1974 Chevrolet C10 Custom 3MT: Regular Car Reviews
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- Опубликовано: 26 сен 2021
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![Kehlani - Next 2 U [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/MpI7ekFG8A0/mqdefault.jpg)
“as common as an indie game that’s a metaphor for mental illness” god what a line
"More variations of the C10 platform than Undertale headcanons." Mr. Regular, please stop attacking us. We're your viewers.
@@TheRealColBosch he finds a way to make fun of everything but still being funny while reviewing a car.
This line in particular killed me because I'm currently playing one. No complaints though because it's a solid game but I digress
@@supertrinigamer Was it Firewatch? Braid? Gris?
@@AshleyPomeroy Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice?
"Some people look at owning a C10 as a way to win the approval of a father who is six feet under." - Damn! That was pretty dark. I like it.
my dad for now is upright and still going but i grow up in my 80's k1500 and was my first truck ( and yes i got it out of the back 40 for about 600usd good luck doing that now as prices have gone way up and mines in better shape body wise than the one in the video ) and in my family gets mixed feelings from everyone but me it's like that one friend you like a lot but you're family doesn't anymore but you ben friends for 10+ year's now, besides sofar i haven't seen a replacement i fell in love with yet ect
mine was a farm first with my uncle then commercial construction 1990 with dad upto about 2006 ish and now me and the truck for the most part is retired from real truck work as i work in a manufacturing plant job, plus i do have a 60's hardtop car
I have a '77 4 speed 4WD that I haven't driven in 5 years. Now I'm looking at parts. Thanks RCR.
So….. It took for You to see Someone Else driving Theirs for You to get Motivated about Working on one You’ve had for a while?🤦🏽♂️
@@MandusahRamirez This is the guy that made the free valve harbor freight engine, and then the free valve Miata along with plenty of other projects he has up. It's not like he's been sitting on his hands.
@@MandusahRamirez looks like you've never had more then one project car before or either never have experienced being so close to fixing that car only for it to break last minute youll never know how unmotivating that can be unless you've experienced it
WINGA DINGA DINGA DINGA
You should sell it to me, dirt cheap. You don’t deserve it, and It would fit in nicely in my squarebody sanctuary.
On the topic of bare-bones cars/trucks that "can't exist because of modern safety" I show you the existence of the mitsubishi mirage. It has the same specs (roughly) as a '91 civic hatch, weighs less than 2000 lbs, and still complies with modern safety. A truck could definitely be made bare-bones, but I think we all underestimate how many people would actually buy it.
As someone who owns one of those delightful shitboxes with a stick, I concur.
Exactly, I want a truck the size of a Colorado with almost no options factory and the ability to order whatever options I want, even if I asked for base, 2wd, manual windows, no A/C, no radio, no back seats, than chose a 6.2L L86 or 6.6L L8T gas V8 with a 5 or 6sp manual transmission and a corporate 14 bolt with 3.73 gears and a locker. GM doesn't even offer a regular cab Colorado only extended cab and there is no short bed option for a regular cab Silverado 1500. Trucks have become so ridiculously oversized and they refuse to let you choose the good engines unless you buy a $50,000 trim level on an oversized 4 door barge. No wonder people could automatically expect to get at least $10,000 off MSRP on a new truck for so many years before all these dubious shortages.
A friend of mine bought a 2011 dually beacuse it has manual windows, manual locks, manual transfer case, and rubber floor instead of carpet. It would be nice if manufacturers made an inexpensive bare bones car again.
I had an old galant for a while and that was the most stripped out car I've ever had. Mitsubishi put practically no money into r&d.
@@hendo337 but boomers that never tow anything or even use it as anything other than a status symbol wouldn’t buy so it doesn’t get made
The Garand “ping” climax kills
First cyborg mod I’d get. Sack goes flying off and you can slap in another.
Just like the Girls Frontline comic.
I was about to have an annyurism at that intro, when the ping happened. Then i lost it. 🤣
I have the exact same Garand ping .mp3 set as my alarm sound so I was very very confused for a moment there
I can hear Papa Plaid
Regular grunts is the right way to start a day on campus.
Parasympathetic grunts on a Monday morning.
Bro fr
Day at work***
On the north end... in the porta potty
Fr
My dad had one of these when I was a wee lad. He used to let me sit close to him so that I could be his shifting buddy - he carefully instructed me on how to shift the three on the tree for no other reason than it was a father/son bonding experience. He also taught me the rudimentary components of a gas combustion engine as he worked under the hood of his truck. I sure do miss those days.
Saturday mornings with dad on a trip to the hardware store or the dump were always the best. Mine didn't have a truck, but he had an old Nova and used to let me shift it. I thought that was the greatest.
same for me as i remember sitting on the fender while dad fixed the water pump, tuning point in my life as later on it was my first vehicle and got a job as a mechanic 👨🔧as dad said to me as a kid if you don't have money you can make up for it with talent
did you steal the keys off the fridge as a kid? as 3 year old me couldn't wait to 16 lol 😂
Same
¹p
Handles like a lawn dart, accelerates like a 1930’s tractor, I love it
Neither is true lol
The hood folds during impact, to avoid driving it through the windshield.
That, and oil the damn hood hinges every now and then.
@@graywolf4206 Nah,then these tards wouldn't have anything to whine about.
@@burtbacarach5034 look at this edgy little guy
@@burtbacarach5034 kek
@@dustinlamont9477 Yah I got your edgy little guy hanging
I swear the reason we love these trucks so much is for the minimalism. You can't get a truck this inexpensive or barebones any more with an actual buildable options list.
To be quite honest, I miss minimalist cars as well. My first two cars were manual transmission, manual windows and locks, and overall pretty low on features. Vinyl seats and basic AM/FM radio gave the opportunity to get some seat covers and put in your own stereo and make it your own, which was half the fun. The good thing was it was less stuff to break when it was so basic, and that was nice. What I do not miss was the lack of power steering or fuel injection in my first car, but otherwise it was fun and you could beat on cars like that and they kept going.
