It’s been a while since my last post, mostly due to inactivity on the TI front (or floors, as it were), and a spate of busy weekends.

After some consideration I realized my little Datsun 411 was not going to satisfy the various uses I’d envisioned for it. I’m happy having a beater utility vehicle in my proverbial garage, but a) I only want one, and b) I want it do be capable of both hauling things and have enough internal space to actually sleep two people in vintage truck bed comfort. The Datsun is marginally adequate at the hauling (you’d never get a couch in it) and does not offer sleeping accomodations for two full-size humans.

My hunt for a replacement really focused on the mid-60s panel vans such as the Ford Econlines and Dodge A100. I like the short wheelbase forward-control vans. They would obviously do well hauling quite a bit of junk, and there’s just about room to stand up in them.

The problem with these vans is that they were used mercilessly in various business-related capacities, and more often than not, discarded or left to disintegrate behind a crack house in Hayward. (See also: my 1962 Corvair Rampside.)  So I tried for a few weeks to find one worth rescuing, and after finding the search pretty difficult, decided to expand my search to include a few close cousins, or uncles maybe, such as the delivery wagons and panel trucks. That’s when I found the truck I am going to buy tomorrow.

The truck was owned and well-maintained by a carpet installer who is now 91 years old. He bought it new off the lot at Fitzpatrick Chevrolet in Concord, CA in 1963. Like, when Kennedy was president. But for a couple mods (side windows, replaced motor with a crate 350), and judicious use of white rattle-can on anything chrome, the truck is remarkably original and solid. Ironically, the bed was redone in hardwood (over the original plywood). Hauling? Check. Sleeps 2? Check. In fact the guy used to take his family of 5 camping in it.

More on this in some future post, but for now Yay for the newest member of my black plate family.

Posted Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 5:24 pm. Filed under 1963 Chevrolet C30 Panel Truck. Follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or Trackback from your own site.