Questions about vintage Chevy Trucks

[Paul328]

Hello,

I am just retired and would like to travel around and visit relative. My family is on both coasts and as far south as Houston in Texas.

I could do like many others and buy a giant RV but that's just not me.

My wish is to buy a Chevy truck, 60's or 70's, get it road worthy and pull a canned ham trailer from the same era as the truck.

When I was younger I had a three on the tree straight six and that truck ran forever, could pull like a champ and didn't get horrible gas mileage.

My question is, with a freshly rebuilt straight 6 and good transmission, would it be ok for cross country travel pulling a small trailer. The trailer I have an eye on is a "Canned Ham" type, very small.

[Blue Bowtie]

You can hunt for a 292 inch six, but they seem to be rarer than hen's teeth.

Honestly, once on the highway, a SBC will likely get the same mileage as a big inline six. If you gear it for towing and add an overdrive, it could do even better. In a 4,400 lb. Impala SS I can get 27 MPG on the highway using the LT1 and overdrive 4L60E on 3.08 gears. I'm sure it would pull a larger trailer with the proper hitch and spring package, and a lighter half-ton pickup could do almost as well, with the penalty of punching a bigger hole in the wind with the truck. A smaller displacement SBC and 5-speed OD manual trans (like a T-56) could net plenty of torque and good fuel mileage in a 4,100 C-10.

The point is to not dismiss a V-8 if you are thinking fuel economy.

[Stealthee]

I will preface this by saying I don't know what kind of MPG we got since I was only 9 at the time, but my dad hada 64 C10 with a SBC in it and we drove it from Las Vegas to southwestern PA with a Ford Bronco II in tow.

I think you'd be much further ahead going V8. You'll get more power, similar fuel mileage and better availability of parts, as well as many other benefits.

[Ol'Jim]

Originally Posted by Paul328

Hello,

My wish is to buy a Chevy truck, 60's or 70's, get it road worthy and pull a canned ham trailer from the same era as the truck.

My question is, with a freshly rebuilt straight 6 and good transmission, would it be ok for cross country travel pulling a small trailer. The trailer I have an eye on is a "Canned Ham" type, very small.

Short answer: Yes. Many, many people did exactly that back in the day. And modern motor oils and electronic ignitions have drastically increased the longevity AND fuel mileage of automotive engines. (So has fuel injection, if that is something you will consider, I highly recommend it). But I have to agree with the previous replies, and recommend going with a V-8 over a straight 6. More availability of rebuildable core engines, better availability of parts, lower cost of parts, and a well-tuned, properly built small V-8 will get equal or better gas mileage, and run smoother. And you can take advantage of newer engine designs that improved the reliability and economy of later model V-8's over the 1950's technology that still existed in late 60's inline 6's. Really the best choice for lowest cost, best MPG and reliability would be to retrofit a modern "LS" type small-block into a vintage truck. People are putting them into everything from 60's/70's Chevelles, to 80's & 90's Ford Mustangs. Many sources for installation kits. My son's 2008 Silverado has the smaller 4.8L engine, and it has amazing power, (much more than my 70's 350 truck), and gets remarkable fuel mileage, especially on the highway. Reliable as heck, his has 167,000 miles on it, with nothing done other than routine maintenance, (regular oil changes using Valvoline synthetic and AC Delco filters and Wix air filters). We did replace the factory spark plugs at just over 100K miles, (just because), and they still looked great.