We spotted this 1965 Chevy C-10 Fleetside pickup while on our way to take a look at a retired military jet.
It was true the sight of a vintage warplane was the initial draw, but the bright red vintage Chevy truck held its own once we talked to the owner.
Current owner Alvin McColeman was very familiar with his truck because it came from his family farm where the truck played an active role in the farming operation.
Alvin’s father was the truck’s original owner and Alvin had learned how to drive in the Chevy.
The driving lessons took place in the fields where most farm kids learn how to drive; behind the wheel of a farm truck. Later, Alvin got his driver’s license after all of his lessons in the truck. Pickup trucks from a bygone era were bought with very few frills and this Chevy followed that same practical approach.
The pickup has its original base model 250 six-cylinder and a tall gear stump-buster four speed to get down the road.
It went into storage in the farm hay shed after the passing of Alvin’s father 43 years ago and remained there until his mother passed away, at which time Alvin decided to get it back on the road.
The Chevy had survived its long storage fairly well and the body was still in pretty good shape when Alvin became its owner. Nevertheless, he “turned every bolt”, in Alvin’s words, to ensure the truck arrived back to the outside world in a big way.
The exception to the restoration process was the engine because this six-banger is still healthy and dependable after since it was installed by the factory almost 50 years ago.
Alvin added an unusual feature to his family heirloom when he installed an 8-track player into the truck. Those of us from a bygone era can recall when 8-track was king, but that was several decades in the past when it came to sound system upgrades from a basic AM radio.
The 8-track touch made the Chevy even more interesting to us, but the rest of the truck was pretty close to the original from Alvin’s youth, although he also added a cluster of extra horns to the truck.
He tried out a smaller steering wheel as an experiment and returned to a full size wheel to handle the truck’s stiff arm-strong steering system.
Alvin likes to drive his truck to every show because he still enjoys every minute behind the wheel of the family heirloom. He finds the truck is pretty comfortable at around 55 mph and he does not push the Chevy too hard at this point in both Alvin’s and the truck’s life.
He told us the truck “drives and runs like a dream” on the road.
We mentioned earlier that we were drawn to the fighter jet and spotted the truck.
We are glad the jet brought us to Alvin’s truck where we got a great story about the strong family bond found in this 1965 Chevy C-10 pickup truck.
Jim Sutherland
