Southeast Tucson is the location of this great, little truck. This is a 1979 Chevrolet LUV listed on craigslist and the seller is asking a very reasonable $3,250 or best offer. Or, they’ll trade for a four-door pickup or a nice, four-door car. This LUV looks like it’s been taken care of and the sunshield shown here is a good sign that it’s been cared for, in my opinion. Either that, or hey, it’s in Tucson and it’s hot there and this is a dark interior! Regardless of the location, little cues like these can be a tip-off that an owner has really cared for a vehicle. Not to mention that it looks almost like new.

The Chevy LUV, as we all know, was a rebadged Isuzu and this first generation Luv was made from 1972 to 1980. The LUV may have been one of the first attempts to create a vehicle name from a description of said vehicle. LUV stands for “Light Utility Vehicle”. We all know the terms bantered about by today’s vehicle manufacturers: SUV, CUV, ETC.. er.. I mean, and so on. Sport Activity Vehicle, Sport Utility Vehicle – every manufacturer has a moniker to describe their vehicles today if they’re supposed to do something other than just take us from point A to point B. The Chevy LUV may be the first one to actually have the description as its name. Can anyone think of another example?

This one has the original Jasmine Yellow paint, which in Tucson really says something! This LUV had to have been garaged or, at least, car-ported. There would be some sun damage here after 37 years if this truck would have been left outside in the sun for that many years. This is one great-looking truck. The seller says that he/she is the second owner. There are no engine photos, unfortunately, but the seller says that this one has a “new carburetor new fuel pump new wires plugs oil extra parts included with the truck”. The only engine available was a 1.8L single-overhead-cam, inline-4 with 80 hp. It should look like this under the hood.

The classic, blanket-seat-cover may not be a good sign, but the seller says that the interior is “like new” and the dash looks perfect as does everything else in there. Thankfully, this is a 4-speed manual transmission truck and even the pedal covers look pretty good for a truck with 189,000 miles on it! Yes, the high miles may be the only nit to pick here, other than the covered seat, but it may just be covered because it’s a dark vinyl seat and it’s Tucson and this truck doesn’t have AC. Ok, there’s another nit to pick. Here’s a brochure showing 1979 Chevy Luv.

Can you say showroom condition? I don’t see a spec of rust on this car, probably because it hasn’t rained in Tucson since 1979… The door panels look like new and I’m guessing that the seats may actually be brown instead of black? One call is all it will take to find out. This is a nice, little truck and for $3,000, or thereabouts, it’s a good deal for anyone that may be looking for a little pickup to make weekend trips to the big box home store or even to commute with. Are you a fan of this LUVly little pickup?