This listing is for a nicely-preserved and optioned 1979 Chevrolet Silverado pickup. It had its bed cap installed the day it rolled off the dealer lot, so the bed remains in exceptional condition. Mileage is just below 100K, and it comes optioned with a four-speed and 350 V8. Find it here on craigslist with no price listed and information on where it will be auctioned off.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Levi for the find. The listing says this Chevy will head to auction in Pennsylvania on November 23, so perhaps if your Thanksgiving plans take you through PA, you can stop by and check out this truck and the rest of the equipment auction. The chrome strip on the tailgate and bumpers remain impressively shiny, not easy to do on a truck with close to 100K on the clock.
Check out the bed – it is mint. The paint is incredible, and I’d never want to actually carry anything back here. However, with the right protection, a camper shell may make the most sense as you’ll never be tempted to carry lumber home and the clean confines will make you feel better about sleeping in your truck. The seller further notes this C10 has no rust and functioning AC.
Wow – the impressive levels of cleanliness continue to the cabin, which leaves no question this truck was loved. These are the types of finds you have to keep your eyes peeled for at smaller auctions that aren’t entirely vehicle-focused. A farm equipment auction, for example, may very well have some old farm trucks hitting the block, but they are rarely as nice as specimens like this C10. Could be a good deal for someone willing to wait out the tractor bids.
Since square bodies are the hot topic lately ( partially fueled by me) this one is simply amazing. Clearly some old guys pride and joy. Being from PA. it’s not going to have a Texas price tag,,,yet, but should be no problem asking and probably getting $10g’s easy. This is the exception here, someone’s baby, not some hulk someone took in on trade, or literally dragged out of a barn, and asking the same price.( but it’s a square body,,,big deal) You got $10g’s to spend, this is your truck. I wouldn’t spend any more than that, even for a clean one like this.
Gotta like the four speed. That camper cap, however, not so much.
Love the old squares
It’s nice, but the long bed will it’s limiting factor.
Steve R
As far as the square bodies are concerned, this is one of the best you can get. ’79 was the last year before the EPA’s brains fell out (well, up until 12/31/78). If you got the F-44 package, you got 4-bolt mains. exhaust valve rotators, dual exhaust and heavy duty suspension/shocks. After 01/01/79, the emission laws changed for the worse and you got stuck with a single exhaust and a catalytic converter. Well, my ’79 GMC K-1500 was built after 01/01/79 so it had the converter/single exhaust. It was also an SBC 400 so it didn’t have 4-bolt mains. However everything else was kosher and some of those things were mere annoyances anyway. 1980 spelled a lot of changes: you had to cope with a fuel tank switch delay relay that checked out soon after you bought it. The F44 package was history and the engine (max 350 for a 1/2 ton) wouldn’t pull a limp ‘noodle’ out of a pail of lard. Anyways this is a very nice truck that is difficult to work to death; you’ll have to kill it with a stick. I’d ditch the bed cap though because it is a dust vacuum and is sooooo 1960s….
Cannot believe this is a Pennsyltucky truck.
My uncle had a C10 that was a near twin to this one, same color but with a vinyl seat. It was probably several years older, as it had lap belts (only) and a 454 and TH400 auto. He even had a similar “old man” camper shell. He used it for fishing and pulling his camper for quite a few years, until trading for an 83 C20 with a 6.2 diesel that he had a Banks turbo installed on when nearly new. It ran almost as good as the stock smogger 454 and got waaay better gas mileage! His had the full wheel covers like a 73/4 with the fake lug nuts…
Considering how many were made of this gen trucks it’s remarkably few surfacing as ‘survivor’.I’ve owned a Blazer and truck of this vintage and loved both of them, probably the last ‘real deal’ great American vehicles made.
First owner of this was smart enough to order the sm465 for this, one of the few with his head screwed on right! TERRIBLE looking camper shell, but that only benefits the next owner, I’d ditch it the day I’d gotten it home!
Great, great versatile classic to hang onto , too bad I don’t have the space…
Why all the hate on the camper shell? These are an important part of pickup truck history and this one is a really good example. If it was a 90s fiberglass shell, I’d likely agree, but the old school camper shells that have survived are worth sparing.
You are right, John. And this IS a nicely preserved example of a period cap that was in style 50 years ago. Of course whenever I see one I visualize all the fishermen out at Duck Lake, MT, that had the identical twins to this one. A lot of the caps I knew of were home-made, and many of the owners did a fair job building them. There was a family friend who built an 8 ft. overhead slide-in camper that he put in his ’62 GMC pickup so he could take his family (wife and 2 girls) to Seattle to the Worlds Fair. Then he became a regular at Duck Lake and I doubt if that camper ever got slid out of the truck before he sold the camper 10 years later.
There aren’t many left as survivors because they started rusting before they got off the assembly line! I had a 74 with the 454, I loved the truck, but before tit was 4 years old I had to replace front fenders, cab corners, and rear quarters. I do live in PA. but still that was the most rust prone truck I have ever owned, and I’ve had them all. This one obviously has seen little or no winter use.
The topper is better than the truck. That is the cherry on the sundae. Everybody looking for them now with retro truck thing going on.