Thanks to Jim S. for tracking down this short and sweet barn find! This super cool pickup is a 1966 Chevrolet C10 Fleetside and boy is it a great truck! It’s listed on eBay with a current bid of $2,575 and a Buy It Now price of $6,500. One of the hardest parts of writing for Barn Finds is not buying every vehicle that we either run across or links to great vehicles that people like Jim S. send in every day. Of course, I’d be bankrupt in a short while if I bought every vehicle that turned my crank here, but what a way to go!
Is this one great-looking truck or is this one great-looking truck? The only Chevrolet truck that I have ever owned was a former laundry panel van with a single pedestal driver’s seat with a lap-belt, and the van body was so rusty that the sides used to slam and crash and flap in the breeze every time I went over a bump. Not to mention that I used to drive with the sliding driver’s door open; not the safest thing to do. It was probably the most unsafe vehicle that I’ve ever driven, but it sure was fun. The dipstick fell off when I was checking the oil once. The last time that I checked the oil in it… I could seriously see myself owning this Chevy truck; another laundry van, maybe not so much.
1966 was the last year of the first-generation Chevrolet C-Series pickup and it’s by far my favorite body style ever for a Chevy truck. This tempting truck, known officially as a C1434, is in Eads, Tennessee and the seller says that they found it in a barn. They mention that this color is GM 510 Turquoise, but it looks darker than that to me. I would have guessed #503 Light Green. Who’s with me on that? Or, maybe it isn’t currently a Chevy color, it’s definitely been repainted. I would have guessed that it would be some sort of taupe color judging by the taupe/tan interior and engine bay, etc. One of you will know!
Of course, if this were a factory 4×4, a K10, it would be worth quite a bit more than what the seller is asking for this one. This C10 Fleetside would have cost around $2,070 brand-spanking new and a K10 would have cost about $2,700. Chevy made a little over 57,000 1/2-ton Fleetside C10 pickups in 1966, yet I rarely see them around now. That’s too bad, they are pretty high on my master wish list.
I hate to be that guy who continues to throw out the p-word (patina), but dang, this one has it by the train load! If this truck didn’t need a little rust and dent repair I would not do one thing to the exterior of it. But, since it does need work, and since I’m a purist at heart, I would restore this truck back to how it would have looked when it left the factory fifty years ago. I know that most of you would drop a Chevy 350 or something bigger under that hood, and maybe add a modern automatic, vintage AC, power windows, and bucket seats, etc. If you can buy it before I do you’re more than welcome to do that! (that sounded like a challenge?)
The current owner says that the bench seat is out being reupholstered in black. That’s unfortunate, but it must have really been in tough shape. I can almost guarantee that it won’t be reupholstered back to what it would have looked like originally, but that can be changed if you’re like me and would want it original-spec. Vehicles and humans sure were tough in these days, no padded dash here! I actually see quite a bit of overspray here so I’m wondering if this truck wasn’t originally some other color than green? I’m betting that it was, wouldn’t the interior and engine bay have been at least remotely related to the body color? Like, maybe #525 Saddle? I could be wrong.
Speaking of engine bay, one thing we know for sure is what’s inside this tan engine bay: this is a 292 inline-six with 170 hp and 275 lb-ft of torque. The seller says that this truck will need a new gas tank, hence the portable gas can seen here. This would be one heck of a fun restoration project and you should be able to find pert’near any part that you’ll need to bring this one back to like-new condition again. Or, dare I say, to turn it into a restomod, which is probably what most people would do. I think this one is a winner, how about you?
Drove a ’65 C-20 for ten years. No doubt one of my top 5 vehicles ever. I see some value here, and if it was closer…
The interior and firewall was that color fawn on the 60-66 and some 67s! Regardless of body color
In 1966 a friend of my father bought one of these equipped with the same in line six. He made a claim that it would run on one cylinder to a crowd onlookers. After the shouts of “BS” died down he started the truck and began removing all the spark plug wires until only one remained. The truck continued to run proving his point to all that had gathered. In later years I’ve attempted to duplicate his demonstration many times. So far, I’ve never been successful. I’ve often wondered how he was able to do it.
Agree that it’s been resprayed and the original color is showing through the chips in the paint and in the engine bay. Looks pretty solid but the rockers have me a little worried. No pics of the interior of the bed either. I have a tendency to prefer the next generation but seems like this would make a nice starting spot for whatever direction you chose to go.
60’s shortbeds are hard to come by in this condition, very nice truck even if it isn’t a 4×4. I wouldn’t mind it sitting in my garage.
Freshly loaded on the trailer. I bet he paid $600 for it.
sorry but I’m just not getting this “patina” thing, nice “beater” truck though!
Without seeing the tappet cover, this could very well be a 230 or 250, which was the Base 6 cyl. 292’s usually came in heavier applications like 3/4 ton(or special order)
Pushes all the right buttons for me-still kicking myself for passing up a 66 Suburban in about the same condition..
Front of bed rides a little low-hopefully its not a rusted out frame mount.
What Chebby said…..how do the flippers sleep at night ? A grand profit would be nice – another stab in a hobbyist – or kid that would like one.
No mention what 6 popper is in there i am also going with a 230 ci. I owned a free 67
Panel with a 292 ran strong as hell great motor’s.
You sure this is a shortbed truck? I had a 66 long bed and this looks like it has the same spacing in front of and behind the rear tire that my long bed had.