Vintage Trucks

[tom2p 2,394]

33 minutes ago, JCM said:

I bought a 1978 F-150 4x4 shortbed 4 speed manual 300 straight six and only kept it for 3 or 4 years because the drivers side floor pan around the body mount was starting to rot bad so in 86 I ordered the 86  K-20. But I did like that shortbed Ford  a lot. Was not a fan of the white spoke rims but were on it when I bought it. No cap or plow  $4500.00 with around 40000 miles on it.

Fisher plow on the F150 !

 

my 68 Chevy short bed had a Fisher plow set up on it when I first got it 

 

wish I could locate some pics of it - replaced fenders, doors, cab corners, and the bed ... could not find another fleet side bed - so I went with a step side 

 

put larger set of wheels / tires - deep dish white wheels with the small Chevy truck hub caps 

 

gave it an acrylic enamel paint job 

 

had the big six (292 ?)  with super low gearing (too low actually)

 

looked and ran great 

 

[JCM 9,130]

292  Nice ,  Probably 4,10 rear, that's what the F150 had I believe. Fisher 7' power angle just did my own driveway, picked it up for  $ 750.00 and repainted it then sold it to a friend when the K-20 came in to the dealer, built at the Janesville Wisconsin GM plant, been a real nice truck with a lot of very good memories to go with it.

[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,330]

Christmas yard art...

 

 

 

[Pullstart 62,837]

On 12/7/2020 at 8:33 PM, ebinmaine said:

 

 

Trucks would have had a 6.2L diesel starting in 1982. 

 

That was the Detroit. 

 

Before that was the infamous Oldsmobile 5.7 diesel. Car ONLY (AFAIK). 

 

Olds diesel looked great on paper but didn't do well in real world usage. 

 

 

 

On 12/7/2020 at 8:41 PM, tom2p said:

know someone that had an Olds diesel - that one was a dud 

 

he was an old school excavator - so diesel was in his blood ... lol ...

 

he was also into international harvester cubs - and had an Onan powered Case garden tractor he spoke highly of 

 

I had an ‘81 Delta 88 Diesel in high school and loved that thing!  I wish I hadn’t sold it... though even with Blizzak tires it wouldn’t bust much of a drift!

 

45 miles per hour in the 1/4 mile, plenty of room for the buddies... what’s not to love for a high school kid?

[Pullstart 62,837]

Saw this today, heading up 65 towards Louisville... or up 69 out of Louisville.  Can’t remember.
 

 

[Pullstart 62,837]

On 12/7/2020 at 9:45 PM, stevebo said:

Christmas yard art...

 

 

 

Amazing Stevebo!

[tom2p 2,394]

23 hours ago, pullstart said:

 

I had an ‘81 Delta 88 Diesel in high school and loved that thing!  I wish I hadn’t sold it... though even with Blizzak tires it wouldn’t bust much of a drift!

 

45 miles per hour in the 1/4 mile, plenty of room for the buddies... what’s not to love for a high school kid?

lol 

 

where (in-the-heck) did you find that car ?  - not too many around in my area at the time 

 

[tom2p 2,394]

On 12/7/2020 at 9:40 PM, JCM said:

292  Nice ,  Probably 4,10 rear, that's what the F150 had I believe. Fisher 7' power angle just did my own driveway, picked it up for  $ 750.00 and repainted it then sold it to a friend when the K-20 came in to the dealer, built at the Janesville Wisconsin GM plant, been a real nice truck with a lot of very good memories to go with it.

could have been and probably was lower ... 4:33 ... 4:56 ... whatever 

 

it was a struggle to cruise at 55 - revving too high at that speed 

 

possible I was the only person at the time that was not annoyed with the 55 mph speed limit 

 

[JCM 9,130]

Thinking the K-20 would look good with a little snow on the tires. Actually needed a little room in the garage this morning and wanted to fire it up, turn the heater on and let it run for a while. This truck hasn't seen snow in a long time. Good ole 4 barrel carb, 4 or 5 pumps and she fires right up, new AC Delco battery helps too. Can't wait for spring.

[tom2p 2,394]

On 12/7/2020 at 9:26 PM, tom2p said:

Fisher plow on the F150 !

 

my 68 Chevy short bed had a Fisher plow set up on it when I first got it 

 

wish I could locate some pics of it - replaced fenders, doors, cab corners, and the bed ... could not find another fleet side bed - so I went with a step side 

 

put larger set of wheels / tires - deep dish white wheels with the small Chevy truck hub caps 

 

gave it an acrylic enamel paint job 

 

had the big six (292 ?)  with super low gearing (too low actually)

 

looked and ran great 

 

found a pic today !

 

this pic taken before I installed the wider wheels / tires 

 

 

[ebinmaine 67,435]

7 hours ago, tom2p said:

found a pic today !

 

this pic taken before I installed the wider wheels / tires 

 

 

Beautiful

[JCM 9,130]

Super nice Chevy @tom2p have not seen anything like that around for many years.   

[slim67 2,735]

On 12/15/2020 at 1:28 PM, JCM said:

Thinking the K-20 would look good with a little snow on the tires. Actually needed a little room in the garage this morning and wanted to fire it up, turn the heater on and let it run for a while. This truck hasn't seen snow in a long time. Good ole 4 barrel carb, 4 or 5 pumps and she fires right up, new AC Delco battery helps too. Can't wait for spring.

