It’s hard to put a price on novelty, but that’s what the seller of a former Coca-Cola owned delivery truck is trying to do with a tired 1970 Chevy C10 short-box pickup. There’s limited information about these Coke-branded vehicles, but enough evidence to suggest they were owned and operated by the factory. The C10 is listed here on eBay after what appears to be a long slumber in the North Carolina woods. The seller has opened bidding at $8K with a a $15,000 Buy-It-Now.
Limited information is provided, other than that the seller intended to restore it but isn’t going to pursue the project any further. He claims it was pulled out of the property of the former plant manager for the Coca-Cola factory that once resided in the town of Lincolnton, North Carolina, who used it to make deliveries when under the company’s employ. The body doesn’t appear rusty, just filthy – and the interior looks surprisingly sound for something that’s been parked outside for many years.
You can just make out the familiar Coke lyrics to the jingle, “It’s the real thing, baby.” Coke hasn’t used that branding in years, just like this truck’s bed hasn’t hauled anything except for what’s fallen off the trees it was parked beneath. The tricky thing here is that the majority of the truck’s value lies in that original paint job that almost certainly needs to be redone; however, if it were ours, we’d simply clearcoat the exterior to preserve what remains of the Coke paint patterns.
Here’s a slightly better example of how these trucks can look. At the end of the day, this is essentially a very ordinary C10 with a 3-speed column shift and basic 350 under the hood. After all, company cars and trucks are rarely anything exotic. Is the exclusivity of owning an original Coke “product” worth the seller’s asking price? Some limited chatter on Chevy truck forums definitely shows an enthusiasm for these rarely seen Coke vehicles, but the high price of admission here could limit bidder excitement.
Umm, let me think about it for a minu….no.
The opening bid borders on the ridiculous. Even if it does have a 1 barrel “Carbonator”. LOL
Well, to be fair – it might actually have a carbonator…
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/3iUAAOSwWdZZZ-va/s-l1600.jpg
well played!
This might be worth half the ask on its own, and I feel that’s generous. Not sure if it’s worth that much more because of the paint; the market will decide that.
“Carbonator”? LOL! Well, maybe it actually carbonates Coca-Cola while you drive it. That would explain the price.
I agree it is a cool novelty, but I think they may have been sampling some “Shine” back there in the Carolina woods when they decided on value.
Nah, they were sampling large amounts of coke.
Another old guy trying to get barret jackson prices for something thats purely a labor of love at this point. I literally scrolled past 3 in better condition for cheaper when i found this link. NEXT
This is a big project. The body is actually pretty rusty. The rockers are gone, the cab corner, bottom of the door and the bottom of the fender are not looking healthy either. No pics are shown of the drip rail around the windshield which is another area prone to rust. What appears to be vegetation growing in the bed indicates the bed floor, whether it be steel or wood, is probably not in too good of shape either. Someone would have to be really into the “Coke” theme to take this on.
“Coca Cola” on the door doesn’t look correct for the period, looks more like 1920’s. But the local sign painter could have gotten it wrong.
Yep…seems it was locally done and not late 60’s, early 70’s era correct.
We all enjoy a good laugh every now and then….lol
I’ve collected, traded, bought and sold Coca-Cola items and memorabilia for years along with many other collectibles over the years and I wouldn’t give up one of my treasured wooden nickels for this Crapa-Cola truck.
$15,000 BIN! For that amount of money, there should be a kilo of the “other” Coke in the bed of truck.
Thankfully it’s not a Lite truck. Owner maybe.
Everything about that paint job looks homemade, from the lettering to the stripe to the yellow paint scratching through on the door. I believe even back in 1970 Coke had professional paint jobs done to brand standards on its official trucks. Not saying this wasn’t used by an actual Coke plant manager, but it looks like he did it himself, grandpa style. Which would negate any value as a Coca Cola “collectible”.
On Ebay it says it is a one owner truck. So does Coke still own it? I think everyone who said it was a back woods paint job is probably correct. If it was really a truck that Coke owned then it would be a 2 owner truck!
Hmmm…………looks like Jethro thought it would be worth more looking like crap. He’s going to be standing there a while I reckon
I see a typo. “1970 Chevy C10 short-box pickup” should read sh*t-box.
I’ll up my offer to 2 dollars if he puts air in the tires.
