INTRODUCTION
I sorta jumped right in with the gory details of my project without introducing myself or telling you why I got this truck in the first place. I think most people put this information near the beginning of their threads, but I didn’t, so I think I’ll say something about that here. Right now, I’m slowly fittting up my new dual exhaust, waiting for parts, etc., and I don’t have enough work on it to keep me busy all day, so I’m free to write stuff here to my heart’s content.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY (with cars and trucks)
I was born in Glendale, California and I grew up in Torrance not far from the beach. My parents bought a new house in Torrance in 1954 where I lived off-and-on for 54 years. My dad owned a Crosley station wagon and a beautiful green and black 1951 Ford Crestliner with a black vinyl top (long gone now). I can remember him letting me steer the Crosley when I was a wee lad while I stood on his lap. Sadly, my dad passed away at the young age of 37 when I was but 9 years old. My mom remarried a few years later and my stepdad put me to work at his place of employment, a muffler shop and gas station. I started out as the janitor and gardener. After a while I was helping remove and install mufflers and shocks, pumping gas, changing oil, fixing tires, all that. When I had enough money, I bought my first car, the service station owner’s 1958 Ford station wagon. I worked at the gas station until I graduated from high school. After graduation, I worked for a year at TRW as a reproduction equipment operator.
In 1968 Uncle Sam called on me so I joined the Navy to avoid being drafted and going to Nam and spent the next five years, ten months, and two days in the USN. The Navy sent me to computer school in Vallejo in 1969 and while there I bought my second car, a 1959 Ford station wagon. On my last Westpac cruise in 1973, I ordered a 1974 Dodge van at the Exchange in Subic Bay and that is what I had when I got out in Norfolk in 1974 as a Data Systems Technician Second Class.
After I came home to Torrance, I sold the van (gas crunch era) and bought an economical 1974 Dodge Colt (made by Mitsubishi) that I kept for the next ten years. I went to college on the GI Bill and eventually graduated with a bachelors degree in engineering (with an electronic specialization) from UCLA in 1980. My first "real job" was as an electrical design engineer with an engineering firm in Pasadena. I worked for them for seven years, spending two years in the office, and then moving on to construction in the field. My field assignments were in Tacoma, Washington building oil and gas gathering equipment for ARCO, and in Jubail, Saudi Arabia building a new refinery for Petromin Shell. While in Tacoma, I ordered a 1983 GMC S-15 Jimmy 4x4 that I kept for the next 27 years. Before I went to Saudi, I bought my mom a 1976 Ford Granada (which I still have).
Oil and gas work petered out in ’86 so I came back to Torrance. In 1987, I found work with an engineering firm that provided construction manangement services to the US Postal Service and spent the next two years building a general mail facility in Los Angeles. During this time I bought my 1967 Corvette and took the body off and restored the chassis. When the Postal Service job was over, I hooked up with a buddy and got a job in Cairo, Egypt of all places. I spent the next four years in Cairo as an advisor to the Egyptian army for construction of an M1 tank plant. I bought my house in Carlsbad with the money I saved on that job. When that was over I came back to Torrance and decided I’d had enough drifting around; time to settle down.
I’d hoped to find someone to settle down with, but that didn’t happen. For the next several years I struggled to find steady employment locally. I worked in retail, in sales, and for industrial contractors, none of which lasted long; early 90s in California were not good times. I took many classes at the local community college; welding, auto and machine shop, accounting, & art. I started surfing again, a lot. Eventually I found steady work with a construction consulting firm in Torrance that lasted for 12 years (where I had to do investigations and write a lot of long-winded, detailed reports, does it show ?). After my mom passed on, I fixed up the Torrance house, sold it in 2008, quit my job, and moved to Carlsbad. And here I am now, with a Vette, a Granada, and a Chevy truck, quite content.
WHY A TRUCK ? (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_a_Duck%3F)
So why did I buy a 1969 ¾ ton Chevy truck ? Good question. My little Jimmy, although dependable for 27 years, had qualities that I didn't care for. I didn’t use the four wheel drive, it was a bi tch to work on, and at the end of its life, needed a lot of work. So I got rid of it in August 2010 and started looking for something different. I wanted something pre-1976 so I wouldnt have to deal with the smog man and that I could do most of the work on myself. I looked at Rancheros, El Caminos, and Ford trucks at first.
My Vette had sat in a corner of the garage in Torrance and then Carlsbad, unused, for almost 14 years, and with inadequate storage prep, it was kind of a mess when I started working on it again. But I got it running and back to the point it was at when I abandoned it back in 1996 or so. The engine is the original 327. I’ve had it down to the bare block, so I’ve been able to take a few measurements and inspect it. It’s a loosey-goosey motor and needs a rebuild, I doubt it has ever been rebuilt. It does OK around town, but on the road it uses a lot of oil. At any rate, I didn’t want to tear apart an original Vette motor for my first engine rebuild. So that led me to old Chevy trucks because I figured I could find one with an original 327 (at a reasonable cost) and use it for my first rebuild experience instead of fking up my Vette motor.
I discovered this site at about that time and found tons of useful information here. During this time, one of my friends kidded me about wanting an old, full size truck and he started calling me billybob. That name wasn't available when I signed up, and just wanting to be done with the signup process, I became "bollybib".
I found I didn't care much for Chevy truck design prior to 1967, but the 67-72s were quite appealing, 1967 and 1968 even more so among the six years. I found a few trucks available with 327s, but it was limiting my search. I also wanted rear coil springs and an automatic transmission. My upper limit was $4k and even that was kinda high, low $3k’s would be better. So I looked for a 350 or 327 (original to the truck), automatic, with rear coils, 1967 to 1972, and I ended up with what you see in this thread. It’s the first vehicle that I’ve purchased since 1987, kinda blows my mind, that. It’s a pretty cool looking truck and fits my criteria. As I’ve spent more time with it, I have had no regrets in my choice, and I feel I was fortunate to find one in this condition for a decent price.
Thanks for reading
and
THE END