Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Brother is finishing this one up for his son - '65 Chevy C10

This one has had the front end & brakes swapped out from an '85, which is where I got confused !

The only 283 I can remember my family having, was in a 1964 Impala my Dad bought new. Metallic blue. Beautiful car. Added a/c later. The 283 was plenty but would overheat if setting in a traffic jam on I-30 between Dallas and Fort Worth. Had to turn the a/c off. I assume it was because it wasn't built for a/c. 1963 half-ton I mentioned earlier in the thread my have sported a 283, I can't remember. The original 283 would certainly be my choice as well, if it were available. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't care. Hell, a 454/400 would be pretty nice.

Always wanted a 67-72 body style short bed but I can't get my rich uncle out of the poor house to buy me one.

Road a many a mile in the old 63 body style truck, both in the cab and in the bed. Don't remember any of them being automatics, they were all on the tree.

Many years ago my family had a long bed 1968 or maybe '69. It had three on the tree and a 307 small block. If anyone doesn't know the 307 is Chevy's combination of a 283 bore size block with a 327 stroke crank. I wish I still had that truck now.

Cool truck. I have a buddy who is enamored of these years and has a 66 Short box step side with a 6 in it that is his daily driver. Still all original right down to the three on the tree, paint, interior, etc.... He also owns a 64 long box 3/4 ton 4x4 in same condition that is his hauling truck for firewood and other heavy items and a 65 Suburban he is completely going through and restoring except for the addition of a 350/350 drive train and updated 4x4 transfer case . They are great looking trucks IMO, but when it comes right down to it, he still prefers to ride in my 2015 Silverado when we go on our hunting and fishing trips....

Bob

That is a beautiful restoration and a great paint job.

Through the '70s, we had a succession of Chevy C10s on the farm. Each purchased at about ten years old.

Black 1960 fleetside 8 foot w/ 283 and three on the tree w/ 2.72 gears.Dad went through a transmission about twice a year. I don't know why he never just put a good four speed in it.

Light green '62 short stepside with a six cylinder and a four speed. I hauled three loads of silage in it every day from harvest until pasture came back in April. Brother was bouncing it across the dry hills on the farm, tipped the battery over and burned it to the ground.

Light blue and white '64 long box stepside. It took over as the feed truck after the '62 burned up. Another six cylinder with 4 speed.

And then an avocado green '66 with long wide box. A 250 under the hood and a four speed. Dad had the head off that engine doing valve work at least twice. By the mid '70s, we should have just put a nice 350 under the hood.

And then in '85, after I was married, I bought a '65 GMC 3/4 ton hi-boy 4x4 with a 1 ton auxiliary spring pack under it and an 11 foot Aloha camper on top. It had the GMC 305 V6 and a three speed column shift. I replaced the tranny with the four speed out of that old 66 Chevy and turned the 66 bed and frame into a wood hauling trailer to pull behind.

I sure wish I had all five of them sitting out in a barn today.

What the heck? A Chevy with Buick "ventiports"? A Roadmaster pickup?

The 307 was the biggest piece of crap to ever be called a smallblock Chevy.

Hah! I saw that as well.

Painted grill to match the body and fender vents. Not my style, but a cool truck nonetheless.

The reverse 302!

What makes it so?

Ethan, this is the third Chevy pickup my brother has restored. The first was a '68-70 (can't remember which) that he kept as his daily driver for probably 10 years and then gave to his son. The second was a '56 that he put a '93 Vette motor in. Complete custom. That one was a beast. This '65 C10 is the third (that I know of).

Which GM Company was the originator of the 305?

I believe it was Chevy and it morphed into being the corporate V8.

Read years ago the 307 was a parts dump of 283 & 327 engine parts - anybody know if that's true ?

Head design. Totally a smogger engine. I may be misremembering, but I think there was something undesirable about the block, too, but I might have that wrong. All I know is that when I was considering a 307 as the basis for an engine build I abandoned the idea muy pronto.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't that awful for a basic utilitarian transportation engine, but as a SBC it was way outclassed by just about everything else.

Local Dirt
What part of TN is your nephew moving to?

I don't recall another 305 other than Chevy. Pontiac had a 301 along the same era & Olds had a 307. All completely different plantforms.

The 307 Chev shared a stroke with the 327, & a bore with the 283. The 305 shared a stroke with the 350 & a bore with the 265. They were struggling to meet new fuel mileage regs by the feds. Nothing particularly wrong with dependability of the 2, just couldn't pull a sick whore out of bed.



67& 68 C10's shared the same grill, the 68 had only the big back window, the 67 was last year for small window but think come custom cabs may have had the big one.

69-70 shared the same grill, a 71-72 shared another.

The 302 was definitely the quickest off the line with a shorter stroke and quicker rev. But the 307 was a torquey little bitch and powered my buddy's little Nova quite well.

We used to see a few 302s in the Camaros. And a lot of 307s in the Nova and a few in pickups.

The 307 came out in 68. Probably not much smog concerns in its development.

The 305, on the other hand, was a product of CAFE, and smog restrictions. But Chevy small block heads were pretty much interchangeable through the '60s and on until the Vortec engine came along.