Mr_Asa
PowerDork
12/25/21 10:51 p.m.
Brother in law got this from a family friend that owned it, he passed and his wife couldn't stand to look at it anymore so he bought it and got it running again. 350, trans rebuilt a year ago before owner passed. Cranks and starts immediately.
Rust is an issue, but its in weird places from what I know of these?
$3000 is an estimate? Post in here and PM me and I'll pass on any contact info.
Cab corners and rocker panels are about normal, can't recall seeing a fender well do that before. Does that rear bumper double as an air tank as well? Used to race with a guy who made the rails on his trailer into an air tank.
That brings back memories. My first truck was a '78 long bed 2wd. When I bought it she had 50k miles on her. That was also my first performance engine rebuild. At some point I rebuilt the TH350 and did a DYI shift kit following instructions from a magazine article. It would knock down 20 MPG empty, towed the race car well and one weekend when we got rained out at the races on Friday night we took it to the drag strip on Sunday where it ran a 14.99.
I drove that from Upstate NY to Long Island where my girlfriend was going to school many weekends in the winter and to Northern Vermont were she worked at a camp in the summers. I spent many hours sitting in that cab, left elbow on the top of the door, right wrist hooked over the top of the wheel, listening to the V8 grumbling to itself in traffic, humming contentedly while eating the miles at seventy or bellowing under wide open throttle air rushing through it's open element air cleaner and the massive secondaries of the Q-Jet.
I drove that for 10 years and she just rolled 200 thousand mile on my way home the Friday before the fateful Monday morning when I got a speeding ticket for 80 MPH in a 55 and then about 30 minutes later a kid in a Ford Tempo tried to drive under her on a narrow city street. He made it almost to the rear axle. He feel asleep and crossed into my lane. I saw him comming and was stopped with my passenger side mirror pressed against a parked semi trailer when he got to me. He barely touched the body but he folded the left front wheel under the truck pretzeling the frame which in turn twisted the cab so badly the the headlight switch wouldn't turn off. I wasn't even sore the next day but that was the end of my C10.
The ticket really should have been for 80 in a 30 but the Trooper cut me a break. Someone had been tailgating me through a little village and when I saw the 55 sign I jumped on the throttle in an immature display of my displeasure. I crested the rise right next to the sign and saw the oncoming Trooper just as the truck barked the tires on the two-three shift at 80 MPH.
The RAM 3500 I have now is a better truck in every quantifiable way but some days I still miss that Chevy. I've been happily married to that girl for over 30 years now though. So, that's a win.