1968 Chevy Suburban – Brian M.

My “Don’t Give Up on Me” Suburban Story
1981, fresh out of school with a Master’s degree, we moved from Upstate NY to Phoenix AZ. Our daily drivers were a base model Chevy Chevette and a Kawasaki motorcycle. These seemed ok given our modest lifestyle…until daughter #1 showed up! We kept the Chevette but traded my motorcycle for something bigger….a 1968 Chevy Suburban. It was in pretty good shape but burned oil like a fiend. We took to always having a case of recycled oil in the “way back” and putting a quart in the stock SBC307 every 100 miles!
After changing jobs and moving to the Chicago area we kept this Suburban running, the hand choke in use way more than in AZ. It also had its first view of road salt. Moving again to the Rochester NY area in a couple years gave it an even larger dose of road salt, rotting out the rocker panels and all the steel lines. With deterioration came unreliability so I swapped the 307 for a 350 long block but ultimately we parked it in the barn and covered up with some tarps in half- hearted homage to what it used to be. This was the mid-1990s. We replaced it with a series of unremarkable BAS (Big A** Sedans) and a minivan, all more appropriate for a young and growing family, at the time.
Fast forward to 2020 and the pandemic. Given some new found freedom from the job at the University of Rochester I thought I’d take a look at the Suburban and if the frame was rusted through I’d junk it to free up space. After few weeks of assessing the condition I decided to pick away at it, doing “easy” things first. I cleaned up the brakes and suspension parts initially. Then I decided it had to move into the garage for any other work to proceed. That meant getting it running. The fuel pump, carb and distributor were removed for replacement/rebuild…remembering how to get TDC and using a timing light was both interesting and nostalgic! I swapped fluids and the battery…darned if it didn’t start right up and ran reasonably well for sitting dormant over 20 years!
Now the fun begins. I started doing some body work and replacing panels, all from LMC of course. It became apparent I was not a body guy so I contacted the nearest body shop (Becker Motors in Canandaigua NY) to see if they were interested in taking over. Being a slow season they said “sure”. I limped it over using their dealer plates only to have a dashboard component overheat and catch fire! After about 2 years, I got it back with new metal all around below the trim strip, new doors, rockers, cab mounts, etc and a fresh coat of factory blue with clear coat. That cost a pretty penny but when my son and I picked it up and drove it home it was a sight to see.
Of course there is more to the story, new upholstery, carpets, headliner (what a nightmare) and interior bits. I have a few things left like a bad instrument cluster gauge and dash pad, but it runs, passes inspection and is a relatively unusual sight going down the road. Going to a local car show was interesting. Lots of folks have had a Suburban that they fondly remember. It seems like many of these vehicles have succumbed to the ravages of time. For me, I’ve learned to not give up on a good vehicle just because it isn’t what you need this minute. Hopefully when I transfer it completely to my son, he will have the same feelings.