Memories - 1984 Chevy Custom Deluxe

Back in 1984 my dad purchased a brand-new 1984 Chevy Half-ton pickup truck new from a dealership in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba. Back then I believe the truck would set you back about $11,000 dollars I think. These trucks, stripped, never came with much. His had an AM AC-DELCO radio, 3-speed standard transmission (3-on a tree column shift), 6-cylinder engine that put out about 110 bhp. The engine was only 4L (250 cubic inches) and was fairly reliable. It used the old school carburetor. I don't think Chevy went to fuel injection until 1986 or 1987. And when that time came, they ditched the 6-cylinder and went with the Vortec series engine. I sold my dad's old truck for about $750 back in 1996 to a used car dealer. The truck had seen better days. It was on it's 3rd transmission, 2nd clutch, many hoses and changed belts. I went through water pumps, fuel pump, endless oil changes and even swapped out the universal joints. (Which was a real fucking bitch because GM had a genius idea of using GLUE to keep the OEM / factory universal joints connected to the drive shaft. The ONLY way to get those off was to use a blow-torch. I remember my brother and I using an oxy-acetaline torch on them and they would explode as you heated them up. I knew it was time to get rid of the truck when it started to blow blue smoke on start-up. Also, the truck was having problems going the speed limit on the highway if a head wind was there.

The bench seat was comfortable but not really sporting. I upholstered my bench seat because the fabric was tearing loose after 12 years of wear. I bought the fabric at a sewing store and designed my own seat covers. They worked well. I really had no plans to customize the truck. I still have the original manual that came with the truck from 1984. I keep it because it still has my fathers handwriting on the manual. I have lots of good memories invested in that old pickup: Fishing at the Assiniboine river in PLAP, cruising around Winnipeg taunting the local scumbags on the streets (that's another story). One of these days I'll try tracking down where that truck went to. When / if I move back west I will track down that truck. I hope it's not sitting in a field rotting somewhere. I would feel bad if it was. As dad always said, "Now that's a GOOD truck!"