What's the coolest/most interesting thing you've found in your truck

[special-K]

I could be wrong but I think Mr. Albers, the previous owner of the '72, liked to smoke his Tiparilo cigars and light them with the little wooden matches. I was left with cigar tips in the stake pockets, match sticks anywhere you could imagine, and blue carpet with black polka dots from all the burns.

When I bought the '71 Custom Camper/20 back in '88 I was left with some 12v accessories like lights and a fan. And the original owner had spare lenses, bulbs, and complete lights packed carefully in tin boxes. He had fuses and other odd spare parts for the camper. It even had a "Keep On Campin'" door mat

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Gotta say my C20 has only let me down once when my project truck was in need, that being an inner fender. So everything else very cool, hardware included. A personal favorite was A/C retainers I didn't know I was missing. Most recently I prepped my ash tray housing only to find one of the plastic tracks was chipped. Still works, which is more than I can say for many components in that C20. Love driving it, sometimes the wipers even work

OT, I think the ashtray housing tracks are installed like the dust covers on front of steering wheels, 71ish steering wheel anyway. I forget the process, but they're a melted plastic rivet of sorts.

[notsolo]

I found 5lbs of mulch.

[desert-rat]

My truck use to belong to Lockheed and i found this realy cool thing on the floor underneath the rubber mat. Also found a .03 stamp.

[tim71]

I found (under seat) 3 credit cards dating back to mid 70's, a California boat registration sticker, some Columbian currency, and a couple charge receipts for gasoline. These items helped me research and learn that I am only owner number 3 of my truck.
I can not figure out why my photos are loading upside down or why I can't flip them.

[Boog]

Originally Posted by special-K

Yeah, sorry that wasn't true. It was his brother

So some one took a nasty pic of the previous owner and his brother?

[HO455]

Originally Posted by tim71

I found (under seat) 3 credit cards dating back to mid 70's, a California boat registration sticker, some Columbian currency, and a couple charge receipts for gasoline. These items helped me research and learn that I am only owner number 3 of my truck.
I can not figure out why my photos are loading upside down or why I can't flip them.

All that looks pretty shady. Colombian cash, boats, credit cards, sounds like an episode of Miami Vice.

[67C10Step]

Originally Posted by 68bowtie

Without question the most “common” thing I’ve found in these old trucks is boxes of bullets. At least half the trucks have had some caliber. From .22’s to .357’s.

Most of these trucks probably had some caliber of firearm on display in the back glass or possibly in or under the seat for much of their lives.

I posted this photo a week or so ago about the nice discovery in my glove box. It's also nice to see my truck is actually a local. Bought right here in town on 9/28/1967 at the then local Chevy dealer.

One of the first not so nice finds was one of the biggest brown recluse spiders I had ever seen in the first 2-3 days I owned the truck. It got a bug bomb rolled into the floor board after that discovery.

[j_cst_10]

Pull tabs and bullets haha. Every truck I've owned

[toolboxchev]

Lots of work, endless fixing and repairing stuff that lasted for 50 years. And endless journey of learning!

[clay68c10]

I found the movie ticket stub from my wife and I's first date back in 1997.

[CryingJoker]

I found the original owners manual in the glovebox and thought that was interesting enough. Then we went to bring it home today and when strapping down the rear end I happened to look up and see this
[IMG][/IMG]
My great grandfather who was the original owner had a piece of diamond plate welded in over the wood floor as he would use the truck to haul everything including yearlings in the bed. I recently discovered he even left the wood floor in and had the steel on top of it. The wood apparently got a hole before then and he used what he had to patch the hole. Will definitely be setting them aside when I take apart the bed.

[lugnut]

Owners manual, protect o plate and the dealer emblem. Turns out the dealer has passed on but his son has a new Chevy dealership now. I'm going to contact him sometime and tell him I have a truck his father sold in 1967.

[CryingJoker]

Ok I take back my previous post as I cleaned out the cab of the truck today. After blowing out 10 lbs of pecans a few rats decided to store there. Also finding two rat skeletons and one big live one decided it was time to move. But also amongst the glove box and cab I found a sealed deck of cards with the hole drilled in them after play in lake Tahoe Caesars palace, 2 sets of sealed ac spark plugs for the truck, the radio delete plate that was removed in the 70s, and weirdest of all 2 railroad spikes. I asked my dad who was the last owner and he says "with your great grandfather theres no telling where or why".
[IMG][/IMG]

[toolboxchev]

Originally Posted by CryingJoker

Ok I take back my previous post as I cleaned out the cab of the truck today. After blowing out 10 lbs of pecans a few rats decided to store there. Also finding two rat skeletons and one big live one decided it was time to move. But also amongst the glove box and cab I found a sealed deck of cards with the hole drilled in them after play in lake Tahoe Caesars palace, 2 sets of sealed ac spark plugs for the truck, the radio delete plate that was removed in the 70s, and weirdest of all 2 railroad spikes. I asked my dad who was the last owner and he says "with your great grandfather theres no telling where or why".
[IMG][/IMG]

We use them up in the Pacific NW as weights fishing for Salmon. The river is extremely rocky and you lose one almost every cast.

May find a whole pile of them in my rig.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Not that cool but a little funny, I pulled my busted S duct to see how stuffs routed in my rough truck, and noticed it was a little crowded in the dash above the floor duct, beginning with the clamp. After a minute or so of pulling things out I found some disappointment that was it; was kind of like Christmas. Somehow the original glove box liner is still installed and intact.

