The Dream of the '70s Is Alive… In Minnesota

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

The Wikipedia page for Wells, Minnesota, tells us it’s the birthplace of Secret Service agent Larry Buendorf, best known for collaring Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme before the unhinged former Manson Family member could get the sights of her Colt 1911 on President Gerald Ford.

What the page doesn’t tell you is that the ’70s are back, baby, but only if you live (or take a trip to) Wells, Minnesota. The requirement for this time travel? Ownership — or the purchase — of a late-model Chevrolet Silverado.

It seems Blake Greenfield Chevrolet Buick has a hit on its hands. Thanks to GM Authority, we know that this GM dealer, located south-southwest of Minneapolis, has resurrected the best paint job ever applied to a Chevy pickup, applying it to a 2014 Silverado 1500 Double Cab it had sitting on the lot. As dealers are wont to do, the truck’s image found its way onto the dealer’s Facebook page.

A surge of interest (and memories) followed. The paint job, initially intended as a custom one-off, is now on offer thanks to the “overwhelming nationwide interest,” according to the dealer. It’s a paint job everyone will remember. Applied to the C/K series in the 1970s and 80s, the two-tone job accentuated the pickup’s full-length, ruler-flat character line, with the broad section of lighter or darker paint terminating between the front wheel arch and the headlights. Some models came with a hood and cab in the same color.

The Wells version replicates the earlier models’ paint borders with silver and dark gold striping. The white paint and trim carries around the back of the truck, with custom “Chevrolet” lettering on the tailgate. (It isn’t known whether the truck contains a 40-channel CB).

Another bit of retro flair, which may have readers either rolling their eyes or reaching for their wallets, is the addition of “Cheyenne Super 10” and “Big 10” badging, fore and aft. Cheyenne Super was a higher trim line at the time, while Big 10 denoted an option code that increased the truck’s gross vehicle weight rating over that of a stock C10. It was, essentially, a “heavy half-ton.”

Owner Blake Greenfield, who describes his dealer as “very small,” claims to be “shocked and extremely flattered” by the public’s interest in a paint scheme long abandoned by GM. Yesterday, the decision was made to begin taking orders to customize trucks.

“Customers can bring in their current trucks to have them customized or buy a used or new truck from one of our dealerships and work with us to customize it,” the dealer said on its Facebook page. “We are currently working on a price guide for prospective customers.”

[Images: Blake Greenfield Chevrolet Buick/ Facebook]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

More by Steph Willems

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 54 comments
  • Flipper35 Flipper35 on Dec 08, 2017

    Yes, it bothered me even back then.

  • WildcatMatt WildcatMatt on Dec 28, 2017

    Agreed that there may be ways to tweak the paint to better fit the vehicle's shape, but generally this is the first time I've thought this truck looked attractive.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
Next