This is what Chad had to say about his Silverado…

“This is my factory original 1990 Chevrolet C-1500 Silverado short bed.  It was originally manufactured in December 1989 making it one of the final vehicle built in the ‘80s. It was ordered by and shipped to Joe Clayton Chevrolet in Arab, Alabama. The truck was inventory traded at some point to Jimmy Smith Chevrolet-Oldsmobile located in Oneonta, Alabama where it was purchased by an older couple, J.P. and Pearl Brown on 1/25/90 with 39 miles on the odometer. During the next 7 years, the truck was only driven occasionally by the couple, and was meticulously cared for.”

“Mr. Brown passed away in 1997 and the truck remained mostly in the garage out of the elements. I was even told Mrs. Brown even kept rugs under the tires to minimize the tires getting “flat spots” that come from sitting extended periods of time on concrete.  The truck was obviously one of J.P’s prized possessions and the last vehicle he bought, so the family kept it safely tucked away for the next 19 years. I was told Mrs. Brown finally decided to sell the truck to a dealer in early 2016 where I found it listed for sale online.”

“I was originally searching for a ‘90-‘93 454 SS pickup, but the ones I found either needed a ton of work or were out of my budget. The stunning light blue metallic and white two tone paint is what immediately caught my eye. I told myself “Well if it has at least the 350 V-8 I’ll consider this one. I’d gladly sacrifice a few horsepower for this absolutely gorgeous factory paint job.” According to the listing, the truck was immaculate for it’s age and had only 39,919 miles on it. I immediately called the dealership, got more information and pictures of the truck, and ultimately decided to take a gamble by buying it without actually seeing in person or driving it due to me being in Texas and the truck in Alabama. It’s not for the faint of heart to do this!  Needless to say when the truck was delivered to my hometown of Tomball, Texas. I was not disappointed when it arrived, it was everything they said it was.” 

“An added bonus was the included original window sticker, bill of sale, and original Chevrolet dealership paperwork! It originally came with 15×7 aluminum wheels, but I added the factory 15×8 Rally Wheels, and 255/70R15 tires for a sportier muscle car stance. The original wheels are boxed up in storage. The truck is now mainly driven to classic car shows where it has won many trophies, and pleasure driving on nice weekends. As of the writing of this article the odometer has just turned to 44k miles, and the truck still retains its factory applied Smoke Blue Metallic/Summit White deluxe two tone paint, original mint condition interior, and original drivetrain, all numbers matching. This vehicle has never undergone a restoration because it doesn’t need one…it is a preserved original. A time capsule. A true survivor. As the saying goes, it’s only original once. And that’s how this one is staying.”

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Fans of Chevy’s C/K Series “Square Body” trucks — which are aging very well as they turn 50 and beyond — this is the kind of truck you’re looking for! A one-owner baby that has obviously been very well cared for, and is for sale by the original owner!

She’s a 4×4, got dual gas tanks, 350 with an automatic. Running boards, bug screen, two-tone paint .. the mustard/gold color is a bit of an acquired taste, but we can live with it. It’s even got some little pinstriping accents, so you know the owner really loves this truck. He didn’t just beat it into the ground.

We spotted her for sale in the Old Cars Marketplace classifieds in Albert Leah, Minn. This neat ’70s hauler deserves a good second home. We’d love to adopt her ourselves! 

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The post Old Cars We’d Buy That: 1974 Chevrolet Cheyenne pickup appeared first on Old Cars Weekly.

“The step van has a 383 stroker, TCI 700r4 and a 12-bolt posi. It delivered bread until 1980, we found Blue Bunny magnetic ice cream stickers in it, you can also read the words under the paint, ‘Dry Cleaners.’  It was built by Jeff’s muffler shop for burnout contest’s in Lake Havasu Az.”

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“Enclosed is a picture of my 1950 Chevy half-ton. It’s been restored some time ago. I drive it quite a bit, but not daily. Also, I show it at local car shows. I do enjoy owning it and the many comments from people who say, ‘That’s what I learned to drive in.’ It brings back fun memories.”

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There had to be a reason for Dwight Anderson not to buy a stellar, time-capsule Chevrolet 1979 K5 Blazer when it fell into his lap last year.

But Anderson couldn’t think of any.

