1966 Chevrolet C20 – Lloyd H.

Don’s Truck Lives On

My dad, Don Hering, was a trucker in the Far North. He bought this C20 new in the spring of 1966 in Fairbanks, Alaska. It came as a Camper Special with extra heavy suspension, a 292 straight six, a four speed transmission and a low ratio rear differential.
It was like him, not fast or flashy but very dependable and strong. He and Mom explored Alaska every summer, mostly on gravel roads. When my wife Elynne and I set off for Arizona to go to college in 1973, Don sold me the truck for a dollar. We drove it all the way, living in the camper till we got settled.
The Chevy took us to Colorado in 1978 to start teaching school in the West. It took me hunting for deer, bear, and elk. It hauled our sailboat to Florida in 1981 and was marooned there for years while we lived and worked in Saudi Arabia. I drove it back to Colorado in 1990. It got a new oak bed and a new paint job. When I started a new career as a pilot, the truck often got me to the airport for work.
The camper is long gone, and so is my Dad, but his truck works on: hauling mulch for Elynne’s garden, gravel or lumber for projects, or pulling a stump grinder for our son’s tree care business. The truck has been repainted again, and we put in a Chevy 350 V8 and a 5 speed manual transmission to give it a highway gear. LMC has supplied bits and pieces over the years, and we count on them to keep parts available. Elynne and I hope our sons well love the truck as much as we have for sixty years.