1966 Chevrolet C10 Pickup

U/K

5.3L 5358CC 327Cu. In. V8 GAS OHV Naturally Aspira

Automatic

Clear

GAS

0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false You are bidding on a zero mile nut & bolt restored 1966 Chevrolet C-10 ½ ton short box fleet side pickup truck. This particular truck has the desirable big back window, factory air conditioning, power brakes, power steering, Soft-Ray glass, four way flashers, factory tachometer, under dash ash tray, factory sway bar, full gauges, windshield washers, and it even has the original rubber “Power Brake” pedal. It is an extraordinary example of a fully appointed, fully restored classic. Forgive me for creating such a lengthy item description but I wanted to share with you the story behind this truck. This restoration did not start life as a father/son project but after loosing my Mom it became clear that I had lost a significant portion of my Father as well. I would check in on him nearly every evening and struggle to find something to talk about. One night while I was there he was watching the Barrett-Jackson Auto Auctions on TV when he saw a beautifully restored 65/66 Chevy C-10 and he lit up like a little kid……I am an amateur restorer of antique motorcycles and I thought that the restoration of a truck might give us something to talk about, give him something to think about, and make for some good conversation. So I began looking for a good example to restore. I acquired this truck from North Carolina and had it delivered here in Upstate NY. It was dropped off in a large parking lot a few miles from my house and I towed it home with my Dad at the wheel and that was the last time it was driven. After assessing the condition of the truck I began ordering parts, as my budget would allow. I actually began the teardown on Easter Sunday 2010. I obtained a rust free hood, grille support, radiator support and passenger side door from California, while the driver’s door, and both front inner and outer fenders are reproductions. The cab was completely stripped of every piece and then of its several coats of paint until only the bare metal shell was left. All the rusted panels were cut out, new panels were scribe fitted and butt welded. Once the cab was repaired it was sprayed with three coats of epoxy primer and worked commenced to make it paint ready. At the end of each stage I would take pictures to share with my Dad, to show him the progress I was making on “his” truck. While the cab was being built in one bay of my shop I had the frame completely blasted and it, too received several coats of epoxy primer then several coats of satin urethane. The frame went back together in another bay with all new components, control arm kits, springs on all four corners, U-bolts, control arm and axle bumpers, ball joints, tie rods, sway bar bushings and brackets, trailing arm bushings and bolts, new brakes from wheel to master cylinder, stainless steel brake lines, parking brake cables, every single nut and bolt was replaced with new. The motor, a numbers correct 327 topped off with a Rochester 4G carburetor was stripped and sent to the machine shop where it was hot tanked and all tolerances checked over by the machinist. I had one new cylinder sleeve installed and bored to standard bore, and It was fitted with new soft plugs. The heads were stripped, tanked, and rebuilt with new components. It was reassembled using stock bore Chevy pistons, stock crank and rods, new rings, bearings, Melling high volume oil pump, a Lunati “RV” camshaft and Lunati lifters, Comp timing chain, water pump, starter, rebuilt stock distributor, and ARP bolts where feasible. The 327 was first offered in a ½ ton truck as an option in 1966, this was the only year that fern green paint adorned the Chevy small block, (the 283 was grey). I sent the carburetor out to “Carb Junkies” in Beverly Hills who did a museum quality restoration on it. I strongly suspected that the truck would be a driver so I elected not to use a two speed power glide and opted instead to fit the truck with a more modern 700R4 overdrive transmission with an aftermarket cross member and braided stainless coolant lines (and TV cable assembly) all from Bowtie Overdrives. When confronted with the prospect of having the original power steering unit rebuilt or installing an aftermarket kit I elected for the latter…I know the purists are booing but it is a MUCH simpler affair to install a modern power steering unit than to deal with the original, over complicated unit, so it has power steering from a 1972 Chevy half-ton. While I was getting the running gear in order in one bay I had finally gotten the cab in paint and ready to remount to the frame in the other bay. Late one evening in the fall of 2011, with the help of the “Warden” (my better half) I re-united the cab with the frame and running gear, taking pictures along the way to share with Dad. Rather than hand stripping the paint from the box sides I had taken them to a local Mennonite for sand blasting as I was under the gun to get the truck done so Dad could have it in June/July. I told the Mennonite to go easy on the sheet metal and to stop if he ran into ANY problems. He called me two days later to tell me that the bedsides were ready. I went to retrieve them and upon walking into his barn I discovered that he had blown literally hundreds of holes through them with the sand blaster, and they were warped beyond repair. Running over 200 pounds of pressure in his blaster he might have better been stripping a railroad bridge. I brought the box sides home and threw them in a pile out beside my shop. In despair I began the search for a good set of box sides, hitting the Carlisle and Hershey PA swap meets, checking Craigslist, checking Ebay twice daily, and finding nothing of the quality that I demanded. Finally in late May 2012 I found a set on Ebay with a reasonable “Buy-It-Now” price, thinking that they looked to good to be from Ohio I hit the button and bought them…. Hoping for the best. I spoke with the seller and he told me that he had bought the truck many MANY years before in Western Colorado and they were rust free!!! I printed the pictures and showed them to my Dad that evening. He could not believe how straight they were and I could see that he was as excited as I that we now had the elusive box side panels firmly in our grasp. Now with the truck closing in on completion, the front end back on, a completely new reproduction wiring harness installed, the steering column rebuilt from the mast jacket out, the one-year-only steering wheel restored, the air conditioner vent balls back from chrome plating at “Auto Instruments”, new windshield wiper and washer assembly installed, new heater core and blower motor, new radiator, air conditioner condenser, drier, compressor, discharge muffler, I installed the upgraded retractable seatbelts plus a set for the center for a “third party passenger”, the A/C unit restored and installed, the new gas tank and lines