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Terrific Tahoe: 1983 Chevrolet S-10

I don’t know if sellers are coming out of the woodwork with their time capsules or if they’ve always been here and I haven’t noticed it as much as I have in the last couple of years. This 1983 Chevrolet S-10 Tahoe Edition pickup is mouth-gapingly nice; and I say that in a good way. It’s listed on eBay with spirited bidding of over $6,000 so far and the reserve isn’t met! It’s located in beautiful Salt Lake City, Utah.

In the words of the immortal sage of our time, Napoleon Dynamite: GOSH! Other than maybe having a few too many add-on doo-dads, this thing is a.m.a.z.i.n.g! But, maybe those extra things helped keep it looking this nice. For a two-wheel drive S-10 to have bids of over $6,000 with the seller’s reserve not being met is a sign that this one is possibly the nicest one available anywhere. This truck “sold for over $13000 including the dealer installed options like the Carpeted Shell Kit and the light up running boards, the Panasonic Supreme series AM/FM/Cassette player and the Kraco Alarm system.”

HA, and you thought that was a regular ol’ topper meant for hauling junk and firewood. Not. It reminds me of the Dodge vans that I drove for years back in the 1980s, that sculptured carpet over those plywood storage boxes-turned-into-beds.. I mean, seats.. The seller explains that the “shell kit is awesome and can be used as a passenger carrier with cupholders or have it turn into a bed for 2 people for camping trips. There are windows that open to allow fresh cool air into the shell area and also have screens to keep the bugs out. The curtains keep the lights out as well as create a very cool and private space.” This is one vehicle that can hardly be argued with when it comes to its 21,269 miles. The seller also says that this truck “has no rust anywhere; not even surface rust.”

As if the body on this thing wasn’t nice enough (that sounded creepy), the interior is even nicer! This truck even has a 5-speed manual transmission. I’m surprised to not see power windows and locks on a Tahoe edition, but those manual cranks are good for freaking your kids/grandkids out when they can’t figure out how to get the windows down. This perfect interior is “all original and has never had anyone eat or smoke in it. I would dare say no one was ever allowed to even drink a cup of water in it. Everything works from the dome light to the AM/FM/Cassette, the horn, the Ice cold AC, heater, dash lights and so on.”

This is Chevy’s 2.8L V6 with 110 hp and 145 lb-ft of torque. This “engine performs flawlessly and has no issues of any kind. No modifications have ever been done to the engine.” I don’t know if I’ve seen such a nice vehicle this old that hasn’t been restored. Have you?

Comments

  1. Avatar Red'sResto

    If you could option a car with a decade, this would be it.

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  2. Avatar p chapman

    I bought one new. The rear main seal (wick type) leaked from the day I drove it off the lot. I won’t go into the 3 transmissions I put into it as this one has the manual.

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  3. Avatar Howard A Member

    GM owes a lot to this little truck. It was the 1st non-imported mini pickup to be offered by the Big 3. An amazing truck here, although, I don’t care for the way the back was done, this never was intended to be a “motorhome”. I mean, it’s nice and all, just there’s better campers out there. I had a S10 Blazer and a basic S10 pickup. Both had the 2.8. The Blazer went through 3 motors, but the pickup had a ton of miles on the original 2.8. So there were good ones and bad ones, all underpowered. 4.3 a much better engine. ( whatever you do, DON’T get the 4 cylinder!!) Still, great find. 4×4’s were hard to work on, but these are simple trucks. Can’t go wrong here.

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    • Avatar TommyGunn

      You see alot of these cars coming up forsale because dad or grandpa died and the family has no respect for what their father cherished anymore …

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  4. Avatar Dave Member

    These are good little trucks, the 2.8 is ok in the 2wd but a real dog in the 4×4, the 2.8 was much better in the cars though. This would be a nice truck for daily driver in a nice climate these really rotted out in the salt states though.

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  5. Avatar gregwnc

    This is really a neat find! I bought a ’94 Silverado Z71 years ago in similar condition, although with more miles. It was a 6.5 diesel, but actually ran great. The truck was owned by a an elderly gentleman and he had all kinds of “doo-dads” (bedcover, carpet, gauges, clocks, etc, the basic J.C. Whitney buying spree type of things). Removed a lot of it, drove it until a guy came up and had to have it for more than I’d paid!

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  6. Avatar Big Mike

    Always loved the s-10/s-15 series of trucks, Dad had a couple of them for the shop and Mom had a GMC S-15 4×4 for many years. Never ever had much of a problem with them, other than changing the oil, the S-15 with the 4.3, had a remote location for the oil filter because of the transfer case was in the way, other than that tough little truck.

