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Short Barn Find: 1972 Chevrolet C-10 Stepside

The seller refers to this as a “true barn find and has been stored indoors since 2003”. This is a 1972 Chevrolet C-10 Stepside pickup and it’s listed here on eBay in Trinity, North Carolina. The bid is under $2,500, but the reserve isn’t met. There are still over two days left on the auction.

This is the last year of the second-generation Chevy pickups before they were redesigned. This could be a nice project if a person had access to a welder and a little experience in bodywork. There will be some rust to deal with – cab corners, rockers, and some of the floors will need work. Hagerty’s #4 fair-condition value is $4,200 and their #3 good condition value is $7,800, so if the next owner does the work him/herself, this could be a nice project without being too upside down on the value.

This is a Custom, the lowest trim level, basically a work truck. A Stepside pickup isn’t as useful as a full-size pickup, but hey, sometimes you just have to balance being useful with being cool! The bed is pretty rotted out, but there are kits to fix that, and the next owner will most likely totally restore this truck rather than just use it as it looks here.

You can see the driver’s side floor isn’t looking too hot. Actually, the entire interior needs to be stripped and restored. Or, I guess it doesn’t “need” to be restored if a person really were just looking for a truck to use as a truck. The passenger side floor doesn’t look a heck of a lot better; expect to find a lot of rust on this one once you start tearing into it.

This isn’t the V8 that most folks were hoping for, me included. But, a straight-six isn’t a bad choice for a truck just to drive around town in and park in front of the coffee shop. You have to admit, that’s probably a real possibility for a truck like this: a skinny-jeans-wearing hipster buys this truck, gets everything working fine, and then drives it around town as a retro status symbol of ruggedness. How would you restore this C-10 Stepside? Resto-mod with a modern drive train and candy-apple paint, rat rod with patina-a-plenty, clear-coated, of course, or a nut-and-bolt, back-to-original-specs restoration?

Comments

  1. Avatar geomechs Member

    This is something to bring home, fix up and drive the wheels off again and again. A lot of rust to fix but a lot of parts are available to fix it with. By all means fix this up and enjoy. I saw a ’69 shortbox in better shape than this one go into the crusher. I couldn’t shot the operator for that. All he could think about was the price per ton….

    Like 0
  2. Avatar boxdin

    We have tons of these in New Mexico. Rust free and cheap. Why would someone do major rust repair when you can buy a clean one.

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    • Avatar Eric D Moore

      Where can I find these in New Mexico ?

      Like 1
      • Avatar boxdin

        ABQ Craigslist do two searches; one for step side, and another for stepside. Get these trucks now while they are still cheap. There isn’t a project where you can buy everything you need like these. Lots of vendors.

        Like 0
      • Avatar boxdin

        Here’s one asking 4k, rust free nice truck here in ABQ. Quite a bit better than the one shown.

        https://albuquerque.craigslist.org/cto/6156642464.html

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  3. Avatar Steve R

    Stepside trucks don’t have the allure the did in the 70’s and 80’s. Too bad it isn’t a short wide.

    Steve R

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  4. Avatar rustyvet

    this one frame rail is a deal breaker. other than that you have your work cut out for you.
    maybe a a 2k truck tops

    Like 0
    • Avatar Nate Member

      Not a frame rail, just a cab support and definitely not a deal breaker. Its a cheap and commonly replaced part. The little bit of the frame you can see in that pic makes it look pretty solid other than surface rust.

      Like 0
  5. Avatar Don

    Hi Scotty a hipster would not no how to shift it 😣

    Like 1
    • Avatar Scotty Staff

      Ha! That’s a great point, Don.
      Plus, no (skinny vanilla latte) cup holders…

      Like 1
  6. Avatar Mr. Bond

    I had a 6 cyl with a 4 speed, and with the 4:10 rear end, it was a great little driver peppy enough around town and decent gas mileage. Hope someone takes it on.

    Like 0
  7. Avatar Rolf Poncho 455

    I love these trucks had a 72 C-10 it was a real barn find here in South Africa
    I had it for 3 weeks and sold it for a profit

    Like 0
  8. Avatar Rolf Poncho 455

    and the after pic

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  9. Avatar Scotty Staff

    Auction update: this truck was bid up to $2,652 and it was a no-sale.

    Like 0
  10. Avatar Robert Carron

    Had a 1970 2 wheel drive 6 cylinder 230 ci three on the tree Blazer. 14 MPG and zero power.

    Like 0
  11. Avatar Harold Wood

    Have 4 or 5 of these old truck I have put back too restore, but Have decided to left a few go if anyone would like pictures and make me an offer after seeing the pictures and a description of what is wrong or missing on them. Right now I think I would only part with two of them as several of the Grandkids expressed wanting a few of them. As of right now I have a 71 which I drove myself for Many years it has a strong running 350 SBC, and a turbo transmission which has a Pan like a 350 turbo but I was told it is a 275 turbo which has a Longer tail housing than the 350 but everything else is about the same, and the Trans was slipping so bad I parked it and only cranked it now and then to move it to Mow. It is in East texas so the rust is not as bad as these in these ads, but it does have it in the usual places for these trucks Lower cab corners rockers floor,etc. It has been parked for about 10 or 12 years and is titled in my name. The other is a 69 parts truck but a title could be got, I just didn’t bother going back for it as I only wanted some parts off it it is basically a roller with no motor, trans and front clip they were all used on other truck but I’ve seen people apply for a title and build one. My email is wabbit1211@yahoo.com for seriously interested, but don’t waste time with stupid offers or I will just send them to spam and then I will never see another offer. Once I figure out how many of the other trucks and classic The kids and grand kids aren’t interested in I may try to figure out how to post them on here for sale, I have probably 30 or 40 more hidden at the farm so people don’t hassle me about them all the time. I had about 500 at one time. Just getting too old to fool with them or the people interested in them. May do an estate auction and get rid of them all at the same time.

    Like 0
  12. Avatar Kevin Revis

    I have the truck that is in this article now.

    Like 0

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