The project begins... Finally.

[Blue Ox]

Well, about a year ago I was out in MT visiting my great uncle. When I was there I spotted this old 1960 GMC (with a hood from a '65) that we used to take up into the mountains camping when I was a kid. It was just sittin' there out behind the barn... So I asked Uncle Ray if he'd be willing to sell it. Gladly, as it turned out... he darn near just gave it to me. That was oddest negotiation I've ever participated in "...Ray, I'm giving you money for the truck and that's the end of it!"

So the plan was I'd return in a year to get it patched up well enough to drive home to MI.

Fast forward to early July this year. We got it running, but not anywhere near well enough to drive any kind of distance... No big surprise there. But we did get it running well enough to load onto a trailer and haul across the country. Five somewhat grueling days later, it was parked in my driveway

Now the real fun begins... I discovered that the reason the thing was running so rough (and why messing with the ignition and timing did nothing to improve things) was that the intake pushrods for #1 and #5 cylinders (it has the 305 V-6) had popped out from under the rocker arms. #5 is bent (must have stuck a valve), but #1 is straight as an arrow... Weird.

Anyway... The more I dig into it the more I'm thinking the right thing to do is going to be to completely tear the whole truck down and rebuild it.

Let the fun begin (and expect a lot of questions)...

[jtrichard]

Not bad looking for where it came from...... 4x4 3/4 nice.... But you left half of the camper there LOL..........#1 was probably stuck open or just sticky and did not close fast enough to keep the push rod tight ....... you keeping it flat or finding a bed?

[Mathew21]

Nice looking truck!

[TJ's Chevy]

Nice! Hey...I have a 292 I6 and it had 3 bent rods...one slightly and the other two C shaped! LOL! And it ran smooth as a swiss watch! Anyhow...looks forward to watching the build!

[Captainfab]

Congrats on the new truck. Looks like it is in decent shape aside from the drivers door.

[Blue Ox]

Thanks... It's in pretty good shape. But it does need some work. It's been sitting behind a barn in Livingston for almost 20 years. The driver's door is messed up... probably going to require more work than just re-skinning. Also, the front passenger corner of the hood is mostly bondo.

Other than that... MT is surprisingly dry, and they don't salt their roads. So the only real rust is a hole in both footwells. The door seals shrunk over the years. So every winter this thing would get covered in snow. In the spring it would all melt and trickle down into the cab footwells where it eventually rusted through.

Oh well. I guess I'll be looking for a driver's door, some floor panels, and possibly a hood.

I'm struggling with what to do about the bed. The old flatbed and stock rack are shot... rotted beyond saving. So all that has to come off. (By the way, believe it or not, I actually hauled most of that 'camper' home... everything but the tin roof). It was a fairly ingenious design, and my Uncle put a lot of work into building it. I didn't have the heart to cut it all to pieces right in front of him.

Anyway... Part of me wants to put a real bed on it (the truck was originally a fleetside ,but lost it and gained its stock rack in about 1969). I've always known it as a stock truck that could convert into a camper. So the other part of me doesn't want to change the truck's character more than necessary.

What do you guys think... Put a real bed on it and get a slide-in camper, or rebuild the flatbed and build a modular camper that could pin into some panel sides with a removable roof?

[Monte's62]

My opinion is flatbed/ camper. You just don't see flatbeds often and this would make a good one. Good luck and I look forward to seeing whatever you do!!