Chevrolet’s Suburban has been in production longer than any other SUV, with roots stretching back to the 1930s. By 1960, the Suburban had evolved into a versatile, truck-based people hauler, available in both two- and three-row configurations. This example, listed here on craigslist in Tehachapi, California, is a 1960 Chevy Suburban project that wears its age honestly with weathered paint and a vintage “Joe’s TV Shop” logo still visible on the sides. Thanks for the tip Jack M.!
The seller states that the vehicle appears solid overall, despite its weathered exterior. The faded paint and period shop lettering give it an authentic patina that many enthusiasts would likely want to preserve rather than restore away. As one of the earlier generations of Suburbans, the 1960 model year introduced a more modern look with quad headlights and a redesigned front fascia compared to the 1950s versions.
Inside, things are dusty and dirty but reportedly mostly intact. One highlight is that this Suburban still retains its full three-row seating, a rarity in unrestored examples, as many had their interiors stripped or modified over the decades. With some effort, the cabin could be brought back to usable condition while retaining much of its originality.
Under the hood, the Suburban is equipped with a straight-six engine, and the seller notes that an additional straight-six motor and three spare transmissions are included in the sale. While no running condition is specified, the presence of these parts could prove valuable for someone committed to getting the truck back on the road.
The listing further confirms that the truck comes with a clean California title, an important point for collectors or hobbyists looking for an easier path toward registration and restoration. Whether returned to its original utility-focused roots, given a mechanical refresh and left with its current patina, or even built into a custom vintage SUV, this 1960 Suburban offers plenty of possibilities.
Would you restore this Suburban to showroom condition, or keep the faded paint and shop lettering for a preserved vintage look?
Whoever saves it I hope they save the Joe’s TV shop livery
From the days when you used to fix your broken television, instead of throwing it out and buying a new one.
From the days when Television sets were actually fixable.
Big fines for “throwing” a flat screen TV out today. In my happy little town, they have a recycling event once a year, and while laptops and phones are no charge, ANY TV is $20 bucks! They don’t tell you that at Wallymart when buying a new one. There were literally boxes on pallets full of TVs.
I bought a Walmart, mail order only, big screen Sceptre brand TV after I retired from full time 10 years ago. A year later the TV stopped working, but thru YouTube videos I learned how to replace the power supply for less than $50. The biggest thing was figuring where all the screws went or different sizes when thru. It still works fine now. Good to watch the Eagles vs Dallas game tonight. Back to recycling here in Philadelphia. They will not take electronics such as TVs from the curb, but we may drive them to various free sites. Curb trash pickup is part of our property taxes.
I bought a Walmart, mail order only, big screen Sceptre brand TV after I retired from full time 10 years ago. A year later the TV stopped working, but thru YouTube videos I learned how to replace the power supply for less than $50. The biggest thing was figuring where all the screws went or different sizes when thru. It still works fine now. Good to watch the Eagles vs Dallas game tonight. Back to recycling here in Philadelphia. They will not take electronics such as TVs from the curb, but we may drive them to various free sites. Curb trash pickup is part of our property taxes. The next county near us is Bucks where people pay more for taxes and also have to pay for private trash removal.
In 1960 a B/W TV was $200 you could pay a guy 5 bucks an hour to fix one. Today a 32″ like we watch is $180, 2 hours labor and you’ve got a new one.
My 1st thought was Don “Big Daddy” Garlits had a ’66 black and white GMC Suburban ( although some call it a Chevy) he pulled his early Swamp Rats all up and down the east coast with. In fact, I read, he almost drowned in it returning from an event, and fell asleep running into the water in Georgia. Images show the telltale V6 badge on the hood. The 1st Suburban the old man to pull our campers, was also a V6 GMC Suburban. After he went through several wagons, he went with the Suburban. It held up well, but not enough power, and went with an IH Travelall, which is a topic for another day.
In the 60s, TV repair was huge, not unlike the phone/cable repair person of today. It was the age of home service, and most repair people came to your house, uttering the fateful words you hoped they wouldn’t say, “well, it has to go back to the shop”, NOOOOOOO!! Since smaller vans didn’t really exist yet, any vehicle with cargo space worked. Everybody knew someone that dabbled in TV repair. The 1st TV I can remember, circa early 60s, was our Sylvania B&W, with that florescent picture surround, we had 5 channels, 4, 6, 10( PBS), 12, and 18( UHF). My grandfather, yep, the Packard one, was the 1st one to have a color TV,,,a Zenith. These are rare, because, like a sedan delivery, many were (ab)used or just plumb wore out, and by then vans had taken over. It’s a great find.
