1960 Chevy Apache

[Straw Rube]

More pics

[Straw Rube]

Pics 3

[70cst]

Hey Straw Rube ...

to the forum and from Ohio. on keeping the truck in your family as it is a looking truck. Keep the pics a coming

[jchav62]

Very cool '60. I would bring it back to it's glory days... as original as possible and re-live some of those old memories.

Good luck with the project... JC62

[hotrod66]

man thats cool! wish i had my grand dads truck his was a 63 lwb. hope you can find all the parts you need. the cab floor looks good hows the roof? i have seen a few with real solid floors and a rusty roof.

[Ta2Don]

Awesome truck, especially the family history side, Congrats and Welcome aboard!

[dtkarst]

I like the truck, awesome story behind it too. Im jealous of your cab though.. the cab on my 61 K10 has seen many rats and rust. But nice truck hope everything goes as smooth as it can for ya.

[y5mgisi]

Like it!

[plainred65]

Great story, great truck! I agree with all the others, keep it as original as you can.

[jjzepplin]

Love the patina! Whats that on the steering column?

[sodly]

One more vote for leaving it as stock as possible. It's so rare to see a 60-61 (esp. with the more attractive long bed) in stock configuration that it would be a shame to let another one slip away! Keep us posted.

[Corts60]

Hey glad to see you got it home!

[62 Barnfind]

Looks like you have a good start. Is it running? When I received mine all I had to do was clean up the plugs and points and change the coil, battery and wires and it started right up. I hope you have the same luck I had. Good luck!

[oem4me]

Pickups are about the only vehicle that can look good all beat up, and yours does. It's been ridden hard and put away wet, and it shows... beautifully.
In it's present state, it's kinda like having a pair of Gramps' old levi's around, complete with blown out knees, frayed seams, and a chew can scar on the back pocket. I say just get it running, make it safe, and enjoy it for what it is.

[justcuz]

I had a 61 short bed stepside. I liked the torsion bar suspension and as I recall the ball joints in that front end were bigger than the coil sprung ones.
I like the picture of it with the wheels black, hubcaps white and pretty clean.

If it was me I would restore the bed (I am actually thinking of using the plasticized deck wood) paint the wheels and hub caps and either try to fix the column shifter or find an old SM 420 4 speed truck trans for it. Those transmissions hang off the cast iron bell housing, so a 4 spd is an easy installation and you should be able to find one for cheap. They are impossible to damage with a six. Thats got the old drop out center section HO33 rear axle in it, probably 3.90 gears. I forgot how big the front brakes are, but I remember the drums were riveted to the hubs on mine. I had to drill out the rivets to replace the drums. They also had ball bearing wheel bearings up front, I am pretty sure Timken makes tapered replacements for the front axle still, thats what I put in mine.

[FreakyMalo]

Originally Posted by jjzepplin

Love the patina! Whats that on the steering column?

The super-rare toaster option!

Cool truck!

[Straw Rube]

Thanks for all the comments, guys. I'll try to answers some of the questions.

That’s a tachometer on the column. Years ago the speedometer broke and instead of fixing it, my Dad installed that tach. It was like that for years, we just ran at particular RPM for whatever speed we wanted. The speedometer's been fixed now. So I really don't know how many miles are on the truck. It can't be much though.

I don't know what my Dad did putting the floor shifter in. I guess he got tired of the linkage getting stuck and having to get out and pull up on them to get them unjammed. I don't like how he did the floor shifter, the hole wasn’t cut right and the shifter rides up against the floor instead of being able to move around freely. I know that’s not good for the tranny. I think I'm going to reinstall the column shifter.

I haven't tried to start the truck, my plan is to start on the brakes this fall. I've decided to leave it pretty much stock, but I want to replace all the rubber and such. I will probably rewire the whole truck too.

The floor looks pretty good as far as I can tell, I really haven't looked at the roof yet, but I don't think there's much of a problem there. I'd like to get the door and window mechanisms fixed right. I’m a little worried about that.

I’ll keep you posted!

[mckeagplm]

nice truck , i wish mine was that complete.

[Dino Driver]

Your truck reminds me of when I brought mine home. They could be brothers!

[MikeS.]

Great truck, enjoy it.

[Straw Rube]

Got out this weekend and started working on the truck. Summer had the garage stuffed full and several hours getting it cleaned up to even get to the truck.

Starting with the wheels and brakes, want to make sure I can stop the thing before I get it running. I was surprised by how (relatively) easy it was to get the drums off. After looking at the insides of the drums and the condition of the pads, it was easy to see that Dad kept up on this old truck, they were (are) in pretty good condition.

I got to the front drums, the left drum had bolts securing it while the right drum had rivets (Rivets?) Another thanks to you all in the forum, it didn’t take me long to find out searching the site that, yes, I was looking at rivets.

Anyway, a couple of pictures of the right front drum, I didn’t do a very pretty job and I guess I’ll have to replace the drum (I’m not sure about the other three, I’ll know once I get them turned.)

The truck will have to sit some more as funds are limited. Front wheel bearings, calipers all round, a new master cylinder, rubber brake lines are on the needed parts list.

Any ideas on the parts of the rivets left in the wheel. Will they easyout?

[y5mgisi]

I dont know if you just didnt want to, but you could have just removed the whole drum/ hub assembly without having to drill out rivets. Either way, that has to be the most bad ass patina i have ever seen.

[Straw Rube]

(:^\

[Straw Rube]

Well, I guess the other thing I should say is that I also ordered the 1960 Chevy Truck Shop Manual this weekend. Should be here in a week or so.

[mechanic58]

I never replace the rivits - I just cut them off with a grinder to remove the drum, then I just grind flush what is left sticking up after the drum is removed. I prefer the drums to be floating anyway, sure makes access a lot easier.

This is a neat thread - its not often you get to take possession of a vehicle like this and have pictures of it when it was still new - really neat. Sure looks like your old grand dad got his money's worth out of it.