65 C-80

[Mearl]

Here is a picture of my old 65 C-80. It still has the original 409, 5 speed with 2 speed rear with 7.17 high and 9.90 low gears and straight air brakes. It was bought new from Capitol Chevrolet in Montgomery Al. , in May of 1966. I also have the original Protecto-plate. It spent it's first few years with the Flack lumber company, then was bought by Strickland brothers ready mix and used to move houses. When I got it, it had a 3 speed Brown-lipe auxiliary to give it about a 100 low gears. I bought it to restore for my dad because he always talked about them. He always had C-60's for his log trucks.
It hadn't been out since 2005 when he passed away and I wanted to show it at the American Truck Historical Society show in Springfield this weekend. I'll be loading it up today and heading there tomorrow morning.
I had to take off the original 4G carburetor and put an AFB on it, which also meant I had to go to a later air cleaner. I sent the original carb to a place called Karb King in Pa. they had a good line about how well they could over haul it but it ended up costing more than they quoted, took 3 times as long as they said and didn't work when I got it back. They had bent the linkage to where it wouldn't open, the governor spring was laying in the side cover, they didn't replace the accelerator pump cover and it blows gas out the top. I may overhaul it myself later, I have a Delco NOS overhaul kit for it.

 

[blkblk63ss]

Wow , nice nice nice . I like those 64 to 66 C 80's version's , i always thought about a truck like that to make a car hauler and go to work in ,ha ha, 5 mile's at that time . I do have 2---- 1/2 ton's at present. Keep the 409 in there !!!!

 

[Mearl]

The 409 will stay at least until I'm dead and gone, it's the most significant part of the truck. I have a C-60 LCF with the original 348 that would make a cool car hauler, it has a 16' grain dump bed, but I'll never get around to doing anything with it.

 

[tripower]

Cool truck...

 

[Ronnie Russell]

I like it !!!

 

[64chevydude]

Looks good! How about some pics of the c-60 lcf?

 

[Phil Reed]

Cool truck Merle!!!!! Bring it to Great Bend....can use it for a tow truck in case we need one!!!!!!

 

[Phil Reed]

Take your carb up to Jon in Eldon.....The Carb Shop. He CAN fix anything carb related!!!!!!

 

[Mearl]

I should have taken the carburetor to Jon but I saw the ad for Karb King on Craigslist, it said they would rebuild it for $125; that sounded too good to be true and you know how that goes. They only jacked it up another $20 but kept it 3 weeks longer and still didn't fix it. I hadn't heard anything from Jon in a while and last I knew he was talking about selling out, so I didn't think about him.
You guys have lit the fire under me again, so Sunday when we get home we're going to move the 67 Nova I'm working on to the back and get the 63 out again. I may show up at Great Bend but probably not with a car this year.

 

[DonSSDD]

Not sure what the original air cleaner base looks like for the truck 4GC, but for cars you can buy an adapter for the AFB from Show Cars.

Jon wasn't doing carb rebuilds any more last I heard, just selling kits. He might know someone to recommend though.

Very nice truck by the way.

Don

 

[jim_ss409]

Nice truck!

 

[BSL409]

Looks Great

 

[Rickys61]

That truck looks sweet!! Would love to see it in person in Great Bend!!
Rick

 

[Mearl]

We got back from the truck show last night, or at least most of us did. We got 12 miles from home and a steer tire tire came apart on my 3500 GMC, I had forgotten that you don't get a spare with a dual wheel truck, so we had to leave it and go back this morning. Anyway, there were 694 trucks there but only 2 with 409's, mine and a low cab forward former fire truck. This was my first ATHS show and probably the only one that will ever be close enough for me to attend. I'd have to say if they have one anywhere close to you guys, you should definitely go see it.

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

I'll fix your flat tire, Mearl (reference to a song from the 70s by PPL) .

Glad you enjoyed the event, that truck is very special!

TomK

 

[64ss409]

We got back from the truck show last night, or at least most of us did. We got 12 miles from home and a steer tire tire came apart on my 3500 GMC, I had forgotten that you don't get a spare with a dual wheel truck, so we had to leave it and go back this morning. Anyway, there were 694 trucks there but only 2 with 409's, mine and a low cab forward former fire truck. This was my first ATHS show and probably the only one that will ever be close enough for me to attend. I'd have to say if they have one anywhere close to you guys, you should definitely go see it.

Could you have put one of the rears on the front?
Sounds like it was a good truck show

 

[Mearl]

The rear had a lot of weight on it, I was afraid to run them single. The tires are original to the truck, it's a 2008 but only has 28,000 miles. I guess the age got to the tires, that's why I didn't want to run a single rear with the truck and trailer hooked up.

 

[1963c-10]

Great looking truck!!!!

 

[62BillT]

Nice truck !!

I used to drive one similar to it.

It was a '62 GMC 6500, 478 V-6, 5 & 2, Spoke Wheels, 10-20 Tires and Air Brakes. Had a GVW of 32,000.

Bill

 

[Mr harold knight]

Looks Great.