It's so plain it's impossible to look bad. Personally I think it's Peak Truck as far as designs go.
@@ScubaSteveM45 I think we hit peak truck around about the years 2000-2005. You get fuel injection, overdrive, much improved safety, along with good horsepower, but still could get a truck with no options. Crank windows, no carpet, no cloth seats, no crazy emissions or turbos, 4x4, v8, manual transmission, and manual transfer case from Ford, GM, and Chrysler.
You can see this reflected in auction prices. Clean 1998-2005 GM trucks with the LS engines are already increasing in value. $15-$25k for a clean one nowadays.
@@TheRetarp no, I'm talking in terms of style/aesthetics here. Square body GM trucks are the best looking truck out there of all time
"Folks want something metal", so true, and the tone and voice? There's no way to describe how perfect it sounds
That Dateline article is basically how every article is written now.
The infamous hood kink. They’re supposedly designed to fold so it doesn’t decapitate the occupants in the cab
An early version of a crumple zone.
@@s.gossett5966 yep, and all it took to bend your hood was not keeping your hinges oiled and not closing the thing properly. Thankfully none of the k10s I’ve had in the past came with kinked hoods. The last one I had I’m fairly certain had been replaced though. Had a frame off right before I bought it. Preferred my step side over the short wide though
Glad somebody said it. In 80 or 81 they changed the hinges, ive had more than one person ask me to weld bracing in. I explain the possible consequences and they dont want me to do it anymore. Just keep the hinges greased.
Terrible design, though.
Ah yes, spontaneous decapitation.
FWIW, there is an untapped market in the US for a minimalist truck - which, because of modern safety and emissions standards, may be unobtainable, at least in the near future. It's another reason why these will always be desirable. Guys in work trucks don't need flatscreens and features galore. They need 3 things - a radio with a few presets, AC, and room to put stuff.
The secret to finding a minimalist truck is to find work trucks. Dealerships will try to force you into expensive consumer trucks loaded with gadgets and distractions, then when you look on their site or in their back lots you'll find basic work trucks hidden away where the fanciest thing is an automatic transmission. It's how I found my old Silverado with a regular cab (something else that's insanely hard to find these days) and massive bed.
Kind of miss it, had to trade it away for something with a backseat to have space for a baby seat :(
There's an untapped market for minimalist any vehicle.
Uh, so basically still majority of regular cabs. Those are the most minimalist you can get.
people forget cheap colorados can do as much work as most people need, love my 5 speed 06 for the simplicity
Heh I remember when AC was a luxurious option.
No way that truck only has 2000 miles! Look at the interior. It’s well used.
I'm guessing the odometer rolled over to 00,000 after 99,999 miles, and the seller just lied about it. Although. . . the pedal wear sean at 0:46 looks pretty minimal, so maybe it really is that low.
Definitely not 2k miles, even if it was outside that long there would be more indicators of it never being used. That truck has seen a life
If it never left the property, only hauled firewood from one corner of the property to the other, you'd be surprised how long it takes to rack up miles. My friend bought a 1974 Ford F-250 camper special off a farmer a few years ago. The farmer had bought it new in '74. He drove it from the dealer to the farm and it never saw the road again. He hauled firewood from the woods to his barn, firewood from the barn to the house, and livestock feed and bales of hay from the barn to the fields. The truck had 9,000 original miles. But the interior and bed was WELL used.
I thought the same thing. The close up of the rust has what I believe to be body filler behind the paint that remains. It looks like a gently used 102,000 pickup
Ya I call bs on that too
The reason you get waves in these so much is everyone, especially in the south and midwest, had a relative with a farm that had one or two. It brings a smile to those of us that have pleasant memories of them
3:35 Safety crumple zones, so the hood bends in an accident, instead of decapitating the drive.
Exactly. the manufacture would spend money to add that detail for no reason
...and doesn't everyone know you push these hoods back to lower them? You don't push them down like in modern cars with a single hinge and struts.
Yep. Lot of cars had that from the era, they probably still do but I expect tech to have improved.
Why do the old dodges not have "crumple hoods"? same style hinge, Never bent one
@@360dodgeram360 idk why but dodge trucks from this era always felt like they eere built out of thicker/better metal than the chevys. Ive had experiences with both and i have noticed this. Cant say on fords because fuck fords but i dont see any bent hoods on them either
My C10 Thanksgiving: ‘twas Thanksgiving Eve of ‘90 when I learned the ways of the C10. My sweet but dull cousin had just started another DUI stretch, this time in the Huntsville state pen. His rough C10 had been abandoned in Dallas, so my mom got recruited to drive the wobbly goblin down to Beaumont to sit at his mom’s place for a few years like a family monolith dedicated to shame.
Young Helix rode with his mom down I-45 blissfully unaware of two important things. First, the gas gauge didn’t really work. Second, the truck had TWO fuel tanks. Sadly, when we left our white flight metroplex enclave, we only thought to warily fill the tank on the left.
We were driving to Beaumont that night because school holidays in East Texas is when you visit the 23 cousins on your mother’s side, and ferrying the dented C-10 was just a bonus act of charity. My older brother caravanned separately in his slick Mercury Cougar on the idea that maybe the old coughing Chevy might have an issue on the way. He protested, but dear old mom said he could bring his girlfriend along and he acquiesced.
Sadly, when the lefty tank dried up and our Chevy inexplicably took a chit, bro flew right by without noticing. He was too busy receiving oral satisfaction from his plumply pert shotgun passenger. I have no way of knowing, but if I had to guess, he was blasting Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode at the precise moment his ecstasy distracted him from my agony.
We sat on the side of the road in unseasonable cold drizzly weather for hours in some remote stretch miles off from the nearest off-ramp. Eventually a nice baptist and his wife stopped and shared some turkey and drove us to a gas station.
I later learned how a carburetor worked when a guy from the station poured gas from a Dixie cup directly into the TWO barrels to get the POS American iron rolling again.
