Chevy Six Immortality: Rare '79 Square-Body C10 Last Ran in 1987 Gets Back on the Road

You may recall that Derek Bieri, Vice Grip Garage's YouTube channel host, and overly enthusiastic mechanic/classic car rescuer, ran aground while driving home a wooden Lamborghini Countach lookalike. The easy fix in these circumstances would be to hitch a ride, but what’s the fun in spending the next 250 miles (some 400 kilometers) making small talk with cordial strangers?

The gearhead way out of an unexpected road trip to a complete halt is to get a new car and drive it back home. Not ‘new’ new, but one to replace the wreck that no longer has the will to run and drive. With the help of the almighty internet, salvation came in the form of a 1979 C10 stepside long-bed square body. With a straight-six, a triple-shifter three-speed manual, many deletes from the factory, and a service record that ends in 1987, its last year on the road.

Alright, now we have to explain some of the details about the blue rusty three-quarter-ton Chevy. The motor is the famous 250-cubic-inch (4.1-liter) six-cylinder that was said to be unkillable. The transmission is the bottom-of-the-line three-speed manual box, which would have typically been stirred via the column-mounted lever.

However, this particular example features a makeshift system installed through the floor (see it above). Not ON it, by straight through; as if that wasn’t inventive enough, the contraption consists of two separate levers (one for first and reverse, the other for second and third).

This is one anti-theft device of the next level – the driver can put both levers in different gears and never worry about a thief trying to take the Chevy for a joy ride. Besides, with no radio, ashtray, 12-volt lighter, or dome light, what would be the fun of putting the 130-hp, 210 lb-ft (132 PS, 258 Nm) Six to work?

Perhaps not surprisingly, the engine leaks oil (it wouldn’t be a proper 36-year-into-retirement Chevy Six if it actually held the lubricant in its block). Also, true to its lesser-cylinder nature, it runs, dragging the lightweight body along.

Ok, Chevrolet didn’t build C10 three-quarter-ton pickups with weight reduction in mind. The GM division did, however, use biodegradable steel to the extent that the floor pan (and other parts) has gently reintegrated into the big circle of life by means of oxidation and corrosion.

A new exhaust pipe gets rid of the intoxicating fumes issue for the driver – the old one had a hole in it, and the tailpipe smoke rose freely in the cabin. The Ol’ Roy dog food can stretched over the lower side of the driver’s door is a good indicator of ‘Weatherproofing 101,’ and the filler cap is loose in the floorless bed. Some viewers of the video suspect this vehicle once belonged to a government agency, given the spartan options installed on it.

Amusingly, at the time of its registration on Valentine’s Day, 1987, the odometer on this beater allegedly read 4,557 miles (7,332 kilometers). By the looks of it, I’d be almost tempted to believe that’s the mileage covered in reverse. Jokes aside, this Stepside long-bed is a rarity in the rough, with its flat Fleetside twin being the popular option during the generation’s long-lasting production.