This Chevrolet C20 Longhorn Pickup With a Franklin Camper Combo Hides a Nasty Surprise

The Chevrolet C20 Longhorn pickup was specifically developed for the booming camper market, as well as for the cattle industry in the south. It comes with an extended bed and frame, as well as more carrying capacity than a regular C20. Putting the C20 Longhorn to good use, the owner of this 1968 example paired it with a Franklin 11FK6 slide-in camper, a wonderful construction in itself. Apart from completely refurbishing the combo, he also threw in a few nasty surprises that boost the truck camper’s appeal.

Despite the appearance, the pickup truck was initially delivered further north, in Waterloo, IA. One of the 1,900 examples built for the model year, it came with a 396-ci (6.5-liter) L66 V8 paired with a New Process four-speed manual transmission. The current owner bought the truck in 1989 and completed the refurbishment by 2012. If you look at the pictures in the gallery you notice there was a lot of work involved, including replacing the cab, repairing and repainting the body, and rebuilding the engine and the carburetor.

To fulfill C20 Longhorn’s destiny, the seller decided to buy the slide-in camper in 2011 and started the same thorough work that he did with the truck. He repaired and repainted the whole thing, in and out, as well as retrimmed the interior to the point it now looks like a jewel. To make them work nicely together, he retrofitted the truck with a third Scranton Manufacturing “cheetah” axle and a Firestone Ride-Rite rear air springs suspension.

The best part of this truck/camper combo is its animated longhorn-skull hood ornament though. Despite the overall cute look of the camper, it hides a nasty surprise for whoever considers messing with the driver. Fitted with a liquid propane torch and a CO2 sprayer, it can act as a flame thrower. It looks quite menacing when in action, too, as you can see in the video below. We’re not sure this is completely legal, but the fact that is removable surely helps. It’s not the only surprise for the would-be enemies, as the dual exhaust outlets at the back are plumbed with a propane torch as well.

We haven’t even touched the condition of both the truck and the camper, which is a shame as they are in great shape. The cabin looks as good as new, even though more than 54 years have passed since it was built. The engine was equipped with a towing-optimized camshaft, being completely rebuilt in 2010. The work included honing the cylinders, adjusting the valves, and replacing bearings, piston rings, and seals. The Holley two-barrel carburetor was factory-rebuilt around the same time.

Looking inside the camper, we appreciate it comes with everything needed for an outdoor adventure. Despite the relatively small size, the interior makes the best out of the limited space and it certainly beats any camper van on the market today.

The kitchenette area incorporates a sink, a four-burner stove, and a refrigerator, besides a healthy number of cupboards. It also comes with a water heater and a 30-gallon (136-liter) freshwater tank. This is useful for the bathroom that includes a lavatory and shower combo.

The camper was not designed for off-grid adventures and as such it does not feature a power generator or solar panels. Instead, it needs to be hooked to the power grid. A Pro-Mariner dual-bank battery charger is installed to manage both batteries under the hood.

Bidding on this combo is already hot with $30,200 at the time of writing and six days still left. We don’t know what the seller’s reserve is on this one, but considering the museum-quality restoration work and everything thrown in, we wouldn't be surprised to see the biddings going closer to the $100,000 mark.