So, as anyone can see in my garage, I have a 1985 Chevrolet C30 Dooley, pretty solid shape, 350 gas, TH400, less than 150k miles from new, no a/c, and gets maybe 9 mpg. I use it for truck stuff. I've owned it for over a quarter century. It's a fixture.
I have a line on a 2015 GMC 2500 with low miles. It's a modern vehicle with a/c and room for four adults. I'm contemplating the purchase.
It would take a small fortune to restore the Dooley, but I know the old square bodies are "collectible". That means 1/2-ton short-beds more than 1-ton Dooleys, but even so....
Do I save it or cut it loose?
I think I could part with it, but complicating matters is number 1 son, who has childhood memories of running this thing up and down the driveway on snowy days and having fun with it. He's let me know he likes the idea of keeping it and restoring it in the future. He's graduating from college this spring, maybe grad school. I'm sure he'll have some scratch to play with in a few years.
I'm like, even after restoration, I'll have a standard cab truck that gets 9 or 10 mpg. Cost of keeping it is minimal and not a factor.
Should it stay or should it go now?
1988RedT2 said:
Dooley
My head's exploding right now
ShawnG
MegaDork
1/17/25 9:55 a.m.
Dually....
You don't have dool wheels do you?
In reply to EvanB :
Thank you, Evan. Not my choice of words. It's what Chevrolet called it. It's right on the glove box sticker--Big Dooley package.
Now that we've settled that, let's get back on topic.
ShawnG
MegaDork
1/17/25 10:05 a.m.
Good grief...
No wonder I've owned so many Ford trucks.
If you can afford to store the big dooly properly, IE not "parked round back" I would. Its not really worth dick to most people, and that buys you time to make a decision in a few years instead of immediately.
If a few years go by and you don't touch it or miss it and your son doesn't really want it, then send it down the road. Its unlikely to appreciate or depreciate any amount of significance.
Cut it loose.
There's a dude out there where this is his dream project. Help him out - if it's your son tell him to get going.....
Father/son projects pull at my heart strings. If your son is the kind of person who will actually work on it with you, and if you have the space to keep it, then keep it for that someday.
When I was in HS (1983-ish), my Dad tracked down the 1941 Hupp Skylark that he sold when he joined the USMC in 1944. We talked about hotrodding it when I graduated college and had some $ to spend. Dad caught the cancer and died a couple days before I started my last year of undergrad.
I'm on the cut it loose side too. The 2015 will do everything the 85 will do only better in most cases. There doesn't seem to be a need for it.
I'm sure your son would love to restore it some day but with grad school and then starting his career, will he really have the time or use for it? I know early career me had no time for stuff like that even though I really wanted to do it.
1988RedT2 said:
That means 1/2-ton short-beds more than 1-ton Dooleys, but even so....
Maybe not as collectible as that half ton short bed, but there are a lot of people really interested in building one ton dually trucks too. I bet you can sell it at a premium.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:
Father/son projects pull at my heart strings. If your son is the kind of person who will actually work on it with you, and if you have the space to keep it, then keep it for that someday.
When I was in HS (1983-ish), my Dad tracked down the 1941 Hupp Skylark that he sold when he joined the USMC in 1944. We talked about hotrodding it when I graduated college and had some $ to spend. Dad caught the cancer and died a couple days before I started my last year of undergrad.
Yeah, he is. In fact, I credit him with being the motivating force behind the rotary rebuild for the RX-7. He helped a lot with that because he wanted it done in time to drive to school on his last day at high school.
It's a tough call.
See if someone wants it more than you do.
List it now and list it high. You never know til you put it out there. Someone could be refreshing marketplace all day waiting for that exact truck to pop up
Bear in mind this attitude is how I've been through nearly 40 vehicles in my 24 years of driving.
Here's the deal. If you have the capacity to take care of it now, from a rebuild standpoint do it. If not. Dump it.
here's why. I worked on a rally car with a dude who owned a ton of really interesting cars in a barn. Most cars were projects he was going to get around to. Barn burnt to the ground one day and now he will never get around to any of them.
Ask your son?
Sounds like apart from him it would be easy to let it go. If he's more excited about this than any other project idea he's already got for a future when he's got time and money, let him know you're happy to keep it around, assuming that's the case. If faced with the idea of committing to it he's less wound up, move it along and free up your space, recoup the funds, and let him fill his project queue with daydreams.
Datsun240ZGuy said:
Cut it loose.
There's a dude out there where this is his dream project. Help him out - if it's your son tell him to get going.....
Who was it looking for a stone age truck recently? Racingcomputers?
Any functional truck is a small business waiting to happen. It's got value. Move it along.
1988RedT2 said:
I've owned it for over a quarter century. It's a fixture.
number 1 son, who has childhood memories of running this thing up and down the driveway on snowy days and having fun with it. He's let me know he likes the idea of keeping it and restoring it in the future.
In my mind, the answer lies in the quoted text above.
Squarebodies in general are the hotness. It would be an easy sell as lots what that lowered dually for a gooseneck hauling their show truck around.
Most would also probably swap to a p pump Cummins 12v. So that would fix the unloaded mpg's and torque. Others probably would put in a gen 5/6 bbc.
stuart in mn said:
1988RedT2 said:
That means 1/2-ton short-beds more than 1-ton Dooleys, but even so....
Maybe not as collectible as that half ton short bed, but there are a lot of people really interested in building one ton dually trucks too. I bet you can sell it at a premium.
This. There's a pretty big market for the c30s. Not quite as big as the c10s but still desirable. If you sell, don't price yourself short.
Motojunky said:
1988RedT2 said:
I've owned it for over a quarter century. It's a fixture.
number 1 son, who has childhood memories of running this thing up and down the driveway on snowy days and having fun with it. He's let me know he likes the idea of keeping it and restoring it in the future.
In my mind, the answer lies in the quoted text above.
Quoting myself to expand a little. When I was a kid, my father had a 1972 Plymouth Satellite. A nothing special car, but I had strong childhood memories related to it. When my older sister got her license, the Satellite that my father had sold years prior coincidentally became available and became my sister's first car. When she upgraded (I was still a year or two away from driving at that point), I begged and pleaded to keep the Satellite but my pleading fell on deaf ears. Some years later when I was maybe 18-19 years old, I ran across the Satellite broken down on the side of the road with a mother and young son waiting for dad to come back. The car was in very sad shape. I was late for work and couldn't stay so I left my number and explained that I was very interested in purchasing the car and would be happy to pay a much more than fair price. They never called. I looked for that car for years with no luck.
I say keep the truck.
Since you're on the fence and it's no issue to hold it, keep it for now. If you decide ultimately to let it go then no harm no foul. On the flip side if you sell now then wish you had kept it then sad trombone for you.
I vote keep it, as you say you have the ability to keep it. I can't imagine square body values will go down in the future, and if your son doesn't get around to restoring it you can sell it at that time
Keep it. Vintage air and gearvendors are cheaper than a newer truck. 8100 swap it?
