First Impressions

[davischevy]

Originally Posted by flashed

My first drive in one of these trucks was a beat up 3/4 ton 72 Ocher truck my boss kept around when I was a teenager . We did pipeline construction and that old truck never let us down ,hauled fire hydrants and heavy valves without a whimper .

Do you want a job? I can even fix you up with an ochre truck if that's what it takes.

[davischevy]

In 1968 my dad went down to the Chevy dealer and traded his light green 62 C10 for a new 68 C10 six cylinder TOTT. It had the smog pump which made an annoying noise.


He let me drive it from new but the first time I drove it by myself I tried to speed shift it and got it hung between gears. I was scared to death that I torn up his new truck. I managed to get it un-stuck and drove it sensibly home.

I was totally relieved a couple of days later when my dad got it hung between gears. My dad hated the smog pump noise, and the shifter, so when the 69's came out he went down and traded the 68 for a 69, 350 automatic. I drove it off the lot, but I'm still not as old as FirstOwner69. You have a beautiful truck BTW.

Both those trucks were light blue with white top.

In 72 my wife and I went down and traded her 68 Nova for a new 72 Cheyenne, orange and white deluxe paint. I loved that truck, but in 76 a guy asked me to price it and he bought it. I was sick for a week.

I bought a new 76 K10 but never learned to love it. In 1980 I bought a one owner 72 Cheyenne Super, solid ochre, and drove that truck until I acquired another one owner hugger and white Super and so the saga began.

It just occurred to me, my oldest daughter has driven a 71 big block Cheyenne for daily transportation, but although my younger daughter has ridden thousands of miles in these trucks, I'm not sure she has ever driven one.

I need to fix that. After all she will inherit some.

[rustytruck50]

My first experience with the '67-'72s was in 1974. My Dad was shopping for a replacement for his '66 C10 and looked at a few 69-72s and eventually bought a '70 CST-10, Dark Olive green with Frost green roof. I learned to drive in that truck and later bought it from the guy he sold it to. I've since had a '71, '68 & my current '72.

[FirstOwner69]

Originally Posted by davischevy

...but I'm still not as old as FirstOwner69. You have a beautiful truck BTW.

Smart "aleck" ....But, thanks for the compliment!

[FirstOwner69]

Originally Posted by 67_C-30

Awesome truck and story!

Thanks!

[FirstOwner69]

Originally Posted by Boog

It’s easy to see why you were attracted to that one.

Yup... it was a no brainer!

[slikside]

Great thread Tim...

I had two uncles that each had one back when I was still in single digits. One was a '69 3/4 ton lwb in olive, and the other was a 69 or '70 short stepper with glasspacks and custom paint. I always loved their trucks. When I was 17 my parents bought a red orange swb fleetside '72. They gave it to me when I graduated from high school. I turned 53 last month, and I still have that '72...

[CastIron]

The first C10 I drove was my dad's 73 back in the 80s when I was a kid. I had learned how to drive a tractor already, so it wasn't too hard to drive that 4 speed truck. The first 67-72 I drove was a coworkers that I "borrowed" to go get some lunch. It was 71 or 72 longbed that had a big hesitation if you gave it too much throttle. Then I bought my 69 C1500 back in 2000 or 2001 from the original owner. He told me it burned some oil, but I said that was fine and made him an offer without even driving it. My first drive in that was taking it the 5 or so miles to my parent's farm, where it spends most of its time sitting in a garage.
A funny thing about my 69 is that when the original owner bought it he immediately installed a canopy and then used it mainly for camping. I took the canopy off (and sadly, got rid of it) and used the truck mainly for hauling things. (I did take precautions to preserve the very nice steel bed) Last year I put a newer canopy back on it and have some ideas about setting it up for camping... going back to the way it used originally used.
Wish I had some pictures of when I bought it. But here is what it looks like right now.

[FRCvette]

Great thread. Cool stories and nice trucks.

[robs71]

My father purchased a 67 (big back window)cst 327 4 speed truck new..used it to haul his B production corvette to road races and hill climbs.I remember riding on the buddy bucket to many races in the late 60's,early 70's.. the sound of those air horns was so cool I thought..I was bit by the truck bug...family was going through some pictures recently and found this one of my father and me.......

[special-K]

Cool story Rob, and same for all of them so far. This is for anyone's first impression even if you're 16 and the first one you saw was 2002. Ok, more like first took notice when you were 8 in 2010 or first time you drove one last weekend.

[davischevy]

Originally Posted by FirstOwner69

Smart "aleck" ....But, thanks for the compliment!

My wife shares your opinion of me, but her description is more graphic.