“Chevy Trucks. Tough all over.” says a 1979 Chevy pickups brochure. It’s not exactly as catchy as their “Like a Rock” commercials but maybe they could have gotten The Fabulous Thunderbirds to sing “Tuff Enuff” rather than Bob Seger’s song. The seller has this tough and original 1979 Chevrolet C10 Fleetside posted here on craigslist just south of Hastings, Minnesota and they’re asking $7,500. Here is the original listing, and thanks to T.J. for sending in this tuff tip!
What a great-looking truck! The seller believes that the 94,060 miles showing on the odometer are original and they also say that this truck is almost all original, other than new front and rear springs and the mirrors. I have a tiny truck with really tiny, basically worthless mirrors, so I can appreciate these bigger mirrors on this C10 pickup, for sure. The seller says that this truck is a Custom Deluxe model, which was the standard trim level.
Escape To Wisconsin, if I had a nickel for every one of those bumper stickers that I’ve seen in the last four decades, I’d buy every one of us a tropical island. What a successful campaign that was. If this half-ton two-wheel-drive (C10 = just that) long-bed Fleetside pickup is all original, that’s pretty amazing, especially since it has to be from the upper Midwest with that bumper sticker. The dealer sticker on the upper-left side of the tailgate says Koenig, and there is a Vic Koenig Chevrolet in Carbondale, IL. The seller doesn’t show any underside photos, unfortunately, but they do show some detailed photos of the small areas of rust, and it doesn’t look that bad at all, compared to a lot of 43/44-year-old vehicles.
I can’t help but think that there may have been some bodywork on the rockers at some point. If you zoom in on the gap between the rockers and cab corners, it’s a little goopy, or maybe that is, in fact, factory quality from 1979. The floors are the big thing here, so there is some rust to deal with underneath unless it’s been repaired already, but there’s no mention of that. The seat cover is a non-issue, and this C10 has a three-speed manual with a column shifter, as you can see.
The engine is a Chevrolet 250-cu.in. inline-six with either 105 or 130 horsepower, as both were listed for 1979 trucks. The 1979 Chevy truck brochure lists the horsepower as being 130, along with 210 lb-ft of torque. In either case, it’s nice to see a straight-six in one of these trucks and also the three-on-the-tree manual. How much would you pay for this good-looking Chevy pickup?
I paid $6800 for a brand new 1979 GMC Sierra Grande w/305, 350 turbo and chrome front bumper. Wish I had it now. Great pickups.
No comment on the red heater hose, Scotty?
Ha, I’m trying to turn into a new leaf, as they say…
Some things are not so easily put behind you, my friend!
You turn a new leaf, we’re ALL in trouble,, :0
I will comment….ours has a red heater hose too.
That is the correct hose and color, mine is red.
Red signifies hot, so the black is cold ? There must be a 350 in the glove compartment.
Any chance that could be a 292 six?
Bob, if you look at the second to the last photo in the craigslist ad, it shows the build sheet listing a 250 inline-six.
Very good chance its a 292ci the 250ci was red.
I owned one in ’81. It had a 250, and it was blue, and 3 on the tree. It had the intrigated head-intake manifold deal. Not a popular engine by any means. When I got rid of it, it had a 12″ homemade lift, 39.5’s and the 327 and turgo 400 with Vega converter from my ’70 Camaro, which went to die in stock car heaven. LOL
No, the 292 was not available in a 1/2 ton in ’79.
I appreciate this truck. I know the dealer where it was sold. I also see it has staff parking decals for employees of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. I worked there for 30 years.
What a small world, didn’t notice the SIU stickers till I read your comment. I did see the “ESCAPE TO WISCONSIN” sticker from that era, and recalled seeing a car back then with the stick on it. The owner had shortened the sticking to read “ESCAPE TO SIN”. Probably a story behind that, lol.
I went to SIU during the time that truck was not very old. Even had a few student jobs on campus. One was cleaning furnished campus owned apartments for married couples, after they moved out. As part of the “make ready” to rent again, we had to remove the furniture and clean the linoleum floors with a floor buffer/polisher. I may have ridden in that truck as a young knucklehead. Certainly rode in a university owned fleet truck like it.
