Adopting a Suburban Carryall, The Seahorse

[argonaut]

Well I couldn't resist. I had my eye out for a 64-66 Carryall for several months. I love my K10 pickup and it gets good use as a pickup, but it isn't very practical for hauling around my dog and multiple friends and gear on camping trips or in inclement weather. Anyway, I saw this at the Pomona swap meet, passed on it, but then just couldn't stop thinking about it. So after some figuring and negotiating a deal was struck with the current owner and I'll be hauling it home in a week or so!

Aside from some usual rust and dents it is a very complete 1964 Chevy Carryall with three seat and custom comfort options (it think?). It has a monster aftermarket AC unit in the cab run by a big old York compressor (cool), has power brakes using a remote mounted vacuum brake booster mounted to the outside of the frame right below the driver's seat, and power steering.

Its a little bit of an odd bird because it was originally a 2wd 1/2 ton, but was converted to a 4wd using all 69-70 3/4 ton drivetrain and suspension components. The conversion was done back around 1970 and was done pretty cleanly. It also has a 327 from a mid 60s car, backed with a sm465 and np205.

Future plans include a 5.3l, nv4500 and np205. I'll probably just convert the external hub Dana44 from drums to disks, keep the eaton in the rear, and keep it close to stock 4x4 height. I'm going to pull the massive winch bumper and go back to a stock chrome bumper and trim this one out with the stainless windshield moldings, chrome bead in the rear window, stainless mirrors, etc. Hoping to turn this into my daily driver eventually.

I call it, The Seahorse!