Several years later, that C-10 reentered my life when my cousin’s family disowned him upon release and he had to move in with us for a while. He got work as a welder and he repainted his rumply pickup. In our back yard. Using about 20 cans of Krylon. White Krylon. Flat white.
CODA: I was angry at my brother for a while. I could never figure out why he kept that insufferable suburban Cheddar’s hostess on deck all the way till he traded up sharply at SMU. But with maturity and experience came forgiveness. Finding a tolerable high school girl with blue chip missile twisting skills is like those 10 $6 Bitcoin your old geek roommate gave you instead of paying his share of the water bill. You HODL as long as you possibly can. Even when you forget the password, the memories will remind that once, without even knowing it, you were a KING.
wow that shit was RCR certified prose my dude
@@andreioliveira720 🙏 Mr. Regular is my muse. However, his speculative creativity far o’ershines my mere chronicles of past events.
Sounds like your brother was ahead of the curve with his thiccie gf
@@peytonbloom4123 WITNESS the THICCNESS
This is poetry
My mom, once upon a time, nearly bought a truck like this new. I remember her getting into a heated discussion with the sales manager of a local Chevrolet dealership when this generation was first released in the fall of '72. She considered power steering a expensive and unnecessary option. Actually, I'd guess that the paint if it were extra cost was also too much, as would be the sliding rear window and the side moldings on the truck you drove. She'd have used it for hauling hay for the horses, and the horse trailer. That she ultimately bought a used '67 C10 is another story.
Being only 5' 2", she has trouble with today's trucks, and climbing into my brother's 2000s Dodge Ram is an arduous process.
I remember reading about this generation of truck when it was new. "It's not a truck, it's a damn car!", or words very largely to that effect, were printed in a 1973 pickup truck comparison test. That was largely about how it rode, but also about other elements about it. The day when the worst thing you could say about a car was that it rode like a truck were quickly fading away.
That was one of the first steps to pickup trucks becoming so ubiquitous that I'm utterly bored by them. That new Silverado? To me, it's a symbol for people who sneer at each other and like to look down on everybody else.
i tried driving around a 2014 king ranch 150 nope didn't like it two hard to drive for me but iv had the older c10 68 and k1500 198-- and im a tall person torso wise as it felt like a ant-nosed simi truck
There's a lot of truth to the "it was a car" statement. The C10 shared a lot of front-end parts with the full sized cars, like the Impala. Granted, they were pretty big, heavy cars at the time, that the cars were pretty much just low-slung trucks anyways by today's standards.
@@audvidgeek but my 68 c10 ( carb/dizzy was a pain as every 200 mile's or so id change elivasion aka sea to Denver co 🇺🇸 ) was nice to drive the new trucks in 2014-up not as much arguable the new ones are more luxurious and nicer to ride in around town as a passenger but not to drive and if you get stuck overnight/long road tipping like i did in the c10 well im going to pick the c10 as the bench is easygoing for some zzz 😴 and how the cab was my tall frame could lay flat barely
@@audvidgeek Back in the 80's my uncle owned an El Camino so yeah. It WAS considered a truck in the State of Texas and even had a 'Texas Truck' license plate.
Today's Japanese cars, and their Japanoid clones, do indeed ride like a truck.
As a teenager and magazine aficionado of the early nineties, I remember when these "journalist" had personal grudges against companies and they were going to make them look bad whatever it took. This might actually be the beginning of the modern era of inventing facts and quickly retracting them after the damage is done. Back then, the internet wasn't advanced enough to have fact checking on a massive scale so they never changed their lies. This brings up some of the bad parts of the nineties that I could blissfully ignore back then. Still was a golden era for kids before helicopter parenting, sorry what was I going on about...
Journalists have always been scum.
I think what you were going on about is, when the media and government get involved things turn to $#!+.
"The rust is spreading like cold butter on a stale piece of bread you're trying to resurrect in a toaster." Best thing I've heard all day!
Edit: Heard* not read
I worked in a small auto body shop in the late 80's .. I replaced so many freaking rotted out cab mounts on these things that I could not even count.. I hated doing them so much that I cringed every time I saw a Chevy truck pull in because I knew that's what it was there for.
The Garand ping won my upvote, no matter how messed up the rest of the video gets.
"Upvote"
Wrong website
Found the fucking Redditor oh wait that’s literally everyone that watches this fucking show 😂
"My dreams are all dead and buried, sometimes I wish the sun would just explode, when God come and calls me to his kingdom, I'll take all you sum-bitches when I go" (DO NOT TOUCH THE TRIM!). I love the little nod to Squidbillies with his hat
My oldest brother has one of these in surprisingly mint condition from 1977 I believe. It is minimalist alright as it has the 250 inline 6 with 3 on the tree and no power steering or power brakes. It looks almost like new inside and out (no rust). It has the step side bed which I don't really remember seeing many of those. Interesting. It isn't his only vehicle but for when he uses it for work, etc it does the job. Not fast but very functional. My grandfather had one in the early 80's that was a 78 model that was "fancy" by comparison with 305 V8, 3 speed auto, power brakes, and power steering. It was nice with great air conditioning (which was needed where they lived in Oklahoma at the time). For some reason these old C10 square body pickups evoke pleasant memories of the past.
This truck looks like it was there as Lightning McQueen begrudgingly promoted Rust-Eze
I didn't know you voiced Futurama's Nixon.
[Nixon voice] Agnew give it your stamp of approval.
[Headless Agnew] GARRRRRRRR (Stomps on floor).
I feel a jowl movement coming on!
This is the comment I was looking for.
My favorite bit of trivia about the bending hood on square bodies is that it's deliberate. It's designed in. It's meant to be a crumple zone to keep the hood from going through the windshield and decapitating you. Only they made it so thin you can fold the hood if you close it too hard. Thanks GM!
Those early C-10s rusted out like that within 3 or 4 years sometimes. In my town there was one that was spray painted with graffiti that said "if you want rust, buy a" over top of the Chevrolet emblem on the tailgate. This was in 1977.
That was their weakness. The later ones took about 5 or 6 years to rust - a little better. Rust-proofing was available, but not many ordered it. Ditto for cars of the era.
Concerning the hood and its tendency to fold: those two bolt pins that protrude up on either side of cowl that do not seem to fasten anything are there to catch the hood; the hood is then supposed to collapse along those stamping lines in the underhood support so that in a front end collision the hood doesn't come through the hood and cut you in half.
I'm just surprised they had crumple zone divots in 1974
Thank you, I was about to explain that in a comment. It's hard to believe you have to explain that you don't want a giant, solid sheet of steel coming through the front of a vehicle to slice it's occupants in half to a channel who has done nothing but review cars for over a decade. It's the exact same reason why steering columns are built to collapse on impact. It's not like people back then were totally stupid about building vehicles.
If a hood catch a hood
comin' through the hood
The problem is that as the hood struts age, rust and get harder to collapse, the hood folds at the lines instead of closing during normal use. I think they worked this out by the mid 80's iterations of the C/K 1500. Our '78 K10 had the customary folded hood but our '84 C1500 flatnose didn't. GM's rust proofing was better in the 80's too. The 70's models were rust buckets no matter where you lived in relation to the salt belt. The 80's models didn't rust at least south of the salt belt.
@@ledzeppelin27 A crumple zone shouldnt result in the hood collapsing when you CLOSE IT. Somehow ford/chrysler did this without the mythical self bending hood problem.
I've easily ridden 100k miles in a 3speed, column shift, 2barrel, 350 GM truck.... 6:01 That sound, brought it all back; though it coulda included some wing window whistle.
Man, this brought back memories! My dad had one of these and it was the family vehicle I was allowed to freely drive right after I first started driving. Ours was an automatic with the inline 6 cylinder.
So many miles of watching the road pass through a hole in the floor between my feet as a kid in my dad's K20 plow truck... the nostalgia for squarebodies spans from Boomers to Millenials.
I used to plow with a 78 which had a huge rust hole in the floor, i had to keep anything I didn’t want to lose in a 5 gallon bucket.
Everyone pay attention to the C/K meanings. When I was selling my c20. I had loads of people upset that as a C truck it didn't have 4wd.
Bc they were Ford men and not used to special designations to decipher if the truck is a 4x4 or not
@@gabrielmejia6027 probably. But it annoyed me when I would say its rwd, list all the specs, and people would then get mad that it wasn't short bed or it wasn't 4x4.
It bugs me when people list a K10 as a C10 on ebay.
@@therealsnow …followed by, “I know what I have.” 🤣😂😅
Sure. But how many trucks are original? Lots of people swapped these to 4x4 because a C was cheaper and hadn’t been rat bagged already and if everything is custom underneath what does it matter?
Same thing with airplanes. Oh, a PA-22 isn’t a Pacer. Yeah, it’s a Tri Pacer with a nose wheel that someone picked up for almost nothing and then swapped to a tail wheel like rarer and more expensiver PA-20 Pacers. Or as a clean sheet for a Bushmaster or Sportsman 2+2 because if you’re going to mod it that much it won’t matter what it originally was.
Dad had a 72 C10 Suburban. I was driving it and got T-boned by a Toyota doing about 50, hit me right in the gas cap. No explosion. It knocked a tire off the rim, I put on the spare and drove away. Toyota was totalled. The 350 V8 went 200,000 miles before it threw the timing chain, I put a new one on in a couple hours then sold it. Great vehicle.
my dad owned 3 of these throughout my childhood. good times good times. of course the later gmt400 will always be the best a truck can get!
You forgot to mention that Dateline strapped model rocket engines to the filler neck to ensure good ignition of the spilled fuel!!!
After several takes where the tanks failed to ignite
That wasn't the only fake safety demonstration on dateline. I believe they faked Prius and Audi 5000 uncontrolled acceleration demonstration too.
The fix is relatively simple - there are forums where people describe how to relocate the fuel tank. I'd not even worry about it. I removed the tank of my '78 square body thinking there would be crud and rust inside, but it looked like new. The fuel tank was built pretty good. I can see how the rubber fill tube could be ripped loose, but if I got hit that hard I'd probably be dead from the impact. On my Dodge pickup the plastic tank is entirely inside the frame rails, but I think both trucks are pretty safe for how I drive.
It is safer to have it inside the frame rails like that though but the real hazard in the truck is probably the no airbag/lap seat belts issue
If you wrecked on of those trucks you might live but you'd have a nice steering wheel imprinted into your forehead
@@KLAWNINETY I drove several 1980's Chevy Squarebodies in the 1990's. They all had shoulder harnesses, unless you were the middle seat passenger in the bench seat...
This is how all of us sound when we say "they knew how to make cars back then"
i have one of these trucks. ive asked people will your new truck last longer than my old truck. well its still here.
The issue with that is that in 30 years, no one will be saying that about current cars.
@@the_kombinator yeah, I don't agree with the absolute statement that they knew how to make cars back in the day because most of them were kinda shity. But I have to agree with you. In the future no one will be saying that about current cars.
The culture of that era is half of the reason people get these
@@the_kombinator i think modern day cars will last more than the classic ones. This is like older people saying that the teenagers of the current time are a lost cause. People said that in 90s, and now you see that the 90s cars still on the road, and the better part is that they don’t rust so much like all steel cars from the 60, 70 and 80s.
Roman pulling a "Break Me" cover at the end shot a Spoony shaped hole in my soul.
I love the C10. My grandfather had a 74 Custom 10 single cab long bed, 4 bolt motor, 4-speed Muncie transmission and the tow package when I was growing up. That was the truck that I learned to work on cars with
I'm 27 and just bought a 1979 k20 a month ago. Found it in the furthest corner of Vermont. I love it and it's simplicity, I really do, unbelievably easy to work on. And yes, everybody waves, smiles or nods at you when you take a truck like this out.
The reason the hood is like that is so it will crumple in a accident instead of just decapitating you
They did however fix the issue in the 80s
I see, they brought back the decapitating hoods in the 80s.
@@_RiseAgainst If you're not putting yourself at risk with every drive you take, are you really living?
@@_RiseAgainst population control
@@vtr0104 preaching to the choir buddy, I drive an LS swapped model T
Like a precursor to crumple zones.
I had a 1995 GMC Yukon-same truck, 350 V-8, throttle body fuel injection, 15 MPG. Every time I worked on it I was amazed at all the things the GM engineers had come up with to make the car cheaper. From the suspension to the various fasteners, electrical parts, you name it. Everything was designed so the car could be manufactured as cheaply as possible. Mission accomplished GM!
When I was a Boy Scout, an elderly assistant scoutmaster of my troop had a C-10 from the '70s. It was painted red and white and had a camper shell in the back, and it's probably still held up after about fifty years.
As a suburban Gen-Xer, my affection for these old GM trucks was mostly acquired second-hand from product placement in The Rockford Files and The Fall Guy. I wonder how many buyers paying top dollar now are doing so because they were also too young to have the displeasure of driving them when they were new? Yes, that's sour grapes.
I was born in 1987 in New Orleans, however I already been in the very early 1990s been around and rode in 7th generation "sqaurebody" Suburbans.
Plus my Great Uncle in Mississippi (who died a few years ago in his early 80s) had a 1984 Suburban 2 Wheel Drive with a 454 .
Also, I see these (Sqaurebody SUVs/trucks )currently. Their currently out there of some.
I saw the commercial for Clint Eastwood's Cry Macho where he was driving a square body Suburban. 2 weeks later a 1986 Big Block C20 Suburban from North Carolina was sitting in my yard. The paint is terrible but I can't bitch for 2500 bucks.
My grandfather had one of these and my dad ended up with it for a short while in the 80s. Then my father gets another one when I was a teen. Sure, it be fun as a weekend driver but you'd look like a huge douche trying to recapture your childhood while doing it.
mines been in the family since 88 ish ( mid-80's model ) so i grew up in it and learned to drive in it ect. and in-fact im a late millennial and omost a gen-y but have boomer parents so yes i didn't get mine new and as to your question mine might be a tv truck but the paperwork is 100% missing so i wouldn't know how to find it to me its just dad's old construction truck but it did have a 6"lift when he got it
As a suburban GenXer as well, I spent a LOT of time behind the wheel of a stripped-down squarebody suburban work SUV when I worked with a survey crew in my 20's. I sort of liked the way it drove really. Visibility out the windows was great, and it rode stiffer than cars of the day
This a truck that screams "America", not even the F150 or the Ram, scream "America" as much as this truck does
Yep. Screams it because that's how it has to make sure you know. Because wouldn't just by looking at it, as you would with say an F-150 or even the last generation Nissan Frontier.
Yea
Most of my driving has been in a modern F-150 because company truck. That feels like "Gated Community Masquerading As Utilitarian"
That C10 is the heartland itself
Aren't a lot of modern trucks built in Mexico nowadays? Some Japanese trucks are more American than American trucks.
@@kevinnorris6558 hence my reply of the Frontier being more American.
A lot of the American brand cars are made in Mexico, but I think all their pickups are still assembled in the US (components sourced globally).
True, because people elsewhere had more dense than to buy these turds.
I had a '73 as a daily driver for about 5 years. It's an experience owning one of those. Especially without power steering. Everybody thinks you can help them move. I didn't stop driving it until the seat belts, brakes, headlights, and wipers quit working. It even had the saddle tanks on BOTH sides! I only died in a fiery accident twice.
73s are pretty rare, as they had no drip rails on the door openings. That meant that most of them rusted away a long time ago.
@@michaelbenardo5695 Interesting...I don't remember that, I'll have to dig through my old pictures and look now. 73-74s were pretty popular on the west coast because in most places '75 and older were exempt from emissions testing/inspection.
Of course I wish I never sold mine. The paint was getting bad but the body was otherwise perfect, NO rust as of mid 200s! Thinking about buying another one, probably $10-12k or more now, if I can find one. I sold it for 1/3 that!
@@ryanroberts1104 75s did have to be tested, as the light-duty ones had a catalytic converter, but yes, 73s and 74s were hot, as they did NOT have a converter and could use any gas, not just unleaded.
I think some dealers offered accessory drips.
@@michaelbenardo5695 I remember that now that I look at my pictures! I've had numerous 73-79s, kind of hard to keep them straight. Used to be easy to get a beater truck for $800!
Also remembering the heater blower that doesn't turn off besides extra low speed - and was stuck on hot all summer long. I believe this was originally to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning in older vehicles in pre-cat times, but I think they still do it.
My truck now is an '07 Chevy, amazing how much is still almost the same. Trans is pretty much the same with an extra gear. Engine still almost interchangeable! Even still has the cavernous space under the hood where you can see the ground and smuggle people over the border! LOL And still super easy to work on.
I've learned my lesson though, no selling old trucks off for cheap. My yard is starting to look like a junkyard full of various disabled trucks, but I know they are only increasing in value.
My dad still has his 77 C10 bought new for 6500 red and white 2 tone paint completely restored and he still drives and hauls things in it; he loves that truck and has been paid off for decades
HAHA. Every time I drive my K5 Blazer around to haul stuff I think about the crash safety. I tore apart the doors to replace the door trim, there's no damn bracing in the doors... just a hollow sheet metal lol.
*laughs* I'm in danger!
Oh man even my 80s Hyundai has steel bracing in the door. I became familiar with it early this summer when I was trying to fix a massive dent.
Yeah, replaced the door instead.
Laughs in Danger. I think of that Ralph Wiggum in the school bus *chuckles "I'm in danger."
a door bar that is 21inches off the ground or a rocker that is 24 inches off the gorund ill take the high boy.
@@AaBb-zj2ld unless you're in central Texas and every vehicle is a jacked up Truck :-)
I got T-boned from the passenger side in my first 1979 GMC Jimmy. Would not recommend. The passenger seat was pushed all the way into and slightly over the driver seat, and the center console exploded into resin shard shrapnel that inundated my right forearm.