A resident of rural Blue Mounds in south central Wisconsin, Anderson has an awesome fleet of four vintage MoPar muscle cars in his well-appointed country “man cave.” It’s hard to find a flaw in any of his MoPars, but Anderson had a hard time finding many flaws in the Blazer, either. It turned into one of those “too good to pass up” opportunities, so Anderson added the truck to his collection.

“My good friend Zach Johnson, another MoPar guy, he called me one day and said, ‘Hey, do you remember Jack Frame’s old Blazer?’ His wife was our seventh grade math teacher. And they were getting to the point where they needed to sell it. Well, Zach had told them 20 years ago, ‘If you ever want to sell it, give me first shot at it.’ And they remembered that. So they called him and said ‘We want to sell the Blazer. If you want it come and look at it, it’s in the barn. So he went over there, and he called me and said, ‘I don’t have the money, but you need to buy this thing!’

“I vaguely remember it. He used to come and pick [his wife] up after school in it … He’d drive her everywhere. I don’t think she even had a driver’s license. But then it was also their plow truck. And when Zach brought me back to look at it, it had the plow on it and everything, but it was clean. And I said, ‘Yeah, let’s go ahead and buy it.’”

Anderson says he never had any plans to have a 1970s Chevrolet of any kind in his garage. And he definitely had no plans to have a snow plow. In one fell swoop, he wound up with both. 

“Jack was adamant that the plow come with it,” he laughs. “He wouldn’t let you take it if the plow didn’t go with it. They needed to go together.”

The K5 Blazer was a little dirty and hadn’t been driven in several years. The odometer showed 90,000-plus miles, and Anderson figured it would make a fun vehicle for his wife Ashley to bomb around in. “We had a convertible and we got rid of it, and I promised her I’d get her another one. She’s a farm girl and they had ’70s Fords when she was a girl, so she grew up driving the old trucks, knowing how clunky and ratty they were. And she wanted a convertible, and the top comes off of this!” he laughs.

Anderson admits that the Blazer turned out to be even nicer than he expected after he took a hose to it. The tires were old and needed to be replaced, but the Blazer was in otherwise immaculate condition.

“The secret was wax!” he says. “This thing was caked in wax! We think he used Turtlewax. He even waxed the plow. Even the plow had residue on it. I spent the whole winter with a nylon brush, scrubbing on it. It was so encased in wax. The black [trim] was almost white!”

As far as Anderson can tell, the removable top had never been off the truck and, according to the sellers, there was a strong possibility no passengers had ever ridden in the back seat.

“I pretty much gave it to my wife thinking, ‘Well, we’ll drive it. It will be fun. If we drive in the rain, no big deal.’ Now, when you at it, it’s such a time machine and so original, I’d hate to drive it in the rain or anything like that. It probably just deserves to be preserved.”

COMING OUT BLAZIN’

Chevrolet realized a couple of its competitors — Ford and International Harvester — were onto something good with their new lines of utility trucks in the late 1960s. International had already gained some strong footing with its now-legendary Scout, and Ford jumped into the fray for 1966 with a similarly designed and equally capable Bronco. Both of those machines followed the blue print and tire tracks left by the venerable Willys Jeep and Jeep CJ, which owed their beginnings to World War II-era military jeeps.

With its shortened K10 pickup chassis, the new-for-1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer was a decidedly larger vehicle than either the Scout or Bronco, making it more practical and roomy as an everyday vehicle, but probably less appealing as a rugged back-woods rig that could maneuver between tree stumps and boulders. The body had an open top “convertible” design, but with a sturdy fiberglass top that made the Blazer almost look like a fully enclosed vehicle.

The first-generation Blazers were equipped with either 250- or 292-cid inline six-cylinders, or a choice of 307 or 350 V-8s. Shifting was done through a choice of either three- or four-speed automatics, or a three-speed manual transmission. The early Blazers were offered only as full-time four-wheel-drive vehicles. Options included power steering and brakes.

The second generation of the Blazer kicked off in 1973 and would last all the way through 1991. By this time, the Blazers were offered in both rear-wheel and four-wheel drive. The 250-cid inline six rated at 130 hp was the base engine from 1979 up through ’84, with a larger 292-cid six as well as 305, 307, 350 and 400 V-8s also available.

For 1976, a new half-cab design was launched that was both safer and better at dealing with bad weather. These half cabs had a removable top that started just behind the doors and reached all the way to the rear of the vehicle.

The 1979 Blazers proved to be the most popular yet with more than 90,000 built for the model year. Prices started at about $7,200. Updates that year included a new fuel door on the passenger side in place of the old external gas caps. The redesign used a slightly smoother hood and integrated parking and head lamps. The fancy Cheyenne editions featured Custom vinyl trim in red, camel or blue along with some trim goodies. They also featured a different steering wheel and upgraded instrumentation.

The second-generation Blazers evolved and improved over the decades and GM engineers continued to find ways to make them more refined for urban life and everyday driving, until a full-blown redesign and third-gen launch came for 1992.

EASING INTO RETIREMENT

Anderson has no trouble tracing the history of his K5 down to the smallest detail, because the long-time original owner still lives nearby and he kept meticulous records of everything he did to the truck and all the original paperwork. The original window sticker shows he paid $10,144.05 for his sweet Cheyenne edition on Nov. 1, 1978, at the now-defunct Belleville Auto Co., in small-town Belleville, Wis.

In addition to the Cheyenne trappings, the Blazer was equipped with two-tone paint; narrow-stripe whitewall tires; rally wheels; red plaid cloth seats; cruise control; automatic transmission; 2.76 rear axle; heavy-duty battery; chrome grille; folding rear seat; and air conditioning. The 350-cid V-8 under the hood remains in the Blazer today. The plow on the front was added a short time after it was purchased and came from a nearby Madison equipment dealer.

Although the Andersons’ K5 now lives on a farm, it will not be seeing any duty in the fields like the Chevys of Dwight’s youth. 

“We had the old ‘Square Bodies’ as farm trucks. My mom and dad are the particular type, too. My dad waxed his work truck just like I do, but when it came to farm trucks they got used,” he says. “They were a tool on the farm, and we’d run them into the ground.”

Even a truck as nicely equipped as this ’79 K5 is a far cry from even bare bones trucks of today, but for the growing legion of fans who are latching onto early Blazers as collector vehicles, the unrefined ride adds to the fun. The bouncing, twisting and leaning are all a big part of the nostalgia that the trucks bring back for children of the ’70s and ’80s.

“These, they are not like driving a new truck. Those are like appliances to me. These, you have to really drive ’em. They’re stiff and rigid and kind of clunky. They’re raw, you know? You feel like you’re in a truck,” Anderson points out. “It’s got some torque. You can tell if you took this thing off road it would do really well, or it would do really well as a plow truck because of the short wheelbase. You can spin ’em around real quick. But for a top end, yeah, they’re pretty wimpy [laughs]”

“But hey, for the day, you know with stuff like those buckets and the console, these were kind of the beginning of things.”

So far, Anderson has avoided the temptation to take the removable top off — probably for the first time in the truck’s life. “We’re afraid we wouldn’t be able to get it to fit back on!” he jokes. And aside from a lot of soap and water, the only thing he’s really done to the K5 is mount a set of new tires.

Indeed, inside or out, it’s hard to find anything on the Blazer that needs improving. The paint looks almost brand new, as does every piece of trim. There are very few hints anywhere that the truck has traveled 90,000 miles.

The Andersons are planning to build an even larger shop/storage facility for their fleet in the future. Regardless of how many more MoPars join the fleet, it seems likely the “black sheep” K5 Blazer will have a home among the Dodges and Plymouths. Dwight says he promised the previous owner that he’d take good care of the truck, and he’s quickly grown attached to his age-defying 4×4.

“Jack said, ‘I want it to stay in Blue Mounds, and I know you guys will take care of it,’” Anderson adds. “It’s just something that came along and if you’re a fan of cars, you just appreciate it. If you’re a Ford or Chevy or MoPar guy, it doesn’t matter. You can get something like this and preserve it.

“I think we’ll hang onto it because my wife likes it. And whatever she likes, she keeps. And we’ll show it and take care of it and give it its due. It was an old workhorse, and now it’s retired. Now it gets the easy life.”

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Thomas stated that his Chevy received a ground up restoration and sports a 396 V-8, tach in dash, air conditioning and a wood bed.

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With the way collector truck prices are soaring, it’s hard to imagine any nice old truck isn’t a good investment these days. That’s definitely our take on this 1950 Chevy long-bed hauler. It’s for sale at Country Classic Cars in Staunton, Ill., and while the asking price of $18,300 is not exactly couch cushion money, this truck looks like it has a lot of potential — either as a fun “drive as-is” summer truck, or as a candidate for some restoration work.

