Truckin Camino

[Camino LS6]

Welcome to my "workhorses" thread. It's going to be a long one and won't all happen today.

This is "Bumpy" my 79 GMC High Sierra 2500. I owned this truck longer than any other vehicle ever. It was always rough and rode the same way. It changed alot over the years - most of the sheetmetal you see went to the scrapyard long ago.

[Camino LS6]

Gotta go for now, I'll try to get back to this one tonight. Once the trucks are done, I've got some odds and ends and a former pride and joy to do. I have a couple of truck "Action Shots" I'd like to do too.

[Camino LS6]

This '88 Chevy K1500 was a cool little truck. It had a 5.7 EFI with an excellent 5 spd. manual trans. , only complaint was a spongy brake pedal.

[BatmanGTO]

Come on! wheres the pictures of Sheila? hmmm?

[Sixty8panther]

This '88 Chevy K1500 was a cool little truck. It had a 5.7 EFI with an excellent 5 spd. manual trans. , only complaint was a spongy brake pedal.

My kind of ride!!!

[Camino LS6]

More tonight when I have time - busy day today.

[z28luvr01]

Old GM trucks are so awesome. They just give their owners the feeling that "everything is going to be OK".

Keep the pics comin' Camino. I'm liking what I see so far B)

[capriceman]

When I was yougner my dad ownend a brown 305 scottesdale i think an 82 or 83 and when i was behind the wheel man, there was tire smoke and pissed off people. Sad though that i won aganist a hoped up Iroc-z the guy didnt talk to me for 2 years lol. I liked those old school clutches. It had the normal Sponge brake but a weekend of blood, sweat, and brake fluid fixed that.

[Camino LS6]

Sorry folks, go too wrapped-up in other things tonight. I'll get back to scannin tomorrow.

[ocnblu]

God, I remember when the new 88s first came out. I saw my first one face-on in Elkton, MD at the Chevy dealer there. It was a base model with single headlights, and I remember thinking it looked like a Ford from that angle (kill me now). And they looked so small.

Camino, I see you took off your "4X4" decals, like so many other people did back then. I took them off my '89. It does look cleaner that way. Sometimes I think Chevy decided to put those on there because they sat so low, no one would know it was a 4X4 otherwise.

Only thing I really didn't like about the 88s was the instrument cluster, with those rotating circles, they were really unreadable in certain light situations. They soon changed that.

You're right, that is a handsome little truck. Shortbed regular cabs are my favorite fullsize truck bodystyle.

Edited March 11, 2006 by ocnblu

[Camino LS6]

All true OCN - I have taken those damn ugly stickers off of every truck I've had that came with them. And I remember thinking that I needed to get an '87 because the new 88s seemed less tough. All of that changed when I first drove one, I think that the 88 Chevy was the most revolutionary truck ever introduced. I began a design frenzy for all of the big 3 that continues to this day. You can see the influence of GMT400 in all current trucks.

[ocnblu]

Hmmm... I am not a Ford man by any stretch... but... the '80 F-series could be construed as the first "modern" pickup truck.

[Camino LS6]

This is my '78 C30 Dump truck. It doesn't look like a '78 because I replaced the cab and nose with '81-87 sheetmetal. The original cab had patches on its patches and was unsaveable. Building it was a major project which I once had pics of ( pics disappeared a while back). The truck was painted to match the 1990 K3500 I had at the time.

Edit: The truck was a 454 with a 4spd.

Edited March 12, 2006 by Camino LS6

[Camino LS6]

This is "Swamp Thing" my '83 K1500 Silverado. When I bought it it had mud jammed way up inside the fenders and everywhere underneath - thus the name.

"Swamp Thing" had a 305 w/ 4spd. and came with the cap you see on "Bumpy" above. I was in the process of doing the body to match the Dump truck and ran out of time, so I put it back together and put it to work. I was planning to swap in a 350 when the 305 died, but that little engine just wouldn't die! I sold the truck to a friend , who sold it to a friend, who sold it to some local guy who drove it for a few more years and then parked it. The truck sat there for a few more years until it disappeared.

[Camino LS6]

This is my '84 Chevy C20, a truck I REALLY wish I still had. It was factory equipped with a 454,TH400 trans, dual exhaust without cats, and A/C. It had carpet delete and no extras except for an A/C converter which you could plug tools into! When I got it, it had been abused. It was dented all over and full of trash with a broken windsheild but it ran great. I put new GM fenders and doors on it and had the cab painted the original midnight blue. The bed was too dented up to use for such a nice truck but not rusty. So , I used it on "Bumpy" which you can see in the background. I had to sell this truck before I had a chance to finish it when I was forced to move - broke my heart.

[Camino LS6]

This is my '81 Chevy Suburban. I bought it for the snowplow it had on it which I put on Swamp Thing. I then used it as a tool truck until a lying oil pressure guage let me kill the engine. I put a GM Goodwrench 350 in it and sold it.

[Camino LS6]

This is my '91 Mazda B2600i. My friend bought this truck new, but failed to buy collision insurance . He then forgot to put it in 4WD one snowy morning and proceeded to crash it into his neighbor's garage. I bought the truck and fixed it. Then, I was asked to be in a friend's wedding in CA. I needed to raise cash fast, so I traded the still nearly new Mazda in for some cash and 2 other cars. One of them was the Toronado you have already seen and the other was a Mustang I'll post later.

[Camino LS6]

Is that a blue Scout I see in the background of the Suburban pic? Is that yours or someone else's?

It was mine. See it in this thread http://www.cheersandgears.com/forums/index...showtopic=6711:

[Camino LS6]

Saved the best for last. This is the first truck I ever bought new( not counting El Caminos). I factory ordered it in '89. It is a '90 K3500 Silverado with a 7.4 EFI engine, loaded to the gills. This was the best plow truck I ever had.

[ocnblu]

That's a nice looking pickup truck. I always liked those seats, with the upholstery (nice thick velour) bonded to the foam.

[Camino LS6]

That's a nice looking pickup truck.  I always liked those seats, with the upholstery (nice thick velour) bonded to the foam.

They were the most comfortable seats Ive ever had in anything. They caught the small of your back just right.