Lawrence Street Sighting: Chevrolet Custom 10

Like I mentioned in earlier posts, hard-working pickup trucks were a common sight in my childhood; in Kansas, if you didn't own a truck, you knew someone who did. Since I grew up in the 1990s, and trucks last longer than cars (no clue why, they just do.), it wasn't really uncommon to see 1950s trucks plugging along--and even I remember the occasional 1940s truck hustling down 6th street; time change, and the "40 year old truck" gets newer and newer.  As a stark contrast to yesterday's rather unusual Ford Econoline, I present you this; one of my favorite bodystyles of Chevy's pickup ever.

This year, this bodystyle turns a stonking forty years old--and it sure doesn't look like it; to me, this is one of the most timeless truck designs around, and will never cease to look good. Introduced in 1973, this bodystyle was miles ahead of the 1967-1972 truck it replaced, and to prove it was ahead of its time, GM kept it in production well into the 1980s; the last model year for these trucks was 1987, and the bodstyle that followed this one is equally as timeless. That twenty-five year span marked some of the best trucks GM made in terms of design, durability, and cool-factor; growing up, the 1973-1998 trucks were always a favorite of mine--and likely will continue be so.

This Custom 10 is about as basic as it gets; orange paint, and white steelies suggest that this one did time as a KDOT truck or had a job in construction before being used as a personal vehicle; again, as I mentioned before, I saw quite a few of these in my childhood, and most of the ones I saw were this very color. Coincidence? I think not.

What's even more odd is that despite being a KDOT truck, it appears to have served its time well and shows no rust, or otherwise unsual wear and tear; even though one of the hubcaps (centercaps in this case)has left the truck, everything else seems to be in order. I didn't look inside, but I would imagine it rocks white or orange vinyl upholstery and a colormatched steering wheel, and probably is shifted with a 3 spd manual on the tree.

I will never get tired of seeing this bodystyle; it's a shame many of these trucks succumbed to either dumb rednecks who lift them and put huge tires on them, or they've fallen victim to the custom truck phase and have been hacked up beyond recognition. I would love to find more clean trucks of this generation, but since I live in the rustbelt, that will probably never happen very often.