The Chevy was restored a while back, according to the listing on our Old Cars Marketplace. The color scheme is an interesting choice. We’d probably go with a different look, but this thing would look good in almost any color. The chrome is cool. The old Fulton visor is very cool! We’d love to have one of these old six-cylinder mules in our garage.

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For years, a mural showing a lineup of long-gone brewery trucks has been painted on the wall of the Stevens Point Brewery. Now, one of the brewery’s trucks is back where its image was painted during its absence.

In late January, the Stevens Point Brewery in Stevens Point, Wis., learned that the 3/4-ton 1949 Chevy 3600 pickup that it bought new had been found. For decades, the truck was hiding in the trees just a few towns away. Until it was recently discovered, the only evidence of its existence was a couple old black-and-white photos — one showing the truck and driver Mike Mansavage, who worked at the brewery from 1933 to 1976.

Credit for the truck’s discovery goes to Old Cars reader Josh Mihna of Amherst, Wis., who stumbled upon the pickup last fall after inquiring about a similar weathered relic visible from the road.

“There was another truck that I had an eye on for a while and finally stopped to ask if they would sell it,” Mihna said. “When I walked around their property, I saw this and asked if it was also for sale.”

The owner of the two Advance-Design Chevy trucks wasn’t sure if she was interested in selling them since they had belonged to her late father. She told Mihna that she or her husband would call him if they decided to part with them, however.

Leaves, tree trunks and dirt obscured the faded brewery logos on the 1949 Chevy’s blue doors, making Mihna initially unaware of the 1949 Chevy’s important local history. “I didn’t even know it was a Point truck when we found it,” he said. “I just have to have every old truck I find. I just saw that it was a 3600 and it was pretty solid.”

When a call came from the owner of the trucks saying Mihna could buy them, he and friend George Spieker pulled out the brewery truck first since it was easier to extract. That’s when he discovered its secret.

“When I went back, I said, ‘It’s an old Point Brewery truck!” Mihna recalled. “I knew it was original because the logo paint work was done so nice. I went online and did some research, but it didn’t come full circle until I called the brewery and said, ‘We found this truck — do you have any history or pictures of it?’ Then they sent me the picture of when it was new and I said, ‘This is definitely the same truck.’ Even the front tires were the same.”

At just 41 years old, Mihna’s specialty is getting old cars and trucks running perfectly for himself and his circle of friends. He began honing his skills before he became a teenager and eventually came to work at a Chevrolet dealer by day. By night, however, he immersed himself in his true love: tinkering with 1930s-and-newer cars and trucks. Many of them were bought out of fields on a young hobbyist’s budget, and Mihna often had them running just hours after trailering them home.

After developing health issues resulting from a bout with Lyme disease, Mihna has had to quit his day job. However, he still loves dragging forgotten cars and trucks from barns and forests and making them run again when his body is up to the task.

After he had the first Advance-Design truck running, he turned his attention to the blue brewery truck. The engine was stuck and it was missing a few pieces, including the tailgate. Mihna turned to his parts stash and his other derelict Chevy trucks to make the brewery truck complete.

“The taillight lens was busted, the glass was broken and the headlights were missing,” he said, “but I put on all of those little detail things.”

Mihna also freed up the engine valves and brakes, welded areas where the metal was cracked and pounded out dents. He spent two days scrubbing and wet sanding the truck’s original paint to remove the decades of dirt that had accumulated.

While he was working on the old brewery truck, Mihna went back to the seller to learn how it came into her father’s possession. “She just said that she didn’t remember when it arrived there,” he said. “She was pretty sure her dad got it for free and they probably drove it in there and probably didn’t give it another thought until we came along. She said her father had no affiliation with the brewery. It was pretty much abandoned there, or somebody gave it to him for work or something like that.”

Mihna planned to completely free up the engine and get the truck running, but before he could, Mike Drechsler, a friend who owns Old Country Store Antiques in New London, Wis., talked Mihna into selling it to him. Drechsler soon found someone at the Stevens Point Brewery who was interested in buying back the truck and it returned to Stevens Point.

