Funny thing, I loved the 70's Chevy trucks. I personally believe they were built a LOT better then.
We had a '79 Chevy Scottsdale with the 350 V8, I loved that truck, it became a true friend, it really did. That rig traveled all over this country, hauling a good size camper and a 4K LB boat for more years then I can remember.
She hit more backroads, mountain roads, beaches, riverbeds, lakes, mineshafts then other vehicles, or other people for that matter, will ever see.
She had over 350k when the suspension begin to fail, but that engine was all original, even the seals/gaskets. It ate alternators for breakfast, headlights were an occasional snack, the clutch seemed to be the very rare nibble, tires were dime a dozen. Don't even remember how many sets it wore out.
They don't make 'em like that one anymore.
Sold it to an older gentleman who was gonna take it up on the Yukon River in Alaska and live in it - we sold it with the camper.
Bought a '99 Chevy 2500 6.0L Vortec to replace it, it was even the same color. Unfortunately, it grew to be a horrible replacement, literally falling apart in more ways then one by barely 85k miles, all highway.
Throw-out bearing in the clutch went out, main computer had a glitch causing the truck to continuously redline, radiator freeze plugs kept leaking that crappy dex-cool stuff, emergency brake required constant adjustments, brakes themselves couldn't hold the weight of the truck on a boat dock, without the camper; truck ate tires even after hundreds of dollars trying to eliminate any possible suspension issues.
At 96k miles, we finally gave up, took it to a dealership on one of it's "better acting days", hadn't redlined all day, swapped it for a 2001 Dodge Diesel.
First Dodge I've personally ever owned - can't complain too much, it's still under warranty which helps. Oil pan gasket replaced at 50k, airbag sensors replaced, transmission pan gasket now leaking at 80k. Overall not bad, but hasn't seen half of the roughlife that that '79 Chevy saw.
For my DD's, gonna stick to my imports, for now - we've had our share of Chevy cars, overall not too bad, just always seem to have cooling issues that blow the heads. Ford cars, nope not a chance.
Have a 20yr old Toyota truck that's still going - however rusty it's getting!
[ May 02, 2006, 11:37 PM: Message edited by: Ramblin Fever ]