I found an ’88 K1500, Scottsdale trim, Ext Cab, Long Bed with a 305 V8, that an Ohio state agency had abandoned in their yard and they said I could have it, if I towed it away. Okay, well, being a state agency, they said I had to pay something, so I bought it for $100. The truck was a mess, coming from a state that salts their roads. It was even more of mess having set beside a building for several years and a tree fell on it in an ice storm. Even more risky is that I bought the truck sight unseen, and didn’t see it till I got it to a local mechanic to evaluate it. What was I thinking?? The mechanic asked me the same thing. Well I was reeling from a stupid incident of selling my dad’s ’92 K2500 because it was also mess, so I guess my penance was to buy an even more lost cause. But I was determined… and committed… or should be committed, according to my girlfriend, at the time.
Anyway, the first pics are of it at the mechanics shop. Looks somewhat okay till I pressed on all the rusty lower panels and they just flaked away till nothing but huge gaping holes remained. Luckily, it had not rusted through to the inner panels of the cab, yet. Bonus #1. Bonus #2 is the truck only had around 75,000 actual miles on it. So the engine had to sound, with a little more help. Transmission… not so much. The agency I bought it from stated that the truck overheated, all the time and that the transmission had gone out. Which is why they relegated it to non-working status. Two things infamous for early GMT400’s were undersized cooling and weak 700R4’s. I did know this going into the deal so I was half-way there in bringing it back to life.
Now, the real challenge of getting it back on the road. First, I was in Colorado, at the time. The truck was still in Ohio. Sitting at a mechanics shop. I asked the mechanic, what would it take to get it drivable? You see, I wanted to drive it back to CO. He laughed and said I was better off buying a running beater then to put this thing back on the road. I said shut up and just give me a ballpark. Needless to say and after several thousand dollars later, they had it running and driving. But that was all it was going to do. You see, the most insane part of this story is I had still not personally seen the truck, yet. Only the mechanic had seen it. So I flew to OH to finally evaluate what I was now calling “The Onion”. Mainly because every time you peeled another layer, more was found to be wrong with it.
When I got to OH, terribly disappointed at seeing the state of the body of the truck, not so much that it was running and driving, again. But after my own evaluation, I realized that the mechanic only just barely got the truck running and driving. I mean even the transmission only had a gear or two. But definitely not capable of an LD drive. I probably would have broke down before I ever left the OH state line. So with tears in my eyes (A nod to Arlo Guthrie), I flew back to CO still without possession of the truck. The idea was to regroup and see what I was going to do about “The Onion”. Ultimately, I was not going to throw any more money at the mechanic but to get the truck transported to CO. That was fun itself as when most transport companies found out how long the truck was, after all it was a long bed ext cab, they would cancel on me. Finally, one transporter hung it (literally) off the back of a car carrier, with extensions, and got it to me in CO. What I mess I had in front of me… my Onion!
To make a long story just a little bit shorter, it was challenge and substantially more money, in bringing it back to operational and roadworthy status. Through all the mouse or rat piss on the first set of interior gauges and radio to revamping the cooling system and rebuilding the transmission to the completely disintegrated distributor, exhaust system and suspension from rust, it was actually some fun in bringing it back to life. The later pics are where it was at, just before I drove it from Colorado to Texas, after I moved there. I actually got it to dependable runner status and used it quite often. Even though it still looked like hell. The plan is to fix all the rusty holes/panels and dents in the cab. Bring it up to paintable primer. Then cover it all in tan bed liner so I don’t have to worry about any pin striping from the trees on my ranch. It runs good now and thanks to LMC, “The Onion” becomes less and less of its namesake. Because I am committed… or should be committed. But at least I am not making an un-Godly and ridiculously huge truck payment as well as having a vehicle (now designated a 36-year-old antique by Texas licensing terms), that I know will serve me for many more years to come. 😉