You struck a memory with me Howard. My parents first color TV was a 1967 Zenith “High Fidelity” TV. There was actually a base and treble knob on the bottom. Used to ait and wait for it to “Warm up” to watch my Saturday morning Buggs Bunny and Mr.Magoo cartoons. ( remember that?)
Thanks for jogging my memory Howard.
-Dave
I forget all about Mr. Magoo loved that cartoon. My grandfather use to call my younger brother Mr. Magoo when we were kids that would drive my brother crazy. Back then were the days when you had to getup to change the channel my dad would always yell at us for turning the channel too fast yelling you are going to break the knob. Sure enough we did and then had a pair of pliers to change the channels thanks for the Mr. Magoo call out Driveinstile brought back a lot of good memories.
Brought back memories for me as well. Many of them are similar to what’s already posted so I’ll add, being sent out by my father to rotate the antenna pole to get the picture right.
“Right”
“A little more”
“Not that much! Bring it back some “
Whenever I have undertaken a plumbing job at home that requires multiple trips to the hardware store, I am reminded of the “TV tube syndrome”. When I was a child, our B&W television would invariably conk out just before an important sporting event on Saturday afternoon, much to my father’s frustration. There was a drugstore chain in California called Thrifty Drugs, and most of their stores had vacuum tube testers and new tubes for sale. My father would pull the tubes out of the television and we would go test them to find the dead tube. Thrifty also had a 5 cent per scoop ice cream counter right across from the tube tester- yum. He would put the new tube in and sometimes another tube failed. Back to Thrifty for another tube and more ice cream, sometimes three or more times in a day. Now you just throw your television away and your kids miss out on ice cream…
I got a chuckle out of your story Godzilla (including the oh-so-true plumbing repair reference). This cool Suburban brought back a dusty remembrance of our local TV repair guy, I think his name was Mr. Harmon. He lived nearby, and when our TV conked out, a quick phone call brought him to our house. I remember his large fold-out carrying box full of tubes. I assume it was a side gig for him.
Godzilla, I remember those Tube testers!!! Man!!! I completely forgot about those. Thank you for the great memories!!
-Dave
Ha! For us it was the local drugstore, a Rexall, I believe or the trusty hardware store. I took note of the old mans “tap the tube”, and some would respond as “meh”, and went in a box downstairs with all the other “meh ” tubes that worked in a pinch. The tube testers themselves were actually rather complicated, and Google images show many kinds, all did the same thing.
Re: color TVs. As I mentioned, my Packard grandpa was no miser, and I read, in 1963, grandpa paid Sears( he bought everything at Sears) over $500 for that new Zenith color TV, when a B&W was around $100. I think after the Kennedy assassination, he wanted a color TV. “The Wonderful World of Color” on Sunday nights was a family tradition, the shock of finally seeing Wizard of Oz when Dorothy opened up the door in color, and football games were about the only things in color then. That sure changed in a hurry.
I remember going to Moores drug store in Phoenix to test the tubes and get the tube needed and they also had ice-cream which is why I was willing to go. Those were truly the good days!
Army-Navy store on the main drag was where I went with my father for tube testing. No ice cream but a lot of cool stuff.
Wow, I love this thing. For me, I appreciate the used but solid body. Clean up/replace the interior. Get all the mechanicals solid and safe. And drive it. This thing is great.
The seller doesn’t say if this Suburban runs and drives, nor do they mention if the signage (lettering) is vintage or “created patina”. Even if it runs well and the signage is from a real repair shop, the price is agressive for its condition. If it’s a non-running project and the lettering is fake it’s only worth a fraction of the asking price.
Steve R
Agreed Steve R. As much as I like it the price seems high. The lettering “appears” legit, but I know many people add “vintage” lettering.
I know someone that does custom paint work, he started out hand lettering race cars and painting helmets, then custom paint for cars and motorcycles. Unfortunately almost everything nowadays is vinyl wraps or decals/stickers. Several years ago I stopped by his shop when he was finishing paint on a 1961 Starliner with weathered lettering designed to look like an early-1960’s stick car. He talked about the process of how it’s and a little bit about how to differentiate between vintage and artificially aged. He said you typically can’t tell with pictures, assuming it’s done well. I wouldn’t be able to tell if someone like him did the work. However, a giveaway is often in the sellers description. A vague description, where potential buyers are left to fill in the blanks is, at a minimum, is a warning sign. Any interested buyer needs to as the seller a direct question about the lettering. Sellers often assume what they want something to be, not necessarily what it is. Many sellers construct ads to take advantage of that.
