In July of '05, I drove up to Mississippi with my friend
Michael, and brought back his grandfather's '66 pickup. His grandfather had passed away eight years ago, and his truck had sat underneath a tree for most of that time. They were getting ready to move his Grandmother down to Florida, and really needed someone to take the truck.
The truck is a bit rusty in the usual places, and we didn't even know if it would start. Both front tires were flat (and dry-rotted), so we put the spare on one side and I bought a cheap Wal-Mart tire to go on the other side, just to get it up onto the trailer. After clearing it out of wasp nests, spiders, and the weirdest grasshoppers I've ever seen, we got it onto the trailer and back home to Florida.
A week later, my parents came into town, and Dad and I drained the gas tank, checked the oil (it was brand new!), gapped the points and got it ready to start. After I got a battery for it, it cranked right up! It had been sitting for eight years and probably hadn't been cranked for at least five years. It's a little noisy (hopefully just an exhaust leak), smokes a little, and there's a short that's draining the battery. I disconnected the alternator harness, and that got rid of the problem, I'll just have to track that down later.
Here's some pictures:
It's a little rough, but not too bad. We are calling it "The Hulk" for now...
The engine is a 250 straight six. Only 73,000 miles on the odometer. I even have paperwork all the way back to the original owner, which was my friend's great-grandfather. He bought it new off the lot on November 1, 1965. He then sold it to his son (my friend's grandfather) in 1973. He took good care of the truck, there was even grease on all of the lug nuts. I expected to break a few wheel studs due to rust, but every one of them came off easily.
Check this out, he would put a label here every time he changed the oil and filters, listed the date, mileage, brand and weight of the oil, filter part numbers, etc...
Here's the tag he put on the radiator listing the date he changed the coolant, brand, and "good for 4 years".
The hood has some bad rust at the front, but I picked up a hood in great condition on eBay. I only paid $62 for the hood, but shipping was just over $100. Still, that's a steal compared to the prices the junkyards were quoting me. The new hood only needs one small repair to be usable.
Both doors are rusted out at the bottom (inner and outer patch panels will be needed), and both rocker panels will have to be replaced.
The bed had an aluminum camper shell on it it's entire life, so the entire bed is in great shape! There's very little rust here.
40 year old bed wood, still looks pretty good. This truck will be a "shop truck" of sorts, not a show vehicle. I doubt I'll replace this wood for a long time.
The interior is a little rough, but not bad. Besides the rockers and door bottoms, the floors will need to be patched in a few places, and the cab corners will need to be replaced.
We found a snake skin under the seat, and the original owner's manual in the glove compartment. Some small rodent had used it for material to build it's nest, but only the first ten or so pages were chewed up!
Also under the seat: a full set of spark plugs, two new fan belts, and a set of heater hoses.