1969 Chevrolet C20 Custom Camper Truck

[GMJohnny]

So I took this an a wheelbarrow full of cash for my Vette.
It isn't perfect, but it's pretty darn clean. 98,600 miles on a
truck that has been redone pretty well. It runs, starts, goes
and stops as it should. I'm not sure what the future holds for
it, but for right now it'll be in the barn. I've already started
looking online for stuff for it.... radio, wheels ( it has split rims
on it! ) steering wheel, license plate..... the list is long. I'm going
to try not to spend a ton of cash on it, but I want to! It's a 4 speed
granny gear trans, and it'd love overdrive.... Hmmmm. The 350
with a 4 bbl Quadrajet performs perfectly. A great start for a
project.

GM

[Basement Paul]

That thing is so sweet! I'm pretty sure you'll get lots of thumbs up and questions everywhere you go. Really cool.

-BP

[Maverick]

Very clean!! Panels are laser straight.

[TireSmoker]

That thing is mint! But, I'm stunned. I thought you were done with older vehicles.

-Dave

[GMJohnny]

It's funny, Dave.... I thought I was, then the Vette started showing
its age. Stupid electronics things were failing and all C5's had issues
like that. With youtube out there, fixing things wasn't that terrible,
but it had the potential to be expensive. Watching the car's value depreciate
was a bummer, and the fact that I wasn't going any further with it
all contributed to me selling it....... and the fact that a guy wanted to
give me something different and simple and in great shape as partial
payment. I'm looking forward to fiddling with it. It's funny, I drove
it today, and two guys gave me a thumb's up and many people were
staring at it. It was unexpected!

GM

[TireSmoker]

It's all good. I imagine getting a bunch of cash, plus a really clean vehicle in trade makes a lot easier.

Pick a date for Blazin Bills, I'm in. The only thing that compares to tire smoke is BBQ Smoke!!

-Dave

[wxo]

GM, I hated to see your Vette go, but this is an acceptable substitute. It reminds my of my F250...3/4 ton, long bed, granny, etc.
Have fun with it.

[GMJohnny]

OK .... things I know so far:

1) The marker lights that "don't work" on the side of the truck are
actually "period correct" and never had wires and light bulbs going to them.
Apparently, the pre-70's trucks never had wiring to the marker lights and
they are used only as reflectors. No wiring repairs required, they're not
designed to work.
2) The truck has a Dana 60 rear end in it. Good news! Very popular rear
end... Bad news is that it has a 4.56 gear in it. Lowering the ratio requires
a new carrier that needs to be from a 4.11 or lower rear end. The lowest
ratio that I've seen is 3.56 ... Thinking about going to that as a solution
to making the truck "highway-able". Overdrive units are too much money
and, unless I find a used one, not a conceivable option. The carrier is a
non-posi, which I will continue to use as posi is not required for this
application unless I stumble on one cheaply. According to internet sources,
this is a 30 spline carrier.
3) The truck started this morning when it was 37 degrees outside with a
tap of the throttle before cranking ( on a Quadrajet this sets the choke, which
works still! ) and a few pumps. It sat with high speed idle working correctly
until I went to drive away and the idle went down as it should. No carb
work required!
4) AM radio is not the way to go, but on a morning that is not cloudy in
Cleveland, you can draw in DeMoines, Iowa and a station in Illinois on this
old sound system.

GM

[Basement Paul]

"The skip was rollin".

-BP

[GMJohnny]

I have discovered that there are millions and millions of parts on
the aftermarket for this truck. You could rebuild this truck ground up
if you wanted to with stuff on the internet. So, I couldn't let this
opportunity go to waste! I ordered vintage plates that I found on EBay.
I'll post pics of those when I get them, but they are 1969 Ohio farm
plates. I ordered a vintage look radio and a modern speaker both to
go into the factory location so the truck won't get chopped up and will
look stock. I've also been contemplating putting a tach in the truck.
There are some cool "on the column" units that are an old-school look,
but I stumbled across this:

https://www.brotherstrucks.com/67-72-TA ... o/TACH772/

I have til the 31st of October to decide if I want a tach, because this is
such a good deal and is on sale! More to come!!

GM

[GMJohnny]

The truck came with the factory equipped "T3" headlights. Since these
are hard to come by, still work, should be sent with the truck when it gets sold,
and emit terrible yellowish light, I opted to put some Wagner halogen bulbs in it.
While I was there looking at the adjustment screws, I adjusted the headlights
as the driver's side was way out of whack. All screws came loose with ease
and the whole project took about a half hour. The odometer turned 99,000
while I was out running errands this morning. I also checked the oil, which
was obviously just changed and checked the tire pressures. The sidewall
says that the tires can take a max 60 psi, but I'm not going there with
it. I'm hanging around 35 psi. It's been a while since I ran bias ply's on
a car, so I'm not quite sure where they "should be"...... More studying to
do.

GM

[Basement Paul]

That tach is pretty sweet and would look killer in there. Way better than one banded to the column. I'm thinking to go for it there. It would be a real nice factory style upgrade.

-BP

[TireSmoker]

Yeah, that's a heckuva sale for that tach. Do the deal!!

I know what you mean about the T3's -- I have a full set of them in the Chevelle, amazingly enough. They're pretty lousy. I plan on doing a similar upgrade over the winter.

-Dave

[GMJohnny]

The deal has been done.... Tachometer upgrade parts en route!
Dave and Tony --- I think they have the same type of upgrade for
your cars as well. I know for a fact that I saw some tachs that were
factory style, fyi.

The halogen bulb install was a huge success. The lights are nice and
white and they are adjusted perfectly. Good functional upgrade for
$23.00.

GM

[Blue_69_malibu]

Ah....the mostly-original-1969-Chevrolet world just got another member. Welcome to the club!!

Awesome ride, John. BP showed me pix of it shortly before you decided to buy it. That's a nice, clean, solid truck. I have some original Chevrolet Truck advertisements from 1969 in my stash. At one point, I even had a Camper advertisement. I'll gladly double check this.

My T3s are up in the attic, replaced with some modern Sylvania bulbs that are way better. And make me go faster. Or something.

Definitely need to get out to Blazin Bills now with our posse of cool rides.

Time for bed!