Steve R
The thing that stuck out for me is that it had the third row seating still in it. Business trucks like this would have had the seats removed, or just didnt have them at all to make room to load up TVs that had to go back to the shop, or to possibly deliver a new one, plus all the repairman’s tools . I guess “Joe” could have kept the seats and put them back in when he was no longer in business, though most people would have tossed them out .
This brings back memories. My dads first truck that I remember was a turquoise blue1960 GMC. The 60 and 61s have always been my favorite. I also remember the paperman back then using suburbans with the sliding rear windows. As a kid I referred to them as trucks with eyebrows.
leave the Logos!
With everybody talking about TVs and patina and vintage paint, has nobody really noticed that this is not a suburban? This is a window panel like a sedan delivery but built on a truck frame. A suburban would have at least one extra door behind the front doors.
Not according to any photos of stock 1960 Suburbans that I have seen. I believe that the third door did not arrive until 1967. They were all built as a separate body on a truck chassis.
I think the talk about televisions is a function of the age of some of the posters here (including me), the role that what was then relatively new technology played (or didn’t) in our youth, and a general sense of nostalgia. I remember when someone in our neighborhood got a color television. All the kids in the neighborhood came over to watch it- it was a big deal then. Just think, sixty years from now, people might drool over a beat up Nissan NV200 van with faded “Joe’s Cell Phone Shop” vintage lettering on it…
Not correct! 60- 66 Suburbans only were available as 2 doors!
We had a Zenith console television as well. I saw Carlton Fisk hit his G6 Homer in the WS on it. Unfortunately, it spent more time with the repairman than us. It finally gave up the ghost and my parents bought a smaller set and put it right on top of the Zenith. They added the “silver paper” rabbit airs later as a DIY add-on.
This truck is an excellent candidate to be refurbished and driven / showed as is.. a great conversation starter..The body looks solid enough that it is possible the original patina can be saved?? I agree with Will that this may be a windowed Panel truck with the rear barn doors.I think the Suburbans had a drop down tailgate and lift up rear window section????
As for the TV’s, Our county recycling (trash dump) box sites all have a separate area to drop off TVs, computers, and microwaves, by federal law, but I do not know how they dispose/sell them from the main facility.
Apparently, both a “clamshell” rear door (lift gate and drop down tailgate) or barn doors were available. Some people restoring these vehicles have converted their clamshells to barn doors and vice versa. There are several threads online about how to do this. If you google “1960 Chevrolet Suburban”, you will see many photos of them- no third side door, windows both sides and both types of rear doors.
To me a Chev/GMC panel with windows IS a Suburban. That and rear seats were the only differences. I really enjoyed all the TV talk above too.
I think that the seller is asking three times its value. Need to reconcile the mix-and-match wheels and tires and get it running. And make it road-legal (busted taillights, to start). Somebody dragged this relic out of somewhere….
I don’t know if I’m the youngest person here at 50 years old, and I really love all the talk about cartoons especially, and I can easily admit that I could be wrong, have been many times in my life. Thank you all for the interesting comments and I look forward to reading more.
Two things I can add here.
A quick search reveals there was a Joe’s TV Shop in Adelante CA with that phone number.
Yes, it’s a Suburban. From 1935 through 1966 they had 2 doors. 1967 through 1972 had 3 and then from 1973 onward have all been 4 doors.
My one question about this rig- wonder why 3 rows of seats if ol Joe was hauling TVs in the wayback?
In think you mean Adelanto CA. High desert dry dry climate as is its current location in Tehachapi CA. looks desert dirty to me!
My childhood tv was so old you had to hand crank it and Maybelle answered!
I have got a 61 and a 64 hiding in my barn, lined up with my: 46, 52, and 55.
Still hoping to find a 67.
They are on display with a couple thousand license plates and old hubcaps.
I put all this in a Trust, so the Lawyers can’t force the sale to pay their bill.
When the youngest boy, nearly 50, saw the collection, his jaw hit the floor.
Not bad for a Poor man, huh?
I bought when no one wanted it.
I have been offered 100K for what someone paid me 50 bucks to cart away.
Having the real estate helps.
IMHO needs a later model hood 60/61 hoods are fugly and a later model SBC.
The old wheezy six just does not have the power to push one these tanks around.