A 1968 Chevy C30 Tow Truck Rises From The Ashes

Key Takeaways

• The YouTubers at Rustomod find a 1968 Chevrolet C30 tow truck in a junkyard, which has been sitting there since 1979.
• The truck has survived well despite rust and faded paint, and still has its original engine, although it lacks spark plug wires and has mice in the interior.
• The truck has a mechanical towing linkage in the rear bed and potential as a restoration project, but it requires addressing rot and other issues.

Pickup trucks are firmly ingrained into American culture, and one of the biggest producers of trucks is Chevrolet. The Bow Tie brand has been making pickups for decades and is entering a new era with its hybrid and electric versions of the Silverado. One of the most well-known of all Chevrolet pickup trucks is the classic C Series, many of which are in boneyards and junkyards across America. YouTubers Rustomod found one example that has sat rusting for over 40 years.

Rather than let it rot, the guys there decided the best thing to do was save it and restore it. They aim to see what they can do with the truck and find out if it has any surprises in store for them. Along the way, they also check out some of the other cars hiding in the junkyard and explore their secrets. The yard is also full of quite a few old, rusting Fox Body Ford Mustang muscle cars, which would provide a lot of spare parts for those restoring their own.

The C30 They Rescue Is A Tow Truck Variant

Key Facts On This Chevrolet C30 Tow Truck

• The C30 tow truck was built in 1968
• It has sat in the junkyard since 1979
• The truck used to belong to a local gas station
• A large towing arm is located on the rear bed of the C30 tow truck

Arguably the most well-known of the C Series pickup trucks is the C10, but Chevrolet also produced other versions of the pickup truck, such as the C30 work truck. This is a 1968 C30 tow truck that has been sitting in the junkyard since 1979, so it has seen very little use in its lifetime. The team’s first job was to pull the C30 out of its resting place to get a closer look. First impressions reveal the truck has a bit of rust on the rear and the paintwork has faded. But it looks complete and it has survived well.

The truck worked in the local area before it ended up in the junkyard, and it was the property of a local gas station. The doors and hood are all open, and it still has its original engine which does turn over. The engine is missing its spark plug wires and the mice have made the interior of it their home. But generally, it has survived well. The truck has a four-speed manual transmission, but it lacks a brake pedal. The party piece is the towing linkage located where the rear bed would normally be.

All the linkage is still present, with it all mechanical and no hydraulics. The Rustomod team suggests they could use the truck to tow other things they buy around. It is a two-wheel drive truck, but it has a PTO from the side of the transmission, which turns a chain that moves the winch on the towing arm.

This will also enable to boom to move up and down. After decades of sitting outside, the boom and other parts of the linkage have likely seized up. However, the completeness of the truck means that it has a lot of potential as a restoration project.

The Restoration Will Have To Address Rot Across The Truck

Examining the truck closely, the team discovered rot running underneath the rear-crane section, while the doors are bad with the rockers in particularly poor condition. The video says this is a typical problem with old C10s. What is good is that the cab and roof have escaped rot and rust, as have the engine cowl and the hood. The driver’s side door has escaped a lot of the rot, although the rocker on that side has suffered.

At the bottom of the rear bed, there are compartments for storage on either side. The YouTubers state that the bottoms of both compartments have completely rotted out, and add more work to what is a long list of jobs.

One of the issues is that the doors won’t open, and a peak inside the cab reveals a couple of dead mice that need cleaning out. Walking around the truck, we can see the flat tires that need replacing, and the wheels themselves have been seized on the hubs. Some brute force and then the old tires and wheels come off for replacement.

An inspection of the engine reveals that the oil is still good, plus there is still water in the radiator. Spinning the motor by hand reveals it spins freely, and with good compression, the YouTubers link up a new battery to try and get the engine to run.

With the starter in poor condition, and more issues detected, the team decided to take the truck back to their workshop. The plan is to clean it up as well and remove a lot of the dirt and mud that has caked the pickup since the 1970s.

Cleaning The Chevrolet C30 Reveals A Tidy Looking Tow Truck

With the truck in the garage, the team worked hard to clean it up. Removing the leaves and branches from the bed is up first. Rakes and leaf blowers remove virtually all the leaves from the bed. Next, the truck receives a deep clean to wash as much dirt off as possible. The truck is first coated with a de-greaser that will soak into the dirt and mold before a pressure washer comes in to remove the muck from the C30.

A Lot Of De-Greaser Is Applied To The C30

Second Generation Chevrolet C10 Pickup Truck Prices

(Sourced from Classic.com)

Multiple layers of the de-greaser go onto the truck thanks to the amount of mold and dirt that has covered the C30. Halfway through the process, we see one section of the hood is much cleaner, revealing the orange paintwork.

A close-up shot reveals a lot of mold is still there, so this truck will need a lot more de-greaser to clean it off. The other section of the hood shows us how thick the mold is on the hood. Despite the dirt, underneath is a very solid truck that has a lot of life in it still. So the team at Rustomod can give this C30 the legendary restoration that it deserves.

Sources: Rustomod YouTube Channel, Classic.com