“A 327 V8?! What’s in your coffee this morning, Scotty G? They didn’t offer a 327 V8 for this truck in 1986, you meatball!!” Ok, ok, the engine is out of a 1968 Camaro, how’s that for a cool transplant? From what I can tell, it would have had 275 horsepower, more than the ’86 454 V8. This 1986 Chevrolet C30 Custom Deluxe 3+3 Crew Cab can be found here on Facebook Marketplace in Olathe, Kansas, and they’re asking $8,500. Here is the original listing.
I’m assuming this truck was some sort of company truck or government agency truck with the bright orange color. That wasn’t a factory color for 1986 that I can see on any paint charts or brochures. Although there was an Omaha Orange in 1938… There was a Dark Federal Yellow in ’86, but it was only used for buses, and the Canyon Copper isn’t close. I can picture this one-ton crew cab being restored back to some sort of railroad crew truck; that’s what I’d do. I’m 70% about railroads, with the other 20% being about gigantic pickups and the remaining 10%, just whatever else life has to offer. (Maybe there was something in my coffee?)
This is a long truck, as you can see. 20.5 feet long, in fact. If you want a four-door pickup today, which is 80% or more of consumer pickup sales, you get a short bed. Then a lot of owners (not all) go on to complain about “little trucks” with wimpy beds and yadda-yadda, all while they’re basically driving a short-bed pickup with two extra doors. This is a truck-truck, a full-sized bed for real hauling duties. I love the look, but I would never have a pragmatic need for a long-bed truck. That being said, make mine a crew cab or SuperCab/Extra Cab with a long bed. Either that, or a tiny pickup, or both. By this time, Custom Deluxe was the base trim level.
Sadly, the seller is light on interior photos. In fact, there are exactly zero interior photos! I know. They say it has all original paint and interior, and they list the interior color as tan (Saddle Tan), but that’s literally the only mention of the interior. I don’t get it, but I stopped trying to understand humans in 2020. You can see that it needs rocker panels on both sides, and here’s an underside photo. There’s a bit of rust to deal with here, but hopefully it’s just on the rockers.
The 3+3 is an interesting model; we’ve seen one or two of them here on Barn Finds, and they had two bench seats for, yes, three passengers in the front and three more in the back. They also offered a Bonus Cab, which is a four-door crew cab (is that redundant?), but no back seat; it was for hauling gear inside. I love that. Or maybe fold-down seats on each side or something in case you ran across a couple of hitchhikers at night. Ok, bad idea.
Here’s what would have replaced whatever engine was in this truck. Without a VIN, we don’t know what that was, but the seller says this is a 327-cu.in. OHV V8 with a four-barrel carb out of a 1968 Camaro. It would have had 275 (gross) horsepower and 355 (gross) lb-ft of torque in 1968. It’s backed by a GM Turbo-Hydramatic 400 sending power to the rear wheels. They say it runs and drives well, the engine doesn’t smoke, and there are two gas tanks. If I had a bigger garage and an extra $8,500, I’d take a road trip to Kansas to check this one out. Would any of you drive a huge truck like this 3+3 Crew Cab?
Don’t worry, we’ll find out what was in the coffee when the test results come back,,,oops, said too much,,and this was a county highway dept. maintenance truck. Orange is typically the color for DOT and rarely did these 4 door pickups make it to civilian use.They typically took a trailer and implements of construction, or possibly a chain gang transport. It’s quite a thing to see how far we’ve come in pickup trucks, a 4 door pickup truck? Preposterous,,
For years GM didn’t offer crewcabs in middle of the line trim levels like Scottsdale and Cheyenne. It was this or a full Silverado because the market was either low-bid fleet contracts or loaded toy haulers, no in-between. Probably an 80-20 split at the most even.
And of course those Silverados were about as loaded as a loaded Chevette.
This has the feel of something pieced together with parts laying around the shop. That’s not necessarily a bad thing if it’s reflected in the price.
Steve R
A 305 would be a better choice for something like this than a 327.
Probably not. The 305 is a low compression smog engine. The 327 will have greater horsepower and torque, needed for this heavy truck. The 305 might get better fuel economy, but you would probably appreciate the extra horsepower more.