Back in 1958 there was a Grass Valley car dealer located where the Center for the Arts is currently located. It was named Hartman Chevrolet. That is the year a local man purchased a new Chevrolet Fleetside pickup from them that he later sold to Mary C.’s father. In 1968, Mary and husband Terry acquired it from him. It was just a work truck then, with an in-line six cylinder engine and 3-speed trans. Looking for V-8 power, Terry dropped in a Chevy 327 with a 4-speed trans. He continued to use the truck until it was hit while parked in front of his house in 1990. It sat in his back yard until he decided to restore it in 2002.

First he removed everything from the frame, stripped the paint from the cab and a replacement bed and had them painted. Since the frame had been bent, he replaced it with one that he sandblasted and had BK Powdercoating do their magic. Then he reassembled it and put in a new oak floor in the bed. After rebuilding the suspension, he decked out the 327 with lots of polished aluminum and dropped it back in with a 5-sp trans from a Ford Ranger. While he was at it, Terry added power brakes, Classic Performance power steering and Vintage air conditioning. His sons, Dennis, Carl, Bruce and Brian all helped with the project, including getting the seat completely rebuilt and upholstered in leather with the Chevy “Bowtie” logo embroidered on the back. The seat even has a lumbar support and is heated now, not something even dreamed of in 1958. The truck was basically finished in March of 2009 and only had 166 miles on it when Terry and Mary cruised down to Del Mar in SoCal with fellow Roamin Angels. The truck performed wonderfully. However, just like when it was first on the road in 1958, it’s main use will be right here locally.

Terry’s Chevy truck’s body is stock, right down to the color. It is the original Tartan Turquoise that it was painted when new. Like the chrome, however, it is better than when it was new.

Because Terry had rebuilt the engine not long before it was hit in 1990, Terry decided not to redo it when he did the truck. The engine ran very well all the way to Del Mar and back. Things like the headers, intake, carburetor, etc., are all new.

One of Terry’s sons gave him a Boyd Coddington steering wheel and Terry had to change the steering column to a new Flaming River one to use it. The gauges are all original. Currently, sounds are provided by a Kenwood AM/FM/CD.