Owner: Dan Kosteiny
As luck would have it, I found this rare 1967 Chevrolet C30 pickup on eBay just 80 miles from home. I saw a reference to GM having built pickups with a nine foot stepside bed in an old dealer brochure. Surprised, I punched "9 foot box" into an eBay search, and this truck popped up. When I went to look at it, I knew I had to have it. I told the seller to pull it off eBay, as it was MINE!
I bought it from the second owner, Tim, who had inherited it from the original owner, an old family friend. Tim had first learned to drive in the truck before it was handed down. Originally purchased for Skagit Valley Sheet Metal, north of Seattle, WA, the truck was at some point fitted with a large cabover camper, so the bed wood and bedsides are nearly perfect.
I purchased the truck with just over 90,000 mikes on it. The truck is completely unrestored. It still wears the original paint, has the factory cloth and vinyl seat, and beige rubber floor mat, all intact. It came with the owner's manual, the protecto-plate, factory build sheet, etc, all in the factory plastic envelope. It is equipped with a 283 cu. in. V-8, compound low 4 speed and 4:57 rear gearing. It is optioned with Heavy Duty auxiliary rear springs, HD battery, HD alternator, HD radiator and a front stabilizer, so it's one tough truck.
What I find most unusual about this truck is the appearance upgrades it received. You would think that a 1 ton, nine foot stepside pickup would be purely a work vehicle, but this truck was ordered as a "Custom", with the additional stainless trim, panoramic rear window, chrome hubcaps, and chrome front and rear bumpers. I believe this truck was a special factory order, and could perhaps be one of a kind. I'm amazed Chevy ever built this truck. It's on it's own 133" wheelbase frame, and rides on 17" split rims which are specific to the one ton pickup. According to the Chevrolet Pickup Red Book (Motorbooks International), Chevy built 526,776 light trucks in 1967, but only 4,026 were 1 ton stepsides - a fraction of one percent.
The only thing I've done to the truck is re-do the factory split rims, and remount the old 7.50 - 17 bias ply truck tires. Somehow, I found a full set of NOS chrome hubcaps on eBay. I plan to keep it as original as possible, for as long as possible. All it hauls now is dog! Jim Carter has not been able to sell me a single part yet, but he knows he'll get me on my 14 other old trucks!
Dan Kostelny
Olympia WA
360-943-6333
ishnue@aol.com
