The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre First Post--My 67

The story of my C20 Long Bed Stepside starts in 1967 when my Grandfather bought Ole'Blue new off of the lot. He used it as his everyday driver until my Dad traded an old Dodge for Blue somewhere around 1972 or so. Some of my earliest memories are Blue carrying my family to beautiful mountain ranges and scenic sites all around our great country. Like so many good old Chevys this truck went through several job and motor changes over the years. He hauled firewood, stock trailers, campers, and more hay than I can even begin to describe. Blue started life as a 6 cylinder but today finds himself with a 396 under the hood. I don't remember exactly when Dad dropped the 396 in but it took a fair amount of shade tree mechanicing! Sadly as the years past by Blue fell into disrepair and was eventually parked out on the back 40 of the family farm and has been sitting there for about 20 years. Not long ago I was commenting to my Dad how sad it was the Blue had fallen into this shape and he said it really is to bad because he had always intended to pass him on to me. WELL....now that got my attention! I told Dad if he still wanted me to have the old 67 it was time to pull him out of his long standing parking spot and start thinking about a restoration. Ole' Blue is pretty rough as you can imagine but the journey has begun and I can't wait to have him restored and parked in my garage. Blue will not be stock when I am done as I am adding a modern A/C unit and keeping the 396. My grandfather was a wood worker who at his passing left quite a bit of lumber around which we still have. I will be making the wood slat bed out my Grandfathers Oak. Somehow that just seemed appropriate. At some point I will add some pictures of Blue in his current state (which is very sad) and hope to add more as the restoration progresses. It will probably take about 5 years but hopefully it won't be to long until Ole' Blue will have generation number 3 behind the wheel!

Welcome jay, sounds like you have the old truck fever like the rest of us. Some TLC and that truck will be good for a lot of years still. Hope you can find everything you need.

Leo

...CAUTION. Once started no one is happy with just one! This disease will require you to bring another one home to keep Ole Blue company.

By the way, "ole blue" is what my family call my 37 pickup.
Welcome to the bolt. We anxious await pics. Good luck

Thanks for the Welcome! I am fortunate in that parts at the moment do not seem to be a problem as Dad has a fairly good collection of "junk" parts from various other Chevys parked around the farm. Funny how farmers tend to have such collections isn't it?!?

The question I have not done a lot of research on is paint. Originally my truck had a gorgeous metalic blue finish. I know there are stacks of metalic paints out there from various companies but is it possible to get something that would be considered OEM in paint?

jay, there is a forum entitled 'paint and bodyshop' that you should ask this in. Some of the members have worked in paint shops and are quite knowledgeable.

Cool. Thanks for the heads up!

jayhwk01 firstly welcome from Scotland.

If it wasn't for guys like your dad and other farmers, a lot of us wouldn't have our trucks at all!

One mans junk is another mans treasure.
Yet another one saved,and it's good to see you're carrying on the family tradition!

Thank you for the welcome and wow all the way from Scotland! That is pretty cool.

Scotland's no further away from you than perhaps the 'left coast' of the U.S.
Only difference is,there's a giant 'puddle' in the way!

Always nice to hear from a fellow Kansas. If you need
anything in the way of hard to find parts or advice,
don't hesitate to ask. That is what we're hear for...