IMO the best style of chevy ever

[cschannuth 3,816]

7 hours ago, slim67 said:

IMO the best style of chevy ever

I think GM agreed. I’m not sure there’s ever been a body style that’s lasted from the early 70s to the late 80s like the General Motors square body did.

Edited January 2, 2021 by cschannuth

[ebinmaine 67,435]

20 minutes ago, cschannuth said:

I think GM agreed. I’m not sure there’s ever been a body style that’s lasted from the early 70s to the late 80s like the General Motors square body did.

Gm was 73 to 87 light duty ... 91 heavy duty and Suburban. 

 

I'm no Dodge expert. I know they had quite a run of continuity as well. 

 

 

[JCM 9,130]

1987 back when life was a bit simpler. Chevy was one year old enjoying the Truck camper for a weekend at Katahdin area camping in Maine.

[ebinmaine 67,435]

10 hours ago, JCM said:

 enjoying the Truck camper.

I had a slide-in camper back about 16 or 18 years ago. At the time I had the '81 Chevy 3/4 ton HD. Camper was a '77 I think and Dry weight listed at 2000 lbs. Add luggage, supplies and humans. 

That truck had a set of rear springs. (9 leaves??). 

It squatted down about 4 inches and never complained. 

With the changes I made to the 292 it had plenty of power/torque. 

11 or 12 mpg empty and 8 to 9 freighted. 

That was a truck. 

[squonk 41,071]

On 12/7/2020 at 8:33 PM, ebinmaine said:

 

 

Trucks would have had a 6.2L diesel starting in 1982. 

 

That was the Detroit. 

 

Before that was the infamous Oldsmobile 5.7 diesel. Car ONLY (AFAIK). 

 

Olds diesel looked great on paper but didn't do well in real world usage. 

 

 

We used to take bets on what broke when they came in on the hook. The best one was a truck came in and a piston had broken. The rod went thru the block, Hit the cam which hit the manifold which broke the injection pump. The rod continued to the other side and knocked a hole into the opposing cylinder.

[JCM 9,130]

In  1986 when I placed the order for the K-20 there were 2 models available in 3/4 ton 4 wheel drive.  First was the 6600 light duty with standard engine was the LS9 / 350 and the heavy duty with a 292 with optional 350/ LT9. I ordered the LT9 with the C6P chassis 8600 GVW / Heavy Duty emissions and Z81 basic camper special chassis ,cargo weight rating 2842 lbs and have never looked back, wish I could order another one.

[squonk 41,071]

On 9/14/2020 at 2:59 PM, ebinmaine said:

Not at all often you see a Datsun this solid in Northern New England. 

 

 

 

 

Seems I got a funny story about just about everything. Working ay Napa with an OLD fellow who had a red Datsun just like that. He had a camp up in the Adirondacks and was going up there for the weekend. This was winter time so he hauled his old Gravely tractor with the dog eater snowblower on it in the bed. Mind you this tractor was new enough to have electric start. He come back to work and I ask him how his trip was. He has this funny look then starts telling the story.

 

Apparently the spare tire mount broke along the way. The tire fell down and hit the starter button on the Gravely. It started up in gear with the blower engaged.  He stopped at a light and heard all this racket and found that Gravely had already chewed thru the box and was making marks in the back of the cab! Remember he was old! 

 

( I bought a C-145 from a friend. He had trouble getting it running when he bought it. he finally got it running to get it on the trailer. When he got it home he realized he never shut it off) 

[squonk 41,071]

 

Now that picture brings back memories. Memories of having to deal with those air injection setups that used to rot out the check valves and make all sorts of racket. 

Another story:  Had a Jeep Wagoneer about an 86 come in the shop. 360 V-8 that had a skip. I find a couple of plug wires burned up near the distributor.   I replaced the wires and sent it on it's way. Truck comes back in a couple a weeks skipping again and yes the new wires are burn't at the same place. Now I investigate further. I rev the engine and see a blowtorch flame coming out of one of those air injection check valves and getting high enough to hit the wires. 

[ebinmaine 67,435]

5 minutes ago, squonk said:

blowtorch flame

WOW

[Horse Newbie 7,069]

7 hours ago, JCM said:

In  1986 when I placed the order for the K-20 there were 2 models available in 3/4 ton 4 wheel drive.  First was the 6600 light duty with standard engine was the LS9 / 350 and the heavy duty with a 292 with optional 350/ LT9. I ordered the LT9 with the C6P chassis 8600 GVW / Heavy Duty emissions and Z81 basic camper special chassis ,cargo weight rating 2842 lbs and have never looked back, wish I could order another one.

You could probably find a nice used one... probably 2-3 times what you paid for the new one...truck prices are nuts...at least down south...

[ebinmaine 67,435]

5 minutes ago, Horse Newbie said:

You could probably find a nice used one... probably 2-3 times what you paid for the new one...truck prices are nuts...at least down south...

They are up here too. 

It's very likely my next vehicle will be a 92 to 95 F150/250. I occasionally peruse the CL and others. 

Startling to see what they're selling for now. 

 

[tom2p 2,394]

22 hours ago, cschannuth said:

I think GM agreed. I’m not sure there’s ever been a body style that’s lasted from the early 70s to the late 80s like the General Motors square body did.

was a kid at the time - but still recall when the gas station where I worked got a new 73 ... it was one of the first in our area 

 

the custom business / station lettering on the doors was done by hand - an older guy hand painted the the lettering on the doors with a small brush ... amazing