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Curbside Classic CA Vacation Outtake: Very Long Bed 1977 Chevy LUV
by
Paul Niedermeyer
(IC: employee)
In this day and age, when it’s increasingly uncommon to to find even a full-size pickup with a regular cab and long bed, I took a double take on coming across this long-bed Chevy LUV. I’ve got some interesting LUV’s and Isuzus in the can from Eugene, but none in this particular configuration. That bed sure looks like its a full 8′ long, but according to wiki and my own memory, its a 7.5′ number. Still, plenty of load space for this little hauler with 75 or 80 hp. These Isuzu built trucks were everything that its Chevy S-10 successor wasn’t: simple, cast iron-rugged little work horses, although rust was a problem in the wrong parts of the world.
Paul Niedermeyer
More by Paul Niedermeyer
Published January 2nd, 2010 7:00 PM
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The S-10 was a much better truck than this but not a minute on TTAC can go by without the obligatory GM hate.
I love PU trucks with single walled beds like the LUV so everytime you load something in them you get dents on the outside. "But hey, all of them rusted pretty badly in the salt states…" That's funny as I live in one of those salt states and wouldn't agree with that statement in the least. Still, even though my last 3 fullsize trucks have all been GM, the S10 sent me running to Toyota when I bought a compact truck .
Paul, I look forward to the P'UP posts. I drove a hand-painted (with a brush---and not by me) P'UP during law school. Part way through my third year, the fuel pump in the gas tank gave out. To start the thing, I would have to lift the hood, remove the cover from the air cleaner and spray carb cleaner into the carb. You should have seen the looks on the faces of the folks driving Volvos. The engine had 250k and it still got over 30 mpg. I could get around 400 miles on a tank of gas. It topped out around 50 mph, but it was indestructible. No power anything even on my DLX version. It was built and it drove like a tank. No truck since, S-10 or otherwise, has ever really compared.
A friend of mine had an early S-10. It had a Suzuki sourced 4 cylinder which ran and ran and got exceptional fuel economy at the expense of NO power. This thing would seriously have trouble on large hills with 2 people in it and NO cargo. As another poster noted it had analogue gauges in this one and being "cool" we put an aftermarket deck in it with 6x9s in the back and some nice door speakers. This one was the "extended cab" but there was nothing behind the bench. No problem! A pair of milk crates and "voila" instant rear seating. I traveled hundreds of kilometers over the years in the back of this truck and looking back I am so thankful that I was never in an accident. Sitting sideways on milkcrates is not the epitome of safe. This truck was not the epitome of cool either. Other rides that this friend had included a 1978 Bobcat station wagon which was red but sadly had the woodgrain treatment. This was supplanted by a blue 1986 Pony which got pitting in the roof after just over a year. A Reliant was also in the mix along with an early minivan. One of his coolest cars was actually a mint 1978 Civic which even then he did not winter drive. Last I saw this car was still garaged in OTtawa and in exceptional shape. It even had mags at the time which looked a bit like ones that came on earlier Minis. I always hated this S-10 for some reason...