My
father bought this truck in October of 1966 for $1795.63 as a second "car"
and a tow vehicle for our travel trailer. This was a bare bones truck: no
cigarette lighter or carpet, but its all truck. The AM radio still works!
The truck is all original except for the mirrors, the wheels and the step
bumper. This truck came from the factory with painted Jr. West coast mirrors
but I could not find replacements. I decided to go with the Stainless Steel
ones you see here.
The wheels, well, nobody wants to muck around
with split-rims anymore, so I went with junk yard aluminum wheels off a '78
Jeep Wagoner. Since all 6 bolt patterns are the same, they fit well
and are stout enough to handle anything I might want to; and, I think they
look good!
The truck originally had a painted bumper on
the back and when we bought it, Dad asked the dealer to install a step
bumper. I took the old bumper off and had a new one made to look almost the
same. I plan on installing auxiliary lights in the bumper with a dash
mounted toggle switch so I can see what I doing at night.
It came with a heavy duty clutch, rear heavy-duty springs, jr. west coast
mirrors and split-rims and 8-ply tires. The engine is a V-6 305E with 3 on
the tree and a 3.54 rear end behind it. I love the big block V-6. It has
never let me down and although I don't go anywhere fast; I can haul/pull
anything I want to, and then some! The 305-E has 165 hp @ 3800 rpm and 280
ft lbs of torque @ 1600 rpm; fairly decent for a mid 60s truck engine. She
only has 130,000 miles so I didn't do a rebuild; didn't need too!
Just cleaned her up real good.
When my father sold me this truck, he told me I would have to fix all the
stuff I did to it when I was a teenager; what with dents and scratches, it
had my name written all over it! But now......I'm almost finished. CTS
Richard Pruett's