Remember, driving a c10 makes you an inch longer, and owning one gives you 5. That is how I got to 6.
But then cutting the muffler off puts you back where you started.
I added another muffler, but not change
Comment of the video here folks.
I was born with 10, my first car was actually a caravan. That took 5. The Ford was my second car, that took the other 4.5. The Chevy helped out
My dad had 1984 GMC Sierra Classic short bed when I was growing up. Even at that time in the mid 1990s it was having some rust issues and its 305ci V8 struggled to move it along at highway speeds while somehow simultaneously getting less than 10 miles per gallon. But, despite its problems and the fact that I grew up to be a Ford man and proud F-150 owner, I look back on that old truck fondly for the memories I have in it with my dad. Nowadays when I see one of these Chevy/GMC trucks of this generation on the road, I can't help buy smile as the mere sight of it takes me back to a simpler time in my life.
I keep coming back to this episode just because it’s so tremendously well written! Not to say no other RCR episode isn’t well written because they all are amazing!
That intro was pure raw, uncut season 1.
I just got rid of a K10. A car having “character” is like pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. It sounds good, it makes good talk, but actually dealing with it sucks. Especially in the salt belt.
Maybe its just not for you. Many of us love the work and find it therapeutic, and enjoy the pride of ownership knowing you did it yourself.
I got my '69 a year ago and I'll never sell it. On the west coast(in my neck of the woods) you'll see unrestored early 60's to late 80's C10s hauling wood,doing dump runs and pulling city slickers outta the snow without even a hint of rust or breaking a sweat.
@@chazzcoolidge2654 Lucky......... I live in Michigan.
@@benjammin8510 Dealing with rust is fun? That I don't see. Other mechanical work, sure, but watching your truck turn into a pile of rust is not therapeutic.
I buy my square bodies preferably from the Pacific Northwest because you'll get no rust, good paint, and interior.
It’s nostalgia, like anything else, obviously you don’t have it for these trucks, but it is priceless to someone who does
I had a 79 and an 83 both went past 200.000 miles . The side tank was never an issue I put dual tanks on both trucks along the way. They weren't fancy but rode good decent gas mileage easy to fix but never really needed much for repairs. Overall the best 2 trucks I ever owned. I would swap the 6L80 for the old 4 speed any day.
I was afraid to watch this because I knew he was going to tear into these things.
I was not wrong.
thank you RCR for finally giving M1 Garand owners the accurate representation they deserve
M1 Garand owner here, and I drive a '11 corolla.
@@nathanlewis5682 pffft 05 focus zx4 here. newest car I've ever owned
@@2bitmarketanarchist337 I'm stuck with the corolla til I score big in the power ball lottery, or when using my metal detector, I find a hidden cache of gold. I had a '01 Dakota til a drunk driver hit and totaled my truck and that drunk's insurance company screwed me out of full(her $30k max coverage) amount to get another truck. The local claims court wasn't must help either. The claims court ordered the drunk driver to pay me $3k, that $3k plus the piddling shit $2k payout from the insurance company still not enough. I had to go with a previously owned car from a private party seller.
@@2bitmarketanarchist337 you must have an SE trim package. Us bae model 05 zx4 owners only have SKSs.
@@nathanlewis5682 Oof :(
The hood folding issue is part of a frontal crash feature. The hood would fold in the event of a front end collision instead of the hood sliding back into the cab and injuring the occupants. In the manual it states to oil the hinges for the hood. People don't do this, and the hinges get very stiff and heavy handedness leads to folded hoods like in the auction photo.
1999
I was 18 and driving my grandfather's '69 C/10
Oddball watermelon green. Side step. Straight 6. 3 on the tree. No power windows, brakes, steering...
I was about 130lbs at the time and had to throw my entire body into it to turn that beast. The column shifter broke somewhere and it lost 1st and reverse. The lever that controlled the heat and a/c broke on the hot side. Thankfully the windows worked well enough in the summer. Had to put my whole body into the window to wind it up and down too. What a ride..
I drove a C30 for 6 months as my daily it had a 292 straight 6 and 4 speed manual ( really a 3 speed with a granny gear) I miss that truck dearly
Mine is a 73 Jimmy C25 with a 292 and 3 speed on the column.
The time travel gimmick was fun for a bit but I've missed Roman's songs.
We had an 83 long bed that we acquired in the early 00s when a library closed a couple towns over. It had about 38k on it. Custom Deluxe trim, 250 6, 700r4 trans ( 1st yr) p/s, manual frt disc brakes, AM/FM single speaker radio, gauge package ( they even worked!) tow mirrors, HD rear springs, and that was it. No carpet. No insulation. We did a ton of work to it, including 'do it yourself floor pans', but I gotta tell ya, when we got through with it, it was one of the BEST most reliable trucks we've ever owned! 30 below? 2 pedal pumps, 1/2 crank, and it was running like it was 80* outside. We had it 8 yrs and I sold it to a guy who put rocker panels on it, and he drove it untouched for another 6 yrs. He sold it to a junk scrapper in '15, who flogged it like a red headed step child until it was STOLEN in '17. Yep, somebody actually stole the rotted out hulk! It's amazing to me what these ol square bodies go for. I have a friend that has a double decker vehicle hauler semi. All he does is ship muscle cars, and other project cars from AZ and TX to the rust belt. Every other trip, he has a square body on it. He's been doing it 6 yrs now.
I learned to drive in a 1969 c-10 pick up that was my dads. I loved that truck! It was white with a 340 Buick with a 4 barrel , headers , and exhaust. No power anything , four wheel drum brakes , and a posi rear . It’s why I’m such a good driver now , I learned to fear , and respect that automobile.
Oh my god that bit about boomers buying back their youth was absolute gold.
Why? It's just the truth.
@@the_kombinator I was referring to the way it was written, not the concept.
@Yippee Skippy hey, cynical youths that go on Reddit 6 hours a day and sell their trucks because they don’t have sway bars that take an hour to install leaves me more of them so good on you.
