BOCEPHUS
My 1963 Chevrolet C10 LWB pickup truck
Questions or Comments? Email me at zcwp2@imail.etsu.edu.
After my buddy got his '65 Chevy truck... I kinda decided I liked this body style... never figuring that I'd end up buying one of these trucks (I already owned 7 other cars and 1 other truck at the time). Found this one though... and it seemed like a good deal... and it seems REALLY solid for one of these truck (Chevrolet had a pretty bad rust problem on these trucks). Think it was September of '00 when i bought this one... maybe October. Its got some surface rust (you can see every bit in the photos)... but is really fairly solid... The floorboard from end to end has only 1 through hole about the size of a silver dollar in it... the rest is all just on the surface... the rocker panels (normally the 1st thing to go) are both still in the ol' truck... and the bed sides and cab are pretty nice. The worst rust on the truck is at the bottom of the passenger side fender... which will need to be replaced. The truck originally had an inline 6 cylinder and 3 speed on the collumn... a previous owner, however has added a 283 2bbl from a 1964 Impala... and the transmission and dual master cylinder system from a 1969 Chevelle. It wasn't in "driving" condition though... because the previous owner had managed to rip the rear end to shreds (did you know that course spline rear end pieces are made of unobtanium?) and probably also the drive-shaft considering its been converted to a 1 piece. I got bored of uselessly trying to find course spline axle gears so we have since converted to fine spline axles and gears (which I think are stronger anyways... and certainly much easier to find). Now all that is needed once I get some money saved is some new brake lines and wheel cylinders... and new hoses and belts. The original wood bed is of course almost rotted out... with a big piece of steel covering it... so that will be a future project too.
Update 4/25/2002. Well I have been driving the truck for probably 6 months or so now as my daily driver. I figure I have put about 25,000 miles on it in that time... a testiment to its reliability. Only major trouble was a transmission rebuild... very cheap with a TH350. I have been trying to aquire the rust free pieces to fix the truck... I've got a good hood (that was given to me for free :-) ) but am in desperate need of a passenger side fender... and I'd really like a driverside door too. I'm going to Arizona, Nevada, and California here in a couple of months or so... so I'll try to search out some rust free pieces there. I'll be driving so it should be a fairly easy matter to just rent a little U-Haul trailer and bring back whatever I can find.
Update 5/24/2003. Finally got some new pics taken with my digital camera. The truck sat for a while after that last update... don't know why... just figured I'd let him rest for a while. Been driving it regularly again though for about a month now. New transmission is brutal custom home-made shift kit with a modified valvebody... result is this big ol' 5000 pound truck will leave streaks hitting second gear :-) and thats running 265/70/15 tires on 10 inch wheels. He's fun to drive though... and still perfectly able to haul more than his own weight. Trip out west didn't pan out for rust-free parts unfortunately... big shocker... the fenders out west of the 'sippee are just as bad as they are here... doors aren't much better either. I actually saw completely rusted out trucks about the same year model in California in the junkyards... and right next to them super solid 40's model trucks... these trucks just rusted badly no matter where you were... mine actually seems better than most. I finally found my own little piece of unobtainium out in Texas though... finally got a rust-free passenger side fender... or well... at least half of one... the whole front of it was mangled beyond use but I just had it cut with a sawzall and had the back half shipped to me... total cost was about 30 bucks or so. See it here. A good front half I can find around here... it was the back half that rusts so badly. Changes to the truck... lets see... nice rubber bed mat to cover up that unsightly plate metal... courtesy of an F brand pickup that I was given and then traded off... new saddle blanket (seat cover)... steering wheel cover... friend was driving the truck when we first got it running and bent the front bumper slightly on the passenger side on a tree (oops no brakes). Added chrome west coast mirrors. Was driving through a really tight drive-thru when I realized the truck wouldn't fit... bumped the front of the pass side fender (junk anyways) and a little bit of the header panel on a concrete pole... oh and one time when I was out of the truck it got knocked out of gear and into reverse and sprung the driver side door on a chain link fence little dent there... grateful for the fence though because it kept the truck held until I could get to it and put it back in gear so there wasn't any other damage besides that. Bondo fell out of the pass. side fender so it really looks bad now (junk anyways though). Interior is much cleaner now. Biiiig wiiiide tires out back. Had to replace one headlight so I only have one T3 left now. Extremely bright "ticket light" interior light (courtesy of an ex-cop car) mounted on ceiling -- with a large magnet -- I didn't drill any holes. Still haven't found a passenger side windshield wiper assembly yet. Oh and I converted to side post battery and installed new battery cables... that pretty much solved the few electrical gremlins the truck had when I first got it. Also I'm on my 2nd radiator since getting the truck... maybe one day I'll spring for a new one. That's all for now.
Click Here to see my friend Jason's '65 Chevy C10 and his new '63 C30.
New pics are at the top... old pics at the bottom. Click on any picture to enlarge it.