Ok, 1st, I’d like to apologize to Jesse and Josh.( and the seller of the ’66 Nova) I got carried away with that post on what these people are asking for this stuff.( and had my comment removed, I don’t like that, but I understand) Clearly it upsets me, and obviously others, what people are asking for this stuff. 98% of the commenters here,( 2% margin of error) are tire kickers, and have no intention of actually buying these things. Posting the price only seems to angry up the blood, and I feel shouldn’t even be posted. If, by some chance, someone is actually interested, they can look it up themselves. BF’s for me, and many others, is a virtual car show of vehicles,( and oddballs) we may or might have liked, to have had at one time. It’s hard to say what we would do, if a renowned valuable classic was gotten for nothing, and we knew it was worth thousands, the lure would be too great. The money is there from someone. And I HATE this saying, “with that said”, but this posting, to me, seems just as desperate. Thanks for listening.
Who ever buys this for anything near the starting bid will have to be on “coke” or just plain NUTS!!!!!
Back in the day many of the small bottling companies were locally owned. This looks like something that was hand lettered locally and certainly not a vehicle that was provided by Coca-Cola Company for their use. I can’t see it being worth anywhere near what they are asking BUT (as with any vehicle) it’s worth what someone will pay for it. You can’t fault someone for asking a premium price although you’d expect a somewhat better ad for a BIN $15k price.
Hi whmracer, I don’t think this was ever a delivery truck. Coca-Cola gets delivered on pallets on straight trucks or semi’s. I believe this was probably a maintenance truck for repairing soda machines.
This was probably not a route truck although Lincolnton only had about 5K population in the 60’s so the route trucks didn’t have to be very large. It was probably a special events delivery and/or maintenance vehicle but with a market that small it probably did whatever was needed at the time. Since it was pulled out of the GM’s back yard it may have even been his personal vehicle. Still looks like to be worth a fraction of what they are asking.
This truck had the original coke racks still intact in the bed from the Lincolnton Coke plant… it was a factory yellow when new… It really was a service truck for the dealer in Lincolnton
I never knew these existed. Neat, but not 15K neat.
from the listing 1 Owner with Original Title clearly was not owned by the CC company.
If I have learned anything in the last 17 years, of being on the internet, it would be, if the price is right, someone will buy it. No matter what it is. OMG! I love spell check.
No bids. Better knock a couple zeros off the price to get any action on this one.
Also, no 1 barrel carbonators on any 350.
A few months ago, A local auction place sold a 1969 Chevy for 7500.00. It was a two wheel, long box with factory 396, auto, and factory a/c. VERY little rust and drove it away.
I was thinking something along those lines…. it’d be better to find a different truck. Quite a few of them still out there and you can always replicate the paint scheme of you wanted to do so.
Can’t blame a guy for trying, I guess. I miss the days when every body with ANY kind of old car or truck wasn’t out to just make money. It’s kinda ruined this hobby for a lot of us without deep pockets. Sad.
Looks like the driver side door was replaced at some point, paint shade is different than the rest of the truck, and that would explain the yellow paint showing around the door handles.
On some vintage machinery-car & Motorcycle forums there usually is discussions on rust removal… Often soaking in Molasses or CocaCola is one of the methods albeit slow acting,,
Some might see the irony therefore about the rust on this truck…
My take though is, FPI because the seller sucks big time. 3 pix total? Guy needs to buy a clue on selling
I was always an RC guy.
If Coke made the truck then maybe…..and I wouldn’t be putting myself in the picture either….now he looks real stupid.
????
Somebody has been watching way too many Barrett-Jackson & Mecum auctions…
Yeah this was a local purchased pick up and I think it is a 1967 not a 70. I worked for SBC Coca Cola Plant in North Charlotte which is not far from where this truck is. Most of the plants were like a franchise for many years. Actually they still are. But they are broken into regions and areas of service. Back then though it cost less to just bottle the stuff locally because they recycled the glass bottles. This truck did multiple duties, Coke machine delivery, Pick up for repairs, Go rescue the bigger delivery trucks if they broke down and probably went home with the president of the plant some nights. Here is a link with some Coke History. http://earlycoke.com/surviving-bottling-plant-photos.html. But yeah that is way to high on that asking price.
Definitely not a 67. It has a flat nose, 67 & 68 had a slant nose hood. Has side markers which started in 68, & has the big trim on the front of the fender, 67 had none. 67 also had a different latch on the vent window. Steering wheel is the 69-72 style, 67-68 was a 3 spoke wheel.
The last photo, the example truck, which isn’t the truck for sale, is a 67. You can see the clear differences in the hood, fender, & grille.
It is a 70
Looking at the tire drag marks, I see where this character needed a smoke after the effort to get this in the sunlight… this will definately boost the price !! (I cannot find spell check Tommy Brown…
I agree the paint and letters are bad, just free hand with whatever paint was available, and the tail gate says “it’s the real thing coke” not “it’s the real thing coke baby” as they are trying to sell. But I like the year and three on the tree nice love to drive the pickup.