@@theeoddments960 It's still not a good truck with sway bars, that's the point. I prefer not to die when somebody t-bones me, which will absolutely happen. Modern vehicles are just better.
I totally feel that although I'm a 26 y.o. left-liberal with a squarebody Suburban :D
Mind blown, 2000 miles I Choked in my blunt after hearing that
They sure it isn't 102, 000 miles?
@@snoproblem idk you can tell pretty easy with that seat and the elbow rest it’s complete bullshit
@@theeoddments960 also the tires, and the steering play. Zero chance that odometer hasn't rolled at least once.
Pure bullshit
I think the seat is a giveaway. Yeah the body being eaten away isn't a surprise if it sat outside for 40 years in the Northeast, but unless it was sitting around with the windows open bthe interior shouldn't look that bad. A friend of mine got an honest to goodness barn car from his grandmother with about 5,000 miles in it, it's a '64 Olds and he got it in probably the mid 2000's when it was about a 40 year old vehicle. It's all fixed up now but the body showed it's age when he got it, but the interior was (and still is) mint, outside a little bit of browning spots on the vinyl ceiling and on the lining in the trunk.
I use an old yellow ‘74 C10 to haul wood and such. It starts good. Sounds good. Water drips from the exhaust. It has an automatic transmission that shifts very good. They spent ~1000 putting an aftermarket A/C on it. The compressor is bigger than the heads, but hey it blows very cold. We are very careful closing the hood. They offered it to me for pretty cheap especially if they go for 5k now.
I drove one of these for a job I had in High School, it was a fine enough as far as engine and trans, but man, you could just about hear the rust eating the metal. just one winter was all it took to start the paint blisters.
The M1 Garandgasm caught me off guard. Amazing
The reason for the notches in the square body GM trucks hoods was part of beginning of the crumple zone technology, so that in case of a head on collision, the hood didn't come through the windshield and decapitate you. The most common reason they crumpled when closing the hood is owners and shops neglected to lube the hood hinges. The hinges were supposed to be lubed at every oil change, including certain points on the frame. I know this from reading original service manuals for these trucks, when I worked at a GM dealership back in 2008.
Third and fourth owners, and motorists under a certain age, refuse to properly maintain vehicles.
@@michaelbenardo5695 Some of it might be neglect, but in this case it's more likely out of just not knowing.
I’ve got a 71 short bed,
They rattle, they’re noisy, you can’t hear the radio but even in the U.K. I get thumbs up everywhere. Love it 🇬🇧🤝🇺🇸
3:25 ( so I've heard)
The reason why Chevy hoods have those weak spots is so, if you get in a head-on collision, the hood would fold up, instead of staying straight, and decapitating you.
Buick’s in the late 40’s/early 50’s could be removed and opened sideways, which I can’t imagine made it safer when you got into a front end collision, come right at you.
@@currier207 Actually, the hoods of pre late 50s cars usually didn't, as they curved down toward the grille - they would simply fold at that area in a collision. Late 50s and later hoods, which are fairly flat, could come through the windshield like a draw knife. The Squarebody hood was meant to insure that it couldn't happen in a General Motors truck.
I paid $400 for a rusty 85 k10 back in 2006, had it for a few years until gas hit almost $5 a gallon. It got 5mpg and I was making $11/hr. I miss that slow unreliable beast though
A childhood friend's grandpa had a blue C10 of this era with Oldsmobile wheel covers for much the same purpose (loading and unloading). This was one of the first vehicles I remember seeing and riding in on a daily basis.
I have to say, that mustard colored hoopdy aged nicely. You know other than the rust, hole in the seat despite only having been driven 2,000 miles to get firewood and prolapsed chrome package.
3:24 It's so the hood folds in a crash instead of being driven straight back into the cabin. There are probably a few in the fenders too.
It's very prevalent on early / mid 70's American vehicles. Eats up energy and moves the load path out/up instead of straight back.
Mid 70's cars were honestly pretty safe. The steering wheels are flimsy and far away from the driver. Some good design and engineering in the frame horns to buckle / bend instead of transferring load. Head Impact Criteria (HIC) values of under 1000 were mandated then and now.
not afraid to say I teared up a bit at this video. A GMC model of these trucks is an important member of my family that I hope to own one day. The squarebody styling will always stand out to me as a benchmark of the truck
I have the 1974 GMC version. Pops bought it in the spring of 1975. We live in an extremely dry area and its rusty as F. People roll up and want to talk about it like it was a Lamborghini Countach. My favorite part is the fuel tank on the outside of the frame. I installed a sweet Mooneyes metal flake steering wheel because the original turned to black slime. It also has a set of actual magnesium five slot wheels Pops traded a skill saw for back in 1978. If you have an accident in that rig, there will be a trip to Shaw and Sons funeral home, but I love that heap of crap.
10:30 My god, the critical levels of drip coming from Roman are almost too much to handle
I saw one of these on Saturday, in that configuration, in blue. The guy driving looked to be maybe 65 or 70, wearing a baseball cap. It was not horribly rusty, which is EXTREMELY uncommon in Michigan, and one of the reasons that there are essentially none of them left in my area. And for the ones that are left, they are more rust than paint.
I'm from Ontario and it's the same deal here. Brand new trucks are rusty within 2 or 3 years
I drove a 1976 C10 Stepside. Had the same 350 V8, but was an automatic. Crayon orange in color and rusty from bumper to bumper. I loved this truck, my dad still has it. I'm going to get it running again one day.
You completely overlooked the fact that with that many trucks sold, there is also many personal connections as well. Our family had a '73 suburban, green with a white stripe, 350, etc. We called it the green giant. It was legendary to us kids for it's interior space, even if Mom didn't like driving the beast....
*listening to the intro sound clip*
Me: “damn, that REALLY sounds like my mustang gt…”
*goes out to my car and looks at my pedals*
Me: “oh. So that’s what they look like.”