    I like how the back was done on this one, I have slept in the back of many pickup with a camper shell on them, hunting trips, float trips, nice and quick. I had even slept in the back of my Suburban on Scout outings with my Grandson’s Pack, helping his Dad when needed.

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  7. Avatar Dave Wright

    Look at that awful rats nest of an engine compartment…….it is criminal what the big brother government forced on us in these years. These would have been such nice little simple well made pickups without all that useless garbage. Great little truck. I had 2.8’s in some of my Jeep products. If used and driven carefully they held up OK. The 4.3 was a major improvement. I have 2 1996 S10’s with 4.3’s and CNG conversions….we always run them on regular gas……but they are really powerful little vehicles, are smooth and appear to be tough.

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  8. Avatar Todd Zuercher

    This has to be a real unicorn for an 83 S-10. These trucks were everywhere in my younger days. I can’t imagine there is a nicer one left. Thanks for reminding us of Kraco – haven’t heard that name in years!

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  9. Avatar RJ

    I’d dump the running boards the first time I drove it.

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    • Avatar Moparman Member

      @RJ: +100!! I never cared for those things, One of the easiest ways (IMO) to make a truck look crappy and the aero drag can’t have helped mileage, either! I’m still hanging on to my ’93! :-)

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      • Avatar RJ

        Those running boards not only look awful, but serve not real purpose on this truck. The 2WD S trucks don’t sit that high up where they are needed. Furthermore here in the Midwest those kind of running boards are just hold moisture, salt, sand, you name it. I can think of a few parking lot entrances those would get hung up on as well. I’d also ditch the bug shield and the camper shell.

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  10. Avatar angliagt

    I really liked the two- tone S10/Rangers,
    clean looking trucks.
    Sad that no one makes trucks like this anymore.

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  11. Avatar KC Jones

    2.8 later requires that gearshifter to have 3 pedals. My grandparents had a Blazer with a slushbox and it was so pokey it was dangerous merging on the highway.
    These are nice trucks with a 4.3 or a V8 slipped in. I’d stay with a 4.3 and drive it for the next 20 years or until the body rusted off the frame. Carpet is easy to change out, that thick shag is hard on your knees and back lol.

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  12. Avatar CMARV Member

    The only redemption for this truck is an LS swap . That pretty little truck wouldn’t pull a greasy string out of a cat’s a$$ . I have owned a few , had one as a shop truck , 82 , 2wd with an Isuzu diesel , driving on the interstate was a scary thing 65 mph downhill 50 uphill . Heart transplant needed !

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  13. Avatar Scott Member

    I like it but cannot think of a single use for it in its current state. Sersiously what could you do with it? Single cab small truck thats not a truck and not a camper?

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  14. Avatar Rustytech Member

    Gotta love the bordello rear treatment. I had an 86 4×4 with the 2.8 and manual trans. It was slow and drank gas like a full size truck with a V8. It always had a clunk in the drive train if you let off the gas then accelerated again. Even then I put over 130k on it before going back to a full size pickup. This looks great, but I’d put on some sterile gloves and get rid of the rear treatment!

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  15. Avatar BillO Member

    This reminds me of a lady I worked with back in the 80’s and 90’s. She was widowed and had an 83 C10 Cheyenne. She drove from North Carolina to Mississippi a couple of times a year to see her mother. Once, she had the camper shell on back, and about 3 or 4 friends went with her, remember, there were no extra cab full size Chevrolets then. A couple of her friends got chairs or benches and rode in the back to Mississippi. I wouldn’t have done it 20 miles myself. This back would have been more comfortable though.

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  16. Avatar Jared

    might have to put this s10 for sale seeing how much this went for its modified in a good way. and 30k actual miles as you can see from the dust.

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  17. Avatar Pete in PA

    I owned the GMC version of this truck from around 1992 thru 1997. Like this truck mine was the 2.8/5-speed, rear wheel drive, top level trim with A/C. Mine had cruise control and tilt column plus the styled steel wheels. Gold over white two tone paint. Man oh man did I LOVE that little truck. I bought it with a bad steering column, fixed it, and started driving it. Had to replace the rocker cover gaskets — not fun. Underhood rat’s nest of hoses was, as noted above, ridiculous. My truck came from Sedona, AZ and was amazingly rust free when I got it. Red dirt packed everywhere. Five years later the PA road salt had attacked that body like it had been acid-dipped. The deterioration was nothing short of shocking.
    As other have said of this Chevy, those running boards would be removed the first weekend I owned the truck. They’re hideous!
    I’m currently running a 99 Ranger XLT with the 2.5/auto but I still miss that little GMC. The guy who bought it from me said he was going to export it to the Honduras.

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  18. Avatar Pete in PA

    Found a pic of my ‘ol GMC

    Like 0

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