And so it begins..

Before I begin I should provide some history to explain how this got started. Since the early 90's I have been into classic cars. It was thru friends and family that I got interested in the hobby. I started with a 1964 Chevy Impala. A very clean all original car. I made several changes to the car with most being done to the motor. Years later I regreted modifying the original car. During those years I also had a 63' and 67' Impala. The 67' later went to my brother following a high speed collision between my 64' and his 63'. That story could be a blog in itself :) I also had a 63' Nova SS of which I had big plans that never materialized. In 2000 I sold the Nova and moved to California. That was my last classic.

Fast forward to November 2nd, 2008 in Austin, Texas. After a couple of weeks scanning Ebay and Craigslist I found a 68' Chevy C-10 LWB (long bed) for sale in Abilene which is 5 hrs from Austin. It was an original A/C truck, looked good in the pics and had a running 396 motor. I purchased it for $3k and arranged for delivery to Austin. This was the first time I committed to by a vehicle without driving it. Well, the second. The first being a Dodge Daytona Turbo that I purchased thru a catalog when I was in the Army.

On the day of delivery the owner got lost searching for my house. After getting him on the right track I waited outside for him to arrive. While waiting I could not help but wonder if I made a bad purchase. Maybe it was misrepresented and is really a rusted out beater truck?? When he turned the corner to come up my street I could see he had the truck on a flatbed trailer. The closer he got I could see the truck was as he described. It was exactly what I expected! Nice!

Trying not to show my excitement, I waited for him to take the truck off the trailer so I could take it for a test ride. When it was all set I got inside and turned the key. The big 396 fired right up! I pulled away leaving the owner waiting at my house. I got to the far end of the neighborhood and the motor died. Out of gas! I had to call the owner and have him fetch a gas can out of my garage. Luckily it already had gas. After delivering the gas we got truck running and I took it straight home. We finalized the deal and I was back into classics! :)

Here are photos from the original Craigslist ad and in my garage: