1965 Chevrolet C10

As seen on Season Two of FantomWorks

Owner Insight:

As any young “tween” would, I thought the twilight series was great when it first came out. In the first scenes of the movie Bella, the main character, receives a red 1963 Chevrolet C-10. I had never really seen a truck like that in movies, on the streets, or at car shows. The first time I saw the movie I cared more about her awesome beat up truck than I did the actual movie. I started doing research,and figured out what I actually wanted for my dream truck. Now that I had the dream I had to figure out how I could achieve it while keeping in mind that my dad told me from day one that he would never just buy me a car or give me one. When he first told me that I was upset and said it wasn’t fair. Now I realize that he was trying to make me work hard for it, and keep that drive up for anything else I want in life and I appreciate what he did.

One day an old neighbor that was car crazy was back in town from Pennsylvania and stopped by to visit. He and my dad were talking about cars, and he asked me what type of car I wanted. I told him I wanted a “1965 Chevrolet short-bed pickup truck”. He told me that was funny because a friend of his had one for sale back in Pennsylvania! Right before he left he told me he would check to see if his friend still had it for sale, if so he would get the details and call us. A few days later he called my dad and let him know it was still for sale. He told my dad he would bring it down on a rollback for us to look at it,because he was coming back in town anyway. When he got here he uncovered it and I instantly fell in love! He told my dad what his friend wanted for it, and we both thought it was a good deal before we realized there were many issues that needed fixing. My dad and I talked about it for a little bit and I asked him if he could loan me the money and I would work to pay him back. He agreed and the rest is history!

–Nikita J.

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Arrival

Disassembly

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Body & Paint

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Finish

Historically Chevrolet was always known as a light-duty truck builder and only second as a medium duty producer. In 1955 with the addition of truck V-8 engines Chevrolet’s engineers began to build bigger trucks. The only change of note concerning pickups was that the one-ton 4 wheel drive model was dropped, Chevrolet continued to build half- and 3/4-ton 4WD trucks only.

Model Series designations for 1960 were completely revised. The new system began with a letter prefix. For example, a “C” prefix indicated a conventional cab; a “K” indicated a 4 wheel drive model; a “P” model was forward control; an “L” was a low cab forward; an “S” was a school bus and an “M” was a tandem.

A half-ton pickup was now either a model C1404 or C1434. The “C” designated a conventional cab; the “1” half-ton; the “4” a 6 1/2-foot body and the “04” and “34” were for Stepside or Fleetside body types.

The C/K designation became well known over the years and continued in use through the 1997 model year.

All 1960 Chevrolet trucks, including mediums and heavy-duties, featured new independent front suspensions with the exception of 4 wheel drive and forward control models. The pickup’s front springing was by extra heavy and durable torsion bars while rear springing for half- and 3/4-ton pickups employed coil springs. One-ton pickups retained the use of leaf springs in the rear but with torsion bars in the front.

The most significant improvement for 1964 was the change from the dogleg windshield to the conventional curved type. It provided easier entrance and exits for driver and passengers and looked much better too. The 230 and 292 six cylinder engines continued as the standard engines for all 2 wheel drives and beginning in 1964 for all 4 wheel drive pickups also. The 235.5 and 261 sixes were dropped. The 283 cubic inch V-8 remained optional for all C/K pickups. The El Camino returned after a four year absence. It was built on the Chevelle’s 115-inch wheelbase chassis.

The 1964 models continued through 1966 without any changes worth noting.

Read more about Chevrolet Pickups at: http://www.pickuptrucks.com/html/history/chev_segment7.html