Thanks for jogging the memory about a time I was young and full of beans many years ago.
The world is small. I noticed the escape to Wisconsin sticker first and then the distinctive blue decal captured my eye. I suspect we know some of the same folks. I worked at the student health service for most of my time there beginning in 1984. Love this era of Chevy trucks, lots of great memories connected with them.
Options? We don’t need no skinkin’ options!!!
Just a basic old truck.Why didn’t they use Brown duct tape
on the floor,instead of Silver?Better yet,use carpeting.
I bought , new , this same truck in 1982. Still have my long bed and have used it as a farm truck in Mississippi. Mine has a/c , 4 wheel drive – never a problem with the drive train.
Several years after purchasing it , I received a letter from GM regarding the outside the frame dual fuel tanks. They offered to have the dealer line the tanks with a plastic liner or $1000 cash. I paid about $10000 for the truck new in ‘82, less the $1000 cash settlement on the bad tank design. Typically , I never kept much gas in the right tank , thinking this may help protect a passenger if I were T-boned on the right side of the truck. Dumb and young I guess. But I still enjoy my old truck.
This is a “I don’t care truck “. Use it for anything. Grind the gears, gun the engine, skid around corners and who cares about the paint! This truck has just enough equipment,(engine/transmission). If it had any less, it would be a BICYCLE. Good luck with this one.
This one is spec’d more or less exactly how I think a true truck should be. I’ve mentioned it before here on BF; my DD for years was a RWD ’77 K5 similarly lowly spec’d only mine had PB and limited slip. To this day it is the easiest to work on and cheapest to own vehicle I’ve ever owned. Apart from a somehow worn and fiddly shifter linkage (it was already 20years old when I bought it) it was such an über-reliable well-mannered truck and the I-6 would just hum along offering decent power.
If GM offered similarly low option squarebodies today I’d buy one on the spot – apparently GM realized this gen was simply ‘too good’ as cheapskate customers like me would probably keep them alive for decades…
I love the manual tranny and the straight 6 is a good engine. Need underside photos. Poor marketing or something to hide?
Speaking of “new leaf”, marriage views notwithstanding( a miracle I got through that one) the author knows full well I’ve made peace with the sale of mine. It was okay, but not really old enough, and was just an “old pickup”. Trucks like this were very common then. Auto parts delivery, shop truck, a basic truck, no options. I don’t even see sun visors. This was that truck. Note the worn seat from countless entry and exit. I delivered body shop supplies with a Ford of same nature. I did 10 stops in the morning and 8-10 in the afternoon, day after day, except weekends, and trucks like this stayed the course. It’s why there are so few today. Great find. Hastings,,hmm, that rings a bell, oh yeah, hauled some b-buster loads of flour out of there.
🙄
Early 80’s it was common for the local paper to have a lowball 4×4 truck listed new at the local Chevy dealer. Usually just one or 2, the low price would lure people in. Father in law had this truck but 4×4. Cheapest man I ever met. Didn’t even give his daughter a wedding gift.
Good luck finding a affordable regular cab truck these days.
And my father in law unfortunately has dementia. Has plenty of savings, but should have enjoyed life a bit more when he could.
Wow. This one brings back a lot of memories. My dad’s first truck was a ’77 GMC outfitted just like this one – 2wd, longbed with the 250ci i6 and three on the tree. Baby blue with white rims and dog dish hubcaps. Had it just long enough to have its first oil change and hit a guy broadside in an old Monte Carlo who ran a red light. Bent the whole front end about 45 degrees. Less than 5000 miles on it. Dad followed that one up with a new green ’78 GMC with the same configuration, except it had an auto trans. That truck (the green one) became my first vehicle. Indestructable. (well, except for the bend in the hood from metal fatigue, and coastal south Texas salt air ruining the metal throughout.) This is what a truck is supposed to be, and if I had space in the driveway, I’d be heading north for this one.
