Yet again, up for sale is another classic American pickup truck that is in incredibly good condition for its age. It is a 1965 Chevrolet C-20 that currently has no bids placed, with a starting bid of $5,000. There is also a reserve. It is located in Lakeland, Florida. One of the most notable features is that the mileage is claimed to be 25,524 original miles. A clean title and VIN are listed. You can find it here on eBay.
This truck comes with heavy duty suspension, a strong V8 engine, and according to the listing, a rare automatic transmission. As you can see in the photo, the engine is in amazing condition and the engine bay is clean as well. It begins to make sense when you start to evaluate the amount of claimed original miles on the odometer. It is a bit of a bummer that this truck is only two wheel drive and not four wheel drive.
Inside the truck has a solid, what appears to be a stock bench seat. It is incredibly good condition if it is indeed original. You can see some rust beginning to form around the lower edges of the seats bolt to the floor. The floor mats might be covering some more rust, possibly significant rust, but nothing is listed indicating so. The bed of the truck has some warped wood but it does appear to be solid and not rotting entirely.
What is difficult to determine is how high or low is the reserve? It is one of those situations where the glass is either half empty or half full. The price will either be just right for some, or too high for others. Either way, the truck itself is in reasonable condition and so it will depend on you. What do you think? Are you going to be putting in a bid for this pickup or are you going to be passing?
Great condition but hard to believe it only has 25k miles on it. Also that is a well taped off rattle can paint job on the engine, wonder what the underside looks like? Lastly it’s being sold by a car dealer for just under 18k which is where the reserve is probably set at on eBay.
Well taped? There’s a ton of overspray. But kudos for cleaning it, unless they just sprayed over the grease….?
It’s probably a pull and paint. That’s okay if it doesn’t stand out in a negative manner and if you don’t try to pass it off as a rebuilt.
Which “strong” v8 is it? The 283 or 327?
Probably a 305 out of an 81 camaro.
My uncle had a 65 C/20. Darker blue same interior. 4 speed.
He bought a new C20 4 speed every three years. Cattle farmer. By the time he traded them in they were pretty well banged up from the cattle running up to get fed.
Drove a similar truck from 88-98, 4 speed / granny trans. Had a 6 door service bed, and used it while a carpenter / construction superintendent.
Probably went to 7 different western states in it.
Great truck, ALWAYS started regardless…
Kind of rough for 25K miles, but perhaps it sat out in the weather for all these decades. Would be really nice restored, but you would have to buy it right. $18K is not right.
Hard to believe they used to put gas tanks inside the cabs of trucks
My ’61 Apache had an in-cab tank. It was kind of handy, actually. The gas gauge didn’t work, so whenever I needed to know if I still had gas, I’d hit the brakes just hard enough to make the gas in the tank slosh around. If I didn’t hear a slosh, it was time to make a beeline to the nearest gas pump.
A friend had a ’65 c/10 (1/2 ton) in the same color. Also same color interior, every one I’ve seen had an inside like this. Is this the only way they came or were there different trim levels with nicer interiors? With that said this looks really solid, also I think the milage is real. People didn’t use pickups like cars back then they were just for hauling stuff.
With the rusted passenger side rocker, no photos of floors, inside cowl area, bottom of doors, and underneath, you can be sure there is more rust. Buyer beware!
I like this body style of chevy truck. I Iike the low fenders
Its a good looking truck professionally photographed. It appears to be a California truck OR it was “recreated” to appear as same. How did it get to the “Bermuda Triangle” of old cars in Lakeland . Florida? Lots of questions and seemingly no interest on the part of the selling dealer to answer. Too bad.
A “California” truck with an Illinois bumper sticker in Florida? Lots of matte black sheet metal under the good and inside cab firewall? Lots of fresh looking components under the hood that don’t match the aged appearance of the rest of the truck? Dark gaps under T111 “bed mat”? Interesting truck but too many red flags to justify a high price bid site unseen? What is the real history of this truck and the work done/not done on it?
No way this is a 25k mile truck.
HIdden rustbucket.
Long beds are not bringing anywhere near the kind of money mentioned ($18K) unless fully restored. This one appears to be a decent enough work truck but with a fully rotted out hood and holes in the door rockers. The floors, cab corners, door bottoms and roof (note rust around drip rails) are likely rotted pretty well too. I can’t imagine anyone spending over $5K as it sits but I’m regularly surprised these days… buyer beware.
Ad withdrawn by seller, either change of heart or sold it off FeeBay. I have a 65 GMC version of the same truck. We call it the Old Grey Mare, There is slight differences between the GMC and Chevrolet but subtle,, there was also several versions of these.
Mine I bought cheap with a damaged straight 6 and column shift manual trans, I swapped in a V8SBC with a Turbo 350 and B&M Shift kit and B&M starshifter and its travelled from Calif to Canada for swap meets, bike shows and hauling cows, hay and whatever else.
This one has rust in ALL the common spots these get it in. But patch panels are readily availible. Good trucks and climbing in value and rarity but not to a $18k value,, this is a well detailed flip by a dealer,, the signage is suspect and just trying to capitalize on patina. However someone probably went for it.
I had a 59, the 65 and a 73 and decided I liked the 65 best and sold the others,,I did buy a mid 70s 3/4 ton for parts and upgrading mine with some upgrades and keeping the original parts so it can go back stock, But you drive one for a while and Power steering, Better brakes and dual tanks outside the cab have appeal. Im also upgrading to a 700R4 trans for mileage boost.
Snow tires and lots of rot. California…I think not. Wow, that rhymes by accident!
Back then, odometers only went up to 99,999 miles, and then back to 0. Appears to my eyes to have at least 125,000 miles on it, which is fairly low miles per year for a 54 year old truck – averages out to just over 2300 miles a year, where 25K works out to less than 500 miles a year. Of course if it was all on a ranch or farm hauling heavy stuff over rough ground, 25 k would be enough to tear a truck up pretty badly, and the chance of many air filter changes was probably pretty slim.