[72afr]

I posted it in my build thread, but I found some original ARMY documents from its service time as well as an inspection sheet from its Fire Department days.

[68Gold/white]

In 1980 I was looking for a pickup, had to be a Chevrolet (captain Obvious!!!!). Just wanted a pickup. It's so convenient to own one!!!

I worked for a company that manufactured oil site tanks. My job every day was to go to the DOT office and get overload/size permits. I was talking to the gut in charge, there, about looking for a Chevy pickup. He said, Hey, my buddy has one. He told where it was. I knocked on the door to make sure everything was good, the folks at the home did not own the pickup, but knew I was coming.

It was full of construction scraps. I found out I had to take them, as part of the deal....no problem.

It was /is a dull Gold color, white trim. Man, I'm think'n is this ugly!!!

I knew exactly how to open the hood. I pried it open, first thing I noticed was the rusty chrome big block valve covers with the remnants of the Tonawanda decal on the pass side. It had AC, P/S, P/B, and a TH400, all original!!! I thought I had won the lottery!!!
Got in touch with the owner to make sure it ran and drove, he said he' guarantee THAT!!!!

Even being in my early 20's at that time, I wanted to make sure NO ONE else knew about this pickup, that could come buy it out from under me, in the one days time until I paid for it. Got the deal done!!!

It's NOT in much better shape, now, BUT I have ALL the pieces, and am gaining momentum towards its build!!!

[BRL]

Found this little Craftsman 3/8" ratchet in the passenger front fender pocket of a used car lot '73 truck when I was searching for any trash that might cause rust.

Guessing maybe somebody set it on the battery, closed the hood, and made a sharp left turn.

It even says USA made.

How neat!

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

In 1980 I was looking for a pickup, had to be a Chevrolet (captain Obvious!!!!). Just wanted a pickup. It's so convenient to own one!!!

I worked for a company that manufactured oil site tanks. My job every day was to go to the DOT office and get overload/size permits. I was talking to the gut in charge, there, about looking for a Chevy pickup. He said, Hey, my buddy has one. He told where it was. I knocked on the door to make sure everything was good, the folks at the home did not own the pickup, but knew I was coming.

It was full of construction scraps. I found out I had to take them, as part of the deal....no problem.

It was /is a dull Gold color, white trim. Man, I'm think'n is this ugly!!!

I knew exactly how to open the hood. I pried it open, first thing I noticed was the rusty chrome big block valve covers with the remnants of the Tonawanda decal on the pass side. It had AC, P/S, P/B, and a TH400, all original!!! I thought I had won the lottery!!!
Got in touch with the owner to make sure it ran and drove, he said he' guarantee THAT!!!!

Even being in my early 20's at that time, I wanted to make sure NO ONE else knew about this pickup, that could come buy it out from under me, in the one days time until I paid for it. Got the deal done!!!

It's NOT in much better shape, now, BUT I have ALL the pieces, and am gaining momentum towards its build!!!

Nice score. My C10 came as a surprise because I didn't know what I was looking at. All I saw was a great looking Maaco all white nothing sacred paint job, and I was prepared to buy it without even knowing anything about a BBC.

Many years passed having others do other than maintenance & simple. I realized when I tore it down it was mostly intact before my purchase, though the former owner was all things RV, front to back. Doesn't bode well for "sport truck". Bed was mostly ruined & saddle tanks. 28 years later I discovered it was t-boned Made for a long day. I likely ended up with it because it was wrecked & painted, it was one owner less the dealer between us.

The car lot is still there, only it fell under many names over the last 32 years. It's in the center of main street, the truck was parked on the corner, my old paper route boundary. It's still a car lot because the lot is too small for anything else. When I was a kid I ran a car wash/gas on the next smallest lot on main, just up the street. My favorite job All that's left of it are two self-serve gas pumps & a trash can.

[jocko]

Not necessarily found "in" the truck - more like "on" the truck. But my 72 had this cool old (not "that" old) Colorado start parks pass that I liked for some reason!

[mkmc69]

Found what appears to be a bullet hole in the floor under the passengers side of the seat. Probably part of the reason the seat had been recovered when I bought it.

[LEEVON]

I've had my truck 26 years, maybe it's time to take it apart and see what I left in there a couple decades ago haha! I did find a wrench in the front fender once, that was mine and long lost.

[Killer Bee]

last year my son and I were driving to the agco dealer in higginsville for harvester parts..

just shy of the exit, the longhorn started overheating but I made it to the exit, barely but boy was it hot..

popped the hood and found the fan belt shredded..

within 2 minutes, 3 people stopped to help, not kidding, but the last man insisted so we took him up on his assistance..

he drove us into town and not only to get a belt, but made sure we stopped at the tractor dealer before they closed

turns out he was the manager of the casey's at that exit and insisted I take his number in case I had any further trouble, super nice and generous man..

so after getting home I decided I needed to throw a couple of things under the seat for such emergencies..

wait for it.....





first thing I found under the seat was an alternator belt - thanks Russ

[Davidf]

"What's the coolest/most interesting thing you've found in your truck"

I am having a hard time answering this question...keep flip flopping between me or my wife. Better go with my wife, she is the coolest thing I have ever found in my truck

Edit: Bah, just realized my response is not original...oh well, still true.