Meet Old Blue

[mvfd70]

Old Blue as she is affectionately known around our house is a 1978 K20. My father in law purchased Blue brand new in '78 and passed her on to us when we got married. That was 10 years ago. She ran for a while, although not well, then got parked about 7 years ago because she quit all together. After a lot of snow last winter I decided I wanted a four wheel drive for this year and set about to tackle the challenge of getting Blue back on the road. A little oil in the cylinders, a new ignition system (including distributor), all fluids changed and a new battery and she fired right up and has been running great. I replaced the heater core last week and I'm toasty warm inside now. (Although it was 60 degrees here today) She ain't real pretty to look at but I call her my "beater with a heater."

['68 Newtricks]

What's the plan?

[mvfd70]

Winter time truck/spare vehicle for the time. Since my wife's dad gave it to us, she wants me to fix it up. Although her idea of fix up is to return it to all stock. We're hashing out those details. Eventually it'll get body and paint work, and if I have my way a mild lift, wheels, tires, and a few other goodies. Also the interior needs some work. All in all its not in too terrible of shape. Just shy of 91,000 miles on it right now

[whitels1]

Truck is bad ass, I dig the hub caps! Good luck with your project.

[kody]

nice truck.

[old Rusty C10]

Sounds like a great plan... a mild lift isn't bad either....these old squares are great that's why I use one for a plow truck

[77K10Silverado]

Sweet truck! Can we see the build sheet in the glove box? Love the blue on blue, it's like mine!

[LilD]

That's in exceptional shape for an Illinois truck. I live there for 43 years so I know how those old trucks rust away up there

[Kinze]

Would be a great truck to restore back to original!

Love the color combo!

[mvfd70]

I have to find the old glove box and I'll get a photo of the build sheet. I had a mouse nest in it and instead of trying to clean the mess I just replaced it.

The truck is a Silverado package. I'm not sure what all that entails besides trim. It has an AM/FM radio, air conditioning, and a cargo light. My father in law had originally put a part time kit in the transfer case but he said the first case burnt up. He had a new case put in and kept it full time 4x4. The Warn lock outs are still on the front but they stay locked in.

Here are a few more photos of it. I'm pretty proud that I got it running again and I've been driving it daily for a couple weeks now. It's rusty in the rockers, and fenders but not really too bad considering it spent it's first 30 years on a farm

[324matt]

Beautiful truck. Very NICE! There's lots of parts for around here at the pick and pulls!

[SilverMiner]

Great looking survivor - well worth any effort or money you plan to put into it. Just one question about the rims - are those the optional wider 16.5" rims, or are they the standard 16"? They look like the wide 9.75" rims, but I've been fooled before. What size are the tires? Either way, it's a great look.

[78K20]

Good looking rig !

[Your41Plague12]

That's beautiful. If it were mine I'd restore it to stock and drive the wheels off of it.

[Corts60]

Sweet truck.

[ol'blazer]

looks like a solid start!!

[nekkidhillbilly]

wish i owned that

[mvfd70]

Those are the 16.5 rims. The tires on it now are a little too skinny for me but they were put on by my father in law. The size is 9.5R16.5LT. I've thought about getting a set of the surplus HMMWV tires for it and lifting it some day.