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From Barn Find To Beauty: 1962 GMC Stepside Update

Way back in 2016, we helped reader Paul N find a new home for his 1962 GMC Stepside. It sold quickly, with a deal begin made just 3 hours after we featured it (you can list your vehicle with us here)! After everything was finalized and the truck headed off to its new owner, we didn’t hear about it again. That was until a couple of days ago when Brendan R emailed us about the truck. He was doing research on it in hopes of finding some of the truck’s history and discovered our article on it. He also wanted to share some photos of it, as it’s changed quite a bit since we originally featured it, plus the story of finding it.

From Brendan – The way which I came across this truck was quite lucky. For the past 4 years, I have been looking for a 1962 C10 Longbed stepside, which is the body style which I have loved since about 6 or 7 years old when there was a light blue C10 Kustom at a local car show with a white top and the chrome accents. My father and my sister were scrolling through the Facebook Marketplace when my dad decided to go on the search for a 1962 c10 and accidentally hit search on 1962 GMC truck, which brought up one result, in Massachusetts, towards Cape Cod. We messaged the previous owner and he said we could come to see it on the weekend, which was July 4th of 2020. That morning, my Father, my friend, and I made the drive to see it, expecting to go up there and find a rusted out piece of Junk, as that’s how many C10s of the same year were around us. What we found was quite a surprise. As we arrived we spotted it in a garage, along with other vehicles such as an old Jaguar XJ6 (if my memory serves me correct) along with a few Karmann Ghias and a few motorcycles. When walking around the vehicle I was inspecting every inch of it, from the lip under the hood, to the inside of the rolled edges of the bed, just seeing how great of shape everything was in, hoping this was a sign of what the underside looked like. As I crawled underneath, I was shocked, seeing the original floor pans with no rust, and just light oxidation of the frame! As I crawled out from underneath I looked towards my father with the biggest grin on my face, my friend then asked me how it was, so I told him to look underneath. When he came out he had the same big grin I had, causing my father to crawl underneath to just understand the awe which we had portrayed. He came out with a face of disbelief and then said, “let’s not get ahead of ourselves, we had not heard it start yet, or seen how it drives”.

The part that made me trust the seller was that he waited for us to arrive to start it up, so the engine was still cold. With a turn of the key, the truck fired right up without any hesitation. He then pulled it out of the garage for us to see it in the light, which just made it that much better. At this point, I had started taking another walk around with a body magnet checking for any Bondo, which there is none. My father, as he pulled out the cash for a down payment looked over to me with a slight chuckle saying, “Your mother is going to kill us,” and from that day till July 8th all my mind could focus on was going to pick up the truck. I vividly remember the day when we were going to go get it, my father and I went to work in the morning, where he works as the service manager, and I work as a valet. Towards the middle of the day, my father’s friend showed up with his car trailer for us to borrow, which I quickly hooked up to my father’s truck, and checked all the tires on the trailer. At the end of the workday, we did one last check of the trailer and then headed off to pick it up.

We arrived roughly around 7 pm, and the previous owner had it pulled out of the garage for one last drive, I hopped in the truck with him, and we took it around the town. Once we arrived back at the house, where my father was waiting for us, we talked for a bit and then loaded it onto the trailer. From there it was just smooth sailing all the way home. After about an hour of driving, we stopped at a McDonalds, and couldn’t make it through the drive-through with the truck on the trailer, so I had to walk through the drive-through. After that, we made our way home, which we arrived at about 11 pm. We left it on the trailer till the next day so we could bring it into the dealership to put it on the lift for a better look, which just showed us how amazing it was underneath. Bringing it back home that night we parked it in the garage and waited about 3 weeks till it was registered before being able to drive it on the roads. From there on I have just enjoyed it, putting around 1000 miles on it, bringing it to 1800 miles on the new gauge cluster that has been in since it was in Kentucky. A bit over a month ago in the middle of April is when I pulled it out of the garage from its winter nap. So far this year I have attended about 6 car shows, and can’t wait to take it to many more.