I couldn't really hear the engine on my phone, but the pedals and the ignition bong immediately told me it was an S197 Mustang
Bought my 78 C10 in 1997 when I was 17. Still drive it often. Wife told me to get rid of it because it was over 40 years old. Was going to tell her as long as I am getting rid of stuff over 40....
Ugh, I love this one. Great video. I'm going to go out and slam that old square body door 20 times until it latches.
My father inherited one of these from my grandfather. It was orange and very slow. It was garages it’s whole life so pristine condition and people would constantly compliment us on it. One day the engine blew while pulling our rv so my dad swapped the engine with one from a ‘69 Camaro. It was a little more fun to drive after that
What engine did it originally have?
Owned my 1984 C-20 firebomb "Junkstar 2" for 21 years. It always started, it always ran, didn't burn oil and needed minimal upkeep. It was a work truck with factory over-sized springs and brakes, 13 leaf-springs each side in the back, 350 4bbl, "heavy duty" exhaust (no cat!! from the factory!!), 1 ton rear end, and a 3 speed auto granny tranny. I could race and win against a corvette... for a 1/2 block. By far the most dependable vehicle I have ever owned.
The first vehicle I learned to hotwire was a square body on my friends dad's farm. Man the memories, Thank you RCR!
IM GOING TO BE THE FIRST I THINK TO EVER SAY THIS! I knew the original owner of that truck he lived across the highway from us. No bullshit. Its absolutely insane to see an old relic from across the street on my favorite car channel 😄 its from Milton, Delaware. Thats gotta be it. It sat outside his barn everyday for years & years. Thats crazy!
Care to shed any info on the mileage claim? I'm on the fence.
My grandfather bought a GMC Sierra C10 short bed in 1978 and I still have it. 250 L6 with this transmission going 75 on I-25 was my high school days.
My dad bought one in 1999 that only needed a starter for $500. Was a bare bones base custom deluxe C10 with the 4.1L inline 6. Got rid of it once the 3 speed auto finally gave up the ghost.
The kid I bought my 85 c20 from hit a concrete post doing 25 mph and barely bent the bumper. These things are absolute tanks. You can swap whatever engine and transmission you want in it, you have plenty of room to work with under the hood.
I agree with everything you said except the tank part. I have owned 2 and I would say it has jello left in the sun rigidity
The idea that cars and trucks of that era are tanks is largely myth. If you look at weights you'll find they're much lighter than modern cars and trucks, even ones of similar size. Crash safety regulations have added a lot of metal to vehicles.
Bumpers had to be strong enough not to bend every time you bumped a pole in the parking lot. That wasn't an indication they were tanks, just that they had metal bumpers.
The 1 tons were a lot more robust. The frames are thicker, the axles and springs are MUCH bigger. As strong as a modern 1 ton? No, but a lot better than the old 1/2 ton and 3/4 tons.
@@markmiller3279 But they did feel sturdier. They are much lighter because they didn't have side-guard beams in the doors, didn't have colapsable steering columns, didn't have 5 MPH bumpers, many didn't have AC, some had a stick, which is much lighter than an automatic, and they weren't Club cabs.
I remember in the 90s my buddy had an 87 Silverado on 33s, It was a tank for the time..We hit an 88 cougar when they ran a red light and crushed it…Very little damage done only a dent in the front bumper, no body panels bent or crushed…We also used to off-road with it down a narrow path and run over small trees on both sides…It was pretty incredible for the time…
Then you had a few old platforms like the GM X frame. That famous video of a modern car demolishing a classic car in a head on crash test? The classic was an X frame design. They were notoriously floppy and flimsy by the standards of their own time.
@@Misericorde9 yes…The cougar was an extended fox chassis like a mustang of its era…Definitely not ideal for collisions..although many mustangs have five star front and rear collision ratings, the sides not so great…
@@NewEdgeDesigns Ya the Fox was really flimsy when it came to the sides. So much so that the first thing a lot of people did was brace the sides if they wanted to drive the car seriously.
The fact this was used to just go get firewood makes me so happy. It reminds me of my grandpa.
RegularCars, never stop playing music. You're approach to song writing is genius!
My first experience driving a manual was a 3-speed column shift in my dad's 1971 GMC 1500 stepside. 307 V8, stiff clutch, featherlight power steering and manual brakes. That 3spd soured me on manuals for years.
Had a few of these over the years, only these were the "Big 10" or "Heavy Half" versions with a 3 speed w/ low range, so technically a 4 speed on the floor. These were all used for parts, feed/seed runs, towing anhydrous ammonia (liquid fertilizer) tanks on the farm to the fields. No frills, but it didn't need it you weren't trying to put on airs, just trying to get other work done and the truck was just a means to an end. Paper thin sheet metal is right.
The hoods are designed to crinkle in an accident. Thats why they do that. It was to help absorbe an impact. Otherwise it was to rigid and would snap your neck in a 30mph head on crash... but yea. Just go with "stamping from factory cause it's a cheap pile". That works too lol.
Well then they still did something wrong cause they fold when they ain't supposed to! Probably the springs on the hood supports are too heavy.
@@JeepWranglerIslander Well what was right was they didn't believe these trucks would last so long and developed a cult following... and therefore as the years went on weaken and bend... and also yea... hood springs were a bit too much. The hoods don't weigh so much and the springs are definitely heavy duty. Idk... My hood is straight haven't had any issues on my 79...
The funny thing is, this rolled across my feed after I saw this when it came on youtube. I grew up across the street from the owner of this truck. Knew him in his last years, I washed it a few times. I wanted to buy it off him when I turned 15 but he wanted way too much money. Sat out in the driveway for sale for almost three years. I miss those days. Its so odd the connection I have to this truck. Its from good ole Milton Delaware. Sat in a lawnchair in my yard across the road during the estate sale. It was a sad day.
Mr. Regular, another fantastic and eloquent review. Roman, love music. Man, I LOVE this channel!
In 1996 I bought my first truck... a 1975 C10... for $100. I will never forget the feeling when I got it to quit stalling. I loved that truck.
"More variations than Undertale headcannons"
*immediately likes*