installed, I installed a solid state AM/FM stereo from Autosound (two speakers held in the original underdash location). I had obtained the very hard to find original “Soft-Ray” green tinted glass, a new windshield, had the stainless windshield trim polished, installed all new hardware in the doors. A new reproduction stock exhaust system. THIS was looking like truck again! In early June 2012 I left my house, trailer in tow, at about 4:00AM to go pick up the box in western OHIO. I was somewhere south of Cleveland when my cell phone rang, a quick glance showed that it was the “Warden” calling. Probably checking my progress I thought, “Hello” I said, “Steve?” she asked….hmmm, this could be serious I thought, as the Warden never calls me by my given name……..”yea?” I responded…..” I am at your Dads” she said….”I’m sorry Steve but he is gone”. “Gone where”, I thought, hell, he doesn’t go anywhere, what does she mean gone? “What do you mean he’s gone, gone where?” I asked…..for a moment there was only silence on the line then she said, “Your Dad passed away, it looks like he died in his sleep, I’m so sorry………”. For those of you who have never been subjected to the loss of someone close, a Mom or Dad, brother or sister, it is hard to explain the tidal wave of emotions that hit you like a shotgun blast. The Warden continued on but I did not hear her, did not want to hear her, I have no idea what she said, even today my recollection is only that she told me that my Dad was dead. I drove the rest of the way home in silence, no radio, just silent reflection of the many days hunting and fishing, and the sharing of so many good times. I recalled one early fall day in 1965 or 1966 while living in Dundee. There was a small Chevrolet dealer on Seneca Street, “Ed Palmer’s Chevrolet”. On occasion Dad would walk over and look at the new cars, he couldn’t afford one, no one that we knew could afford one, no one that we knew owned one…times were tight and money scarce in those days. If I could I would tag along. This day Mr. Palmer had a white over red 65 or 66 Chevy C-10 in the showroom, a room normally reserved for the highest quality family sedan, a vehicle to be lusted after by the more affluent members of the community, but this time he had a truck. What a truck it was, sparkling red paint with white trim framed in beautiful polished aluminum trim. I recall walking around it and around it thinking to myself, “That is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, a man would have to be a millionaire to own such a truck”. I never forgot that truck and I think that is the other reason I was inspired to pursue this build, maybe trying to hang onto something that had eroded away with the passage of time, trying steal back that which was taken from me without my knowledge, the innocence of youth when everyone I loved was still alive, I am not sure but I do know that it was a simpler time, families ate dinner together, kids were in their yards by 7PM and in bed by 9 (10 on Fridays and Saturdays if homework was done), three channels on TV all of which were black and white, a President who seemed to actually care about the condition of the country and it’s citizens, anyone over 21 years of age was referred to as “Mr. or Mrs.” , the war in Vietnam was winding down, I know this because Walter Cronkite told us so each evening on the news, and there was always something fun to do….it was a good time to be a kid…..it was a good time to be alive. After arriving home from Ohio I stored the box in my shop and never laid a hand on the truck or the box again until February 2013. The box sides were the only panels that I retained, the tailgate, bed front panel, cross braces, side braces, wheel houses are all new…the bolts are all stainless steel, the yellow pine box boards were sanded, lightly radiused and treated to two coats of Minwax Ebony stain, followed by six coats of exterior grade urethane, sanded between each coat, the bottoms received the same treatment. The tail lights and back up lights (along with every other light on the truck) are new (not just the lens but the entire units), the back bumper (and front) are new, and all the hardware is new. In Early September I dug out the set of new old stock (NOS) NY commercial license plates and never issued October 1966 registration stickers that I had purchased years before and mounted them on the truck, wiped the ol’ girl down, sat back with a cold beverage and gazed my eyes on what is now, a completed restoration. I reflected on the many turns in the road that had occurred since I began this project, Ed Palmer of Palmer Chevrolet passed away, I lost my Dad, my kids have graduated from High School and gone on to college and are now getting set to apply to medical school, It has been a long ride. This truck is not perfect, but then again I am not Chip Foose. The front end still needs to be aligned, and the A/C will need to be charged, I cannot do this in my shop. The truck has never been driven, it has never been waxed, hell it has never even been washed….it is, a brand new 1966 Chevrolet C-10. It would look good in any collection, or would make a wonderful driver. It has never been shown and in fact, aside from being shuffled around on castors it has never been outside my little shop until I took it into the driveway to get the pictures that you see before you. You would look a long time to find a better example with this many options in this condition for this price. I will also include a high quality cover for the truck. I have elected to sell the truck to the highest bidder…….I will put the proceeds toward my children’s tuition. Rules of the auction- This is a no reserve auction, the truck will sell to the highest bidder at the end of the auction. I offer no Buy-it-Now, I will not end the auction early……it will sell to the highest bidder only. The truck will sell without a warrantee of any kind, I can attest to the fact that I have checked and rechecked everything and to the best of my knowledge and ability this is 100% in everyway ….it was a slow methodical build. I have done…and continue to do motorcycle restorations, several antiques including Moto Guzzi’s or Indians that are on permanent display or ripping up the back roads in Denmark, Austria, and Australia….My objective was to bring the same attention to detail to the restoration of this truck that I would use in the restoration of a motorcycle….literally no detail was overlooked. I will work with your shipper (domestic or international) to make this a smooth transaction. The truck will be paid for in full before it leaves my possession. This may be accomplished in one of several ways, a money wire transfer (I will provide bank routing information), a personal check or bank check (either will clear my bank BEFORE the truck is released, or United States cash at the time of pickup. I can keep the truck stored in a heated environment while you make arrangements with your shipper, but please 45 days maximum.