It sounds like Brendan has been enjoying this truck thoroughly! He’s a senior in high school and this would be one sweet ride to cruise to school in. Hopefully, he will enjoy it for years to come! Our thanks to him for sharing his update with us and for giving this Barn Find Alumni a great home. If you’ve purchased a vehicle that we’ve featured, we’d love to hear about it! You can send photos and information about it to us via mail@barnfinds.com.

Comments

  1. Avatar Nevadahalfrack Member

    Thanks for sharing Brendan’s story with us, Joshua. It’s cool to see that kind of enthusiasm for a great old ride like that.

    Like 17
  2. bobhess bobhess Member

    Need more of this stuff. Watching folks sell junk isn’t near as exciting as seeing how it all turned out.

    Like 16
  3. Avatar AZVanman

    I love the fact that it’s a long-bed, and that it still has that great 305! Wonder if he still has the oil-bath air cleaner?

    Like 9
    • Avatar ADM

      All it needs is a set of plaid valve covers.

      Like 0
  4. HoA Howard A Member

    Good show, ol’ chap. You know, as frustrated as I am with the hobby in general, the only salvation, and I mean the ONLY salvation, is hearing stories of people that are still having fun. Not $4.7 million dollar cars these spoiled brats simply must have. Okay, so the hobby has past me, and many others like me by, it’s great to see, the spirit is alive with folks that truly want to drive their finds, the same spirit that motivated us so many years ago. I’m extra jealous, that it was a father/son thing. I like the picture of the Nissan pulling the truck, but for gits and shiggles, I’d have the Nissan on the trailer!! Be a snap for the ol’ Jimmy, that V6 probably powered semi trucks at one time. I can say without reservation, that motor was the best of all time ( for a V6, that is)
    I’m sorry, as the site is seemingly fading a bit for me ( how many Corvettes and GN Buicks do we need?) it’s great to see human interest stories. It tells me things aren’t as bleak as I make them out to be. It sure takes my mind off of 5 figure Jeeps and Squarebody’s.

    Like 13
    • Avatar Curt Lemay

      Howard, nice to hear from someone who feels like I do. Please keep posting truth. I esp liked your phrasing with “spoiled brats”, a good way of looking at the core of our hobbies problem. I get so tired here reading of people supporting these people, I wonder how many are these kind of people, or just dreamers? If you have to dream, why not dream of a better utopia, one that is shared and not hoarded?

      Like 11
  5. Avatar Brendan Rideout

    I logged onto the Barnfinds.com website this morning during my lunch wave, absolutely ecstatic to see the success story of my truck posted. It is indeed a great ride to cruise around in, last night I had planned on taking it to a local car show but sadly the clutch slave cylinder went, hopefully, I will have the new one by the weekend. So seeing it posted on here has brightened my day.

    Like 2
  6. Avatar Chris Londish Member

    I really like the side mount spare and the V6, what a great drive happy motoring

    Like 1
  7. Avatar chrlsful

    there’s my ol farm bud, same color, short bed/step side. Just not a 4WD or 2nd gen’n a big motor (mine w/i6). Lota good wrk, yr round & DD to school’n beyond. Glad some1 else has befriended~

    Like 1
    • Avatar Brendan Rideout

      I am unsure if you are referring to a truck that you had similar to this truck, but it is actually the 8ft bed, or the long bed, it took quite a while to find a long bed model, as I personally prefer it over the short bed for these trucks.

      Like 1
      • Avatar ADM

        A few miles from my house, my mechanic is working on a duplicate of this truck, in tan, for a customer. Same year. Same engine.

        Like 1
  8. Avatar GOM

    One cautionary note. Since the master cylinder reservoir is shared with the single circuit brakes and the hydraulic clutch, any major leakage in either system can lead to loss of brakes and clutch function, more or less simultaneously. A ’61 3/4 ton 4wd Chevy shop truck at the garage where I worked did this to the owner before I was working there, but he told me about it as a warning, and how much more careful he had been after that incident both in maintaining and driving that truck.

    Like 1

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