One-Family Owned: 1973 Chevrolet C10 Cheyenne
“New style. New kinds of interior luxury.” That’s how Chevrolet advertised its rather groundbreaking third generation of trucks for the 1973 model year. The ad copy claims “its new aerodynamic cab design (with smooth and trim lines) includes a new curved windshield and side door glass that cut wind resistance. Side air turbulence is reduced for a quiet ride.” That wasn’t just ad copy hooey. The new “square body” trucks have been called the first human-centric trucks created by GM. Their good looks, quiet, comfortable cabins, and smooth ride checked both the work horse and stylish daily driver boxes. And, as a result, you started seeing C10’s in more people’s driveways, a sign of things to come. GM had clearly hit a home run as more than a million examples were sold in the first year of production. Here’s one of those first model year examples that appears to be a one-family owned (passed down from father to son), low-mileage survivor. Located in Fort Collins, Colorado, this highly original 1973 Chevrolet C10 Cheyenne is for sale at No Reserve here on eBay. As I’m writing this, 13 bids have been submitted with the top bid sitting at $16,300.
You’re not going to get a more 1970’s color than the C10’s Lime Green metallic paint job. The top is painted a contrasting Frost White, but the rest of the truck, outside and inside, carries the green theme. The original paint looks very presentable and shiny, and the seller states and shows a photo of some “light hail damage to the roof and hood.” I’m not spotting any rust and the chrome bumpers, trim, badging, and glass all look well preserved for a 50-year-old pickup truck. The bed is in exceptional shape since the seller shares that the C10 had a truck topper on it as well as carpeting that covered the pickup’s 6.5-foot bed.
The attractive cabin and interior are also well-preserved for its age. I especially like the C10’s new, stylish instrument panel that looks more like a passenger car than a pickup truck. Although there’s a blanket on the original bench seat, there’s a photo showing how the seat actually looks. Sure it has some tears and would need to be reupholstered, but we’ve seen far worse seats here on Barn Finds. C10’s came in four trim levels and the Cheyenne was one notch below the top-of-the-line Cheyenne Super. According to their sales brochure, the Cheyenne trim package included a full-depth foam cushioned seat in custom vinyl or nylon-and-vinyl upholstery, extra sound insulation, and simulated woodgrain trim on the doors. The brochure also touted, “Luxurious new interior fabrics and appointments are enough to make many a passenger car seem ordinary by comparison.” Being an advertising copywriter, that sentence, so full of 70’s bravado, made me smile.
The standard engine in the 1973 C10 was a 250-cubic inch, inline six-cylinder engine. This c10 was ordered with one of the V8 options available that year, a 350-cubic inch V8, that’s paired to a 3-speed Turbo Hydra-Matic automatic transmission. The odometer reads 46,156 and based on the overall condition of the truck, inside and out, those could be the original miles. I love old pickup trucks, especially ones this well-preserved and have been one-family owned. Sure, the color’s not exactly my cup of tea as they say, but, dang, this is one nice 50-year-old Chevy pickup truck. Happy bidding to the next lucky owner!
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Comments
Meh,,
I’ll never understand why people buy those ugly houndstooth seat covers.
Bud, if you ever had one, you would understand.
I’ve bought a few trucks with them in it. It’s the first thing I do away with.
They had storage pockets plus a rivle/shotgun scabbard
These trucks are quite popular, and most of them rotted away. A clean one like this will sell.
Houndstooth dog ugly seats and seat covers. They should never have made them
My 85 C10 also had the Houndstooth seat covers when I bought it. Ordered the vinyl replacement covers and couldn’t wait to get that seat recovered. Did it myself and saved some money but hands were sore for a week afterwards.
Love this 73, survivor square body C10. I bought a buddy’s 85 Custom Deluxe C10 5 yrs ago and have been slowly restoring it. We drove her with his boat in tow down to the Gulf in Destin at least twice and also to St Simon’s and Fernindia. There were just too many memories to let her be sold to a stranger, so I was thrilled to get the chance to buy it. He installed a Goodwrench crate engine 350 a few years back that only has 40,000 miles on it. These are great dependable American trucks and not a bad investment either. Good find.
Reminds me of my Dad’s first new pickup, a ’75 GMC Sierra Classic, regular cab long bed. His had the 350 and automatic transmission, and the 40 shades of green vinyl interior. Outside was deluxe two tone, white on top and side panels inside the trim, and Willoway Green(mint green) for the main body color. That truck had about the same mileage after 4 years, when it got hit on the right front and was parked. We had to sell it several years ago, way too cheap….good luck with the sale!
My Dad bought a new ’73 long box with with this same exact paint scheme and this is the only other one I’ve ever seen. By ’76 we were already fixing rust. By the time he died in ’81 it was a full blown rust bucket!
Not cheap, but this could be a very nice truck. If I wanted a project this would be fun, because not a lot of heavy lifting and would be a very rewarding project.
What a couple big kudos to the owner/seller: they actually show the condition of the seat under that cover, and he left the engine compartment untouched. Small things but big in the honesty/integrity department…..
Just to be an exceptional 73. :)
My Dad bought a ’78 Custom Deluxe Big 10 edition. Two tone green with the chrome camper mirrors and large front bumper guards with those wheel covers that had the spoke look to them.
I would cringe when he used it to haul wood. 🤬I had it for a few weeks and had a body shop do some repainting and I put aluminum running boards on it for Mom. Beautiful color combo.
Nice truck. But looks more like 146,000 miles. Condition of the seat. Photos of engine compartment. Oil leaks and build up of grunge and grim. Would need a lot of documentation to convince me otherwise
I agree more like 146000 on this truck. Someone dropped $19,10 on this one to make it thier own. No photos of the undercarriage would concern me being it’s lived in Colorado all its life. They salt the roads in that state.