“The brewery started back in 1857, a year before the city of Stevens Point was established,” said Melissa Wysocki, social media manager for the Stevens Point Brewery, “and there is so much history of how the brewery has changed over time. We repurchased the truck because it connects us to that history. There are so many stories and important moments in the brewery’s timeline that we want to remember. The truck is one of those memories that we wanted to bring home.”

The ’49 Chevy is currently parked outside the mid-size brewery’s malt barn, and Wysocki said many of the brewery’s 60 employees enjoy seeing the weathered old pickup parked outside. She added that the truck has also been welcomed back by the community.

“It is amazing to see how excited community members were to stop in and check out the truck,” Wysocki said. “Many have shared stories from when the truck was up and running, and it’s awesome to see how impacted the community is through the brewery over the years.”

A long-term plan for the truck hasn’t yet been determined, but the brewery expects to eventually use it for parades and displays, either restored or in its current state of patina.

“Some people want to fix it up all the way and get it to run, while others want to keep the antique look,” Wysocki said. “We are hoping to find a middle ground.”

After a long career, few retirees return to bask in the workplace where they completed their yeoman duties. For the Stevens Point Brewery’s 1949 Chevrolet pickup, its original job site couldn’t be a better place to live out retirement — whatever that might entail.

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Fire trucks come and go as technology improves, but the Cottage Grove (Minnesota) Fire Department still has an old relic it hopes it never has to sell. These days, that relic has appeal well beyond the brick walls of the fire station making it even more extraordinary that it’s still a part of the fleet.

“There’s been talk of selling it, but everyone loves it for parades,” said Fire Chief Richard Redenius. “Everyone wants to drive it, but then they see it’s a stick. Not everyone knows how to drive a stick anymore.”

The truck that everyone fights over driving is a 1969 Chevrolet Custom K/10 built to fight brush fires. It was bought new by the East Cottage Grove Fire Department, a country hamlet known as “Old Town” just outside more suburban Cottage Grove.

Given its agricultural surroundings, a brush truck was a vital part of a rural fire department. To fight fires, the truck was originally fitted with a rack on the bed that firemen held onto en route to a blaze.

“They used to ride in the bed to grass and brush fires,” Chief Redenius said. “Five men at a time held onto two leather straps with a third strap around their bodies. It had a pump and tank in the bed and held shovels and brooms on the rack.”

The four-wheel-drive K/10 was originally outfitted with a two-barrel 307-cid V-8, a 4-speed manual transmission with a granny gear, a heater, power steering and backup lamps. Fire department records show the fire department paid about $2296 for the stepside shortbox pickup.

Fire departments are famous for taking care of their vehicles, and Cottage Grove’s 1969 Chevy truck was no different. Chief Redenius said many of the department’s firemen at the time were farmers, so they knew a thing or two about vehicle maintenance and did most or all of it themselves. As a result, the ’69 Chevy brush truck has always been in great condition. Since brush fires are a summertime occurrence, the truck was additionally spared from salt exposure except on rare occasions when it served double duty as a utility truck.

The 1969 Chevy was little East Cottage Grove Fire Department’s sole brush fire-fighting vehicle until the early 1990s when a new GMC truck was added to the fleet, Chief Redenius said. That’s about the time that the East Cottage Grove Fire Department was absorbed into the bigger Cottage Grove Fire Department. That period also marked the point in which the truck was retired from active service.

By 1993, the low-mileage K/10 had its share of scratches and nicks from firemen jumping in and out of the bed. Despite its age and state of semi-retirement, it was endeared enough by the city that it had the truck repainted and relettered by Coach Masters, a St. Paul restoration shop. At that time, the truck’s original tailgate, which had been removed for duty, was lifted out of the rafters and reinstalled. Today, the paint job is a little redder than original and for extra wow factor, the truck now sports chrome-plated “smoothie” wheels in place of its original steel wheels. Other than that, the ‘69 Chevy is original down to the drivetrain and untouched interior which both reflect the truck’s measly 13,500 miles.

In parades, the congenial cherry red truck often gets spectators shouting “How much?” to the truck’s driver, but there’s no plans to put it into civilian hands.

“As long as I am fire chief, it ain’t ever going to be sold,” Chief Redenius says.

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“The truck belonged to my father. I have done a few modifications, and the truck is admired by a lot of locals. I DJ car shows locally and the truck pulls the trailer. It is lovingly named “Pops 66.”

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