shifting, most early trucks didn't have automatics. You'll have to have a floor shifter or replace the column with a later model. Manual transmission overdrive are not that common either. A bolt in would be a 3spd with overdrive. I just put an A-833 behind a rebuilt 292 in my 63, 3/4 ton. The A-833 is a 4 spd, fourth being overdrive. It's your choice as to which you prefer.

The links were from craigslist.org. Spend sometime searching craigslist, your only limit is $$$$ and your resourcefulness.

Larry

Thanks Larry. Usually when someone doesn't understand my reasoning for editing a post I send them a PM. But since there are two of you questioning it this time, I'll respond here.

One of the main purposes of this forum is to provide a searchable database of truck related questions. The posted rules state "Please, no flaming, advertising or anything else not directly related to the care, restoration, preservation or use of old GM trucks!"

When someone a month from now, six months or a year from now searches for something about a 1962 C-10, what good are those links going to be? Also, they are not really "...directly related to the care, restoration, preservation or use of old GM trucks."

There is a forum titled "Stovebolt Spotting Alert Network" where links like this are appropriate.

Another rule of this forum is "Off-Topic discussions go in the Greasy Spoon Forum!" The shuckin' and jivin' about Modesto and the movie talk belong over there. I came very near deleting those posts too but decided a little nudge would probably get the thread back on line.

I hope there are no hard feelings. I'm just trying to do the job I volunteered to do to the best of my ability. Thanks for understanding.

Cletis

Cletis, I understand were your coming from better. No hard feelings.

Ya, delete the Modesto gibberish got carried away. :rolleyes:

Larry

i to understand now where your coming from cletis.
maybe you could change the thread title to project truck questions or something similar to avoid confusion in the future.

thanks
jordan

Thanks for keepin me in line Cletis. Somebody has got to do it, I'll have my wife smack me with a rollin pin later :p

Now back to Jordans questions --

"is a manual transmission a good choice?"

Yes

"the reason i ask is that i have been toying around with the idea of the v-8 swap backed by a manual tranny."

Nice choice

"is an automatic better for cruising?"

Depends on your definition of "better"

"is a standard more fun to drive?"

Depends on your definition of "fun" I like manuals but my opinion is that the fun factor in shifting is found more in sports cars than pickups. Manuals are great for work and great for high rpm high spirited driving in sports type cars. For a daily pleasure driver it sure is nice to rest that clutch leg. Decide what you'll do most & decide from there.

by better i meant more economical/ eaiser. i love the sound of a finely tund v-8 with a real nice exhuast note going through the gears. i'm leaning more towards building a hot rod truck on a shoestring budget. and i've always wanted to learn how to drive a standard. i've also heard guys say you'll get more miles out of a standard before you have to perform a rebuild compared to an auotmatic.also i've heard manuals are easier to rebuild. i'm also thinking i'm going to have to do a lot of junkyard scrounging, but i love doing that. is there any specific manual tranny's i should look for? also i know mods will probably have to be done to the frame but should i consider finding a 10 or 12 bolt rear end if i am going to swap in a v-8 backed manual? or a similar rear end.

sorry for the long winded post

jordan

p.s. a buddy of mine that i work with says he's got a 454 motor and tranny out of one of those silverados from the 90's. how much is that puppy worth? is it worth chasing down?

Something like that would be bada$$. Now I should emhasize brakes, again. That would be something that will be not be cheap unless you have good friends with skills.
The cheapest way is to buy one from someone who has done the work already. They typically sell for 1/3 the cost of getting them to that point.
Check Ebay, Hemmings motor news, go to car shows and swap meets.

is it hard to do a disc brake conversion?

You can upgrade any 63 to ?? with a front cross member from a 71 to 86. I think 71 was the first year for disc. Say you had a 64, find disc brake truck pull the front cross member, rebuild it and bolt under your 64. There may a couple bolt holes that have to drilled or elongated. It's pretty much that easy, so I've read. I have a 71 3/4 ton project rebuild for my 63.

Larry

thanks for the info larry

I stand corrected about an earlier statement about 60-66 not looking good as hotrods. Here is one done well. And probably a bit less than the build price.

(Moderator note: Another advertising link has just been deleted from this thread. Please post these links in "Stovebolt Spotting Alert Network" or "eBay and Craiglists Links"

Cletis)

bigmacdaddy, Nice looking truck. I'll confess that I don't know all the trim levels.

This something Jordan should be aware of trim levels when looking for a truck. The more option the higher the trim level the more desirable the truck is.

The seller says it's a custom cab. The cab does have the custom trim, but not the large back window, so is it a custom cab?

It has the deluxe heater, and the custom trim knobs. He's hacked up the dash for the CD. I didn't catch what the seat came out of. The fleetside script on the glove compartment door is a little much in my opinion. If the script was a little smaller it would be better.

Larry

thats a wonderful truck bigmacdaddy, if i had the $27,000 that would be parked in my drive way. i found a 63 short box fleetside about 4 hours from me for $6500. these are the exact words form the ad:

Nice driver. California cab, doors and front fenders. 86 camaro high output 305, mild cam, aluminium intake, auto trans. Otherwise original. Floors are as shiny as the roof. Amateur frame off.All new cab mounts, door and glass seals.Paint is ok, not show.

any thoughts?

jordan

thanks for sharing the info about the trim options larry.

jordan

A10 panoramic cab was the large window option, & was separate from the Z61 Custom appearance option

64fleetside, Thanks for the info. I've always seen the large rear window and custom trim together. Then you'll see the custom trim on a small window. I imagine that's in a book I'll never buy.

Larry

actually it is info from the restoration pack, free from GM-get you one if you haven't, good bathroom reading

Thats just one of many that are on Ebay this week. I'm not trying to advertise for Ebay or anything, but it is a good way to get a close look at a lot of trucks and see what might be selling for what. They have the feature where you can just look for certain years, and I looked for 60-63 just out of interest. It seems like the stuff I really like is always too far away. And of course, too expensive. It is also fun to ridicule the asking price for SO many POS cars or trucks that you know will not end up getting a bid. On the other hand, the no reserve auctions are the best.

bigmacdaddy, I usually can't afford the good stuff so I don't bother looking. If I have a little extra I spend sometime in "Parts Cars".

I've been thinking about away to associate Ebay and Craigslist links to questions like what Jordon has asked, which comes in many varieties, including the one I like "What's it worth. Cletis is right our links are gone in a week, what ever. To preserve the link by copying the pictures and text to the post takes up band width not to mention copyright problems. What if the questions like Jordans were moved to the links forum? I don't know what the rules are there. We could post links to answer these questions and critique the link. The critiques might actually mean more than the link.

Larry

Just bought a '64 C10 Fleetside long bed custom cab (small window) off of Ebay, $1100. Originally came with a 283, now has, I think, a 350. 3 on the tree, factory posi. I'm the second owner. Drove it from Daly City to Ventura, ~360 miles, ran like a champ.

can anyone tell me what trim code RPO Z62AA means?

The truck is in pretty good condition, all trim is there, no major dents, a bit of rust.

Any tips on how to repair rust along the drip rail?

nice score sounds like a really nice truck. thanks guys for the info on the various trim options.

jordan

there is a couple 327 blocks and cranks and heads on ebay right now if any of you guys are looking for a period correct small block.

jordan

Here is a good deal on a cool truck with a super cool motor. And it's offered by a member here, so I'm assuming this link is appropriate. If I lived near Texas, it would be mine. http://www.stovebolt.com/bboard/cgi-bin//ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=27;t=001391

it's a little on the pricey side and to far but thanks for pointing it out to me.

jordan