Two early GMC vans I found yesterday.

A couple of early GMC's. Drove past the place hundreds of times, never saw them from the road or knew they were tucked away.




I saved the pics to my pc, opened and saved them in Microsoft Paint and then reimported them so that they would be right-side-up...Vanny

Nice, lots of good parts...looks like some of the headlight rings are there and salvagable? Glass?, Door handles, even those GMC letters are getting rare! Plus what's inside? They actually look more restorable than several I've seen people start out with!

NICE FIND,I GUESS YOU COULDN'T HELP
YOUR SELF FOR STUFF YOU NEED FOR YOUR'S?
ALL OF A SUDDEN THEY BELONG TO SOMEONE
AND YOU ARE TRESSPASSING?

WCW wrote:NICE FIND,I GUESS YOU COULDN'T HELP
YOUR SELF FOR STUFF YOU NEED FOR YOUR'S?
ALL OF A SUDDEN THEY BELONG TO SOMEONE
AND YOU ARE TRESSPASSING?

They've always belonged to someone else. I can't just 'help myself' as they do not belong to me. They are on someone elses property, so yes, if you enter someones property without permission you are in fact 'trespassing'. If you think I should be able to just 'help myself' for stuff I need then I am very glad I do not live near you...

I've passed several old farm field vehicles and usually when  you ask the property owner about them for sale or some parts, you get an "oh, I'm going to restore those some day" or "that was my Father's car/van and I would never sell it" for an answer even though you've seen them rusting away for decades in some cases....and then when you hear they passed on, you get there and find out they had them hauled away to the crusher to sell the property.....LOL

At one time I thought Gotavan Dan owed all the Early GMC North me (LOL)

Awesome! Thanks Vanny I'm trying to figure out my mac.

dougw1 wrote:A couple of early GMC's. Drove past the place hundreds of times, never saw them from the road or knew they were tucked away.




I saved the pics to my pc, opened and saved them in Microsoft Paint and then reimported them so that they would be right-side-up...Vanny

savage wrote:At one time I thought Gotavan Dan owed all the Early GMC North me (LOL)

Gotavan Dan...Nice lol

So did you ever get to talk to the owner? A shame to see them sitting there and rotting away.

Still working on getting them. The first time I talked to him they were both available then a few days later he has plans to make one into a gasser... Funny how they've sat there for 30 years, then when there is interest shown he has 'plans'. I've known him for years so I'll just keep working on him. I can get one but it's the poor one which isn't any better than mine. He's still busy farming & it's a low spot to access them so it will be a while yet.

Well if he builds a gasser, fine. But if he's not going to get on it then he needs to turn them over to you! LOL

I'm thinking they sat around for 30 years now & he hasn't even moved them 'closer' to the shop door, then I don't think he is going to do anything. I'll be working on him till he gets tired of seeing me.

Well after lots of hounding he finally caved in at least on one anyhow. I got the green one which is a 1965 GMC, it seems to be the better one of the two. No trans in it but he said I can take whatever I need from the other one.
I'll get some tires & rims & go get it then start a major rebuild.

Congrats Doug, glad to hear your persistence paid off for you!!!

I wanted them both so I'm going to keep bugging the hell out of him. lol

Well I got tires on it yesterday & pulled it out of the trees. 3 wheels skid, brakes are rusted on from sitting in the dirt for who knows how many years. Probably load it up today & haul it home then compare it to the one I have. This one is showing more rust on the bottom than I thought it had. Time will tell once I get it cleaned up a bit. If not, I'll have lots of parts.
Upon closer inspection of the 64 (white one) I'll leave it there & strip what I can get off of it. It had been 'camperized' with fiberglass insulation stuffed in the doors & behind wood panels on walls. Very rusty.

Congrats!

Hopefully you can get one Good one out of the two! Great Deal, Doug!!!

Fun story with a happy ending! Those initial two photos a great. Vans in the weeds!

I've heard that all of the early GMC vans were made in Canada. Seems to be true.

I've got a California rocker panel, passenger side, that would be a big help. And a few other pieces. I hear Greyhound is an affordable way to ship big stuff like that. Does Greyhound go that far north?!

Let me know what all you have. I'll be down in Fullerton Ca later this fall (oct/nov) for the winter. I am planning on getting most of the tin I can find sent to me there & I'll bring it back with me in the spring. I'm going to clean them both up & make a shopping list for this winter when I'm down there.
From what I've seen all early GMC & Chevy vans are the same style whether made in Canada or the US. Didn't know GMC were made here. I know the serial numbers are different from Can to the US but otherwise I don't think there's much difference. Maybe some others can add to this?
Same as early Dodge trucks, here they were Fargo, basically the same just different badging. I'll send you my contact info when I'm there.

VANagain wrote:Fun story with a happy ending! Those initial two photos a great. Vans in the weeds!

I've heard that all of the early GMC vans were made in Canada. Seems to be true.

I've got a California rocker panel, passenger side, that would be a big help. And a few other pieces. I hear Greyhound is an affordable way to ship big stuff like that. Does Greyhound go that far north?!

I have a whole 66 GMC I don't know what to do with yet. It has good floors, nose, wheel arches but the front door pillars are rusted out along with the roof in that area. Since you aren't coming until the fall maybe I will have everything I need removed and then decide what I'm going to do with it. Vanagain had both rocker panels for sale and I was going to buy them but I had a tonneau cover on my truck at the time and could only fit the passenger side in it.

My GMC has 2+" of bondo on the drivers side rocker and was going try to and replace it with his. There are some pictures of the 66 it in my thread  (64 Sears van) I'm working on now. Fullerton is about an hour from me.

https://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t51222-1964-sears-van

we did pick a few parts,,,,,,



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I bet Don has a climate controlled server room to house all his photos?

Fun meter aint moving too much out here,,,,,,,,,,,,,,at least I dont have to worry about my plastic trash container melting like in Arizona,,,,,,,,

I feel you Don, no fun here either and if it wasn't for my air conditioner going since 6:30am it could have hit 100 in my office and maybe I would have melted? Can I get workers comp for that?? LOL