The vintage pickup market is on fire, and I mean red hot, as evidenced by this 1971 Chevrolet C-10 shortbed stepside. This truck has been sitting for 20 years according to the seller who has it listed here on eBay in Otho, Iowa. The current bid price is $4,800 and the reserve isn’t met yet!
Like a lot of you, I’m a little surprised that I missed the flipper’s delight that is the shortbed pickup market. That this truck which has a fair amount of rust-through and surface rust, has been sitting 20 years and will need a lot of work to become a reliable vehicle, is at almost $5,000 and the reserve isn’t met is depressing. It’s not depressing for owners and sellers, but for those of us who missed buying up a pole building full of these trucks when they were $2,000 or less all day long.
I really do love the look of the second-generation Chevy pickup when it’s matched to a stepside shortbox. Hagerty loves them, too. They list a #4 fair condition example as being worth $8,100 and a #3 good condition truck as being worth $12,100. I wonder what the seller’s reserve is on this one? I’m far from an expert in anything but Andy Griffith and Brady Bunch trivia, but I would think that this truck is in the #4 fair condition range, if even that? It has a fair amount of rust on it, much more than I would have thought given the current bid price.
There are no closeup interior photos but if the rugged floor wouldn’t have been shown in the photos it would look great inside. Hopefully the floors are an easy fix and the seller mentions that they need some work, along with rockers and other rust repairs. This car has a turbo 350 automatic so no four-on-the-floor here. You can tuck those chest hairs back in your shirt. The rotted wood needs to be replaced in the bed but that should be a pretty straight forward and fairly inexpensive fix.
This 350 cubic-inch V8 adds $2,300 in value over the 307 V8 and $2,900 over the 250-six. The seller has given it a tuneup after its 20-year slumber and also added a new gas tank, new front brakes, and a new 2″ exhaust system. It still needs work and the next owner will have to do most the work her or himself on this truck or they will soon be financially upside down. What is this C-10 going to sell for, $7,500? More?
This old gal got some miles to her, and that crusty trailer brake control means it pulled something, something big enough to have brakes, anyway. I never cared for this style, and my square body is a lot fancier, these still retained their truck image, and the rust is seemingly minor compared to what happened to most these. Also, with 50 bids, and like what that older C10 was going for, this is much more in line for what these sell for. Be a nice truck for someone.Parts easy to get, and simple to fix. I changed a water pump on mine, 350, no air, pump was $52 dollars, NEW, not rebuilt, and did the job in little over an hour, try THAT with your Hyundai.
I got some work for you HoA…..
Actually I’m just waiting fir the first 100K C-10 to cross the red carpet at B.J………….
These trucks were well made and easy to work on (unless you needed to replace the heater core). This one reminds me of a friend’s truck that was very close to this one other than having a Fleetside bed. I remember the guy (an old hermit) driving over to my place in the dead of winter to watch what he called the ‘Skin Channel’ on TV. He got to my place just fine. Then after watching some soft porno for a couple of hours, heading back out to his place. All was well until the following morning when he went out to start his truck prior to driving back to town for morning coffee. No start. He took the ’63 Chevy in then summoned me to look at his newer truck. I opened the hood and fairly gaped at what I saw. The anti-dieseling solenoid had shorted out and started a fire that pretty much cooked everything electrical under the hood. I rewired it for him and all was well. It was good thing it was around 30 below because any warmer outside and his truck would’ve been extra crispy…
Love this write-up Scotty!
Yep, it pulled something alright, as per the trans cooler.
I always liked the step side look.
Funny…just left a friend’s shop who inherited his dad’s truck that looks just like this one…geen and all with the side spare still on the left fender. .He tried to hang with the hopped up 6cyl put was taken in by the LS crowd. Luckily he’s not going to paint it !
It was a beautiful little pickup at another time, to bad those days are so long gone.
Auction update: The bids were up to $6,200 but the reserve wasn’t met so it was a no sale.