Brad; you’d better hurry before I decide to take the trip…! 😄
Now as for the dreaded kink in these hoods that’s not truly a weakness since the hood was actually designed to fold in the event of a head on collision. I’ve had 2 squarebodies with the pre’81 hood and luckily it never happened to me, however that’s solely because I was aware of the issue and kept the hinges meticulously lubed. I remember that I at one occation started to lower the hood and it became obvious that it was too long since last lube, and I could clearly observe where the hood kind of ‘wanted’ to bend – a couple inches forward of the hinges
Reminds me of my buddy,cs father’s 83. Same clor and all butvwith square headlights. Great price and the rockers aren’t gone. Amazing. As stated above, drive it and use it if it wasn’t beat on. Practice welding on the little rust there is…
The base 1/2 ton pickups of the 70’s were an unbelievable value . That Chevy would have likely gone out the door for a coup[le hundred bucks more than a Chevette . An older friend in high school bought a new 79 F100 ( base model ) off the lot for 4300.00 .
To clear up a mistake info above: the 292 was not offered in 1/2 tons of this era, and the 250’s were blue from 76 up. I bought a new GMC heavy half in Dec 77, cost me $4475 out the door.
Thanks, Bill! I was burned on the light blue Lincoln engine (going by what the seller mentioned), and this seller lists it as a 250, but there is also the 18th photo that they put in the listing that says it’s a 250.
I purchased a brand new 1978 short box with a 350 4 barrel. Same colour as this one. It was pretty quick!
A lot of “sports cars” were quite surprised when we took off from a traffic light.
I bought a new Ford 1/2 ton in December, 1969 for $3600 bucks. 360 , 4 on the floor. Ot too much else. Ran good for 100 K. About 12 MPG.
I learned how to drive on the exact same truck except ’78. Same color no P/S,P/B, 250-three on da tree. Only upgrade was an fm radio pops installed. Still have orig am in d shed. Also General Grabber LT 11-15 on wagon wheels on the back & 23 channel sears & roebuck cb from the Downtown Charleston stoe. At 12 years old in 1987 Started driving him around and from the huntin club every Sat. My less than 100 lb butt tryin& yankin on the wheel bouncin on the clutch to get it turned around on them narrow westvaco roads to head off the dogs. Supposed to be my 1st truck but he sold it to his buddy’s son when he bought the ’90 Z71. Which I inherited 17 years later & still own.
Just a simple old pickup, I also learned to drive in one of these, short bed 250 three on the tree! IMHO these were the last really good Chevy trucks.
If this thing is worth 7900 bucks then how much is my 72 Orange with the white bonnet and Orange Scottish plaid trim interior Highlander worth? 350 4 barrel 350 Turbo automatic? Oh and also it’s original paint Air conditioned tilt wheel disc front brakes the only thing I ever did to it was put headers and dual exhaust on it. I’m the 2nd owner and I’ve had it since it had 46000 miles. Just a little over a 100025 now. About as close to a survivor as you could get from 72.
It’s worth 2500.00 but today you can probably sell it for 20k .
I would have to argue that comment.
I currently drive my 2011 Chevy Silverado that has 366,000 kilometers on it. Still going strong.
I’m glad you’ve had good luck, the truck that came after these square bodies were just out right junk. I just haven’t seen many good GM trucks in decades. I do admit their drive trains are good, but body and interiors not so much.
The first year and part of the second, ’73 and ’74 where bad for rust. Some had rust on when they were sold new if they were at the dealership for any amount of time. By the end, they were a solid truck. ’73 was a bad year all around for metal, not sure why, but a person where I worked had a two year old Plymouth Volare (S) that had rust holes right through the top of both front fenders. Paint and/or prep was nothing like it is now. So, you can’t compare to today’s car finishes. My ’79 K10 had nice metal and not rust at all and I got rid of it in ’85 give or take. FWIW.
A Tommy Bartlett bumper sticker would top it off. So sad they closed down. 6 stick on the column and really cool truck.I like it.
Perfect for 1ton 4X4 transplant.