Hello,

Yes, the Catalina still needs a ton of work and it will get done. This truck is a runner and a driver now and I've always wanted an Apache. And at an unbeatable price so low that you could never build one for what this cost me, not even close. I need to get some insurance on it and get a certified bank check written - will drive it home on Tuesday evening. The seller got this truck at a very discounted price and has had it a while but it recently got nudged out of his garage to make space for his second early 60's Chevy Impala.

Its a 1959 Chevy Apache short bed Fleetside on a 1979 square bodied Silverado frame plus that 350 engine, TH350 transmission and steering column. Fifteen inch Silverado wheels from the donor. Runs and drives very nicely. Great paint job with no detectable rust. No air conditioning but that will eventually get solved. Very nice bench seat upholstery, the original gauges work (minus the ammeter) but the dashboard is otherwise quite spartan in appearance. Only one window shows any foggy delamination at all. I wish it had the big wraparound back window but I can't have everything.

Quite a few new parts: Already installed – new fuel pump / some lines / new fuel filter. New water pump and hose. New heater core. New dual pot master cylinder / brakes and lines. Four new ball joints and all steering joints except the drag link. Four new shocks. New steering stabilizer. New wiring. New radiator. New ignition switch. New tires.  And a $6000.00 new paint job.

I will get a few more pictures of it after I get it home. Its missing some of the original Apache chrome pieces but it appears that LMC Truck reproduces most of it.

Rick

 

Nice find, congrat's

Awesome score. You know we love pics around here!!!!

Hello,

The guy I bought it from thought that the engine hesitation problem during acceleration was a misadjusted carburetor. But I don't believe this truck was trapped in some obscure south Louisiana parking lot in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This HEI distributor coil no longer passes its standard resistance tests with a multimeter and fortunately, I have a spare junk yard HEI coil, new cap, rotor and ignition module.

I think somebody got way too busy and abusive with a pressure washer for engine bay cleaning which got water under the distributor cap. The internal distributor coil grounding bar / tab / crooked length of metal thing didn't look too bad and cleaned up nicely.

I will certainly know more tonight after work when it all gets put back together and I hop in for a test drive. And yes, the plug wires will get a look but they are new from when the guy I bought it from replaced them. And a little dielectric grease will be applied, too.

That rusty coil was promptly pitched into the trash.

Rick

Yes that doesn’t look happy at all !

On 9/29/2025 at 10:49 AM, B52bombardier1 said:

Hello,

Yes, the Catalina still needs a ton of work and it will get done. This truck is a runner and a driver now and I've always wanted an Apache. And at an unbeatable price so low that you could never build one for what this cost me, not even close. I need to get some insurance on it and get a certified bank check written - will drive it home on Tuesday evening. The seller got this truck at a very discounted price and has had it a while but it recently got nudged out of his garage to make space for his second early 60's Chevy Impala.

Its a 1959 Chevy Apache short bed Fleetside on a 1979 square bodied Silverado frame plus that 350 engine, TH350 transmission and steering column. Fifteen inch Silverado wheels from the donor. Runs and drives very nicely. Great paint job with no detectable rust. No air conditioning but that will eventually get solved. Very nice bench seat upholstery, the original gauges work (minus the ammeter) but the dashboard is otherwise quite spartan in appearance. Only one window shows any foggy delamination at all. I wish it had the big wraparound back window but I can't have everything.

Quite a few new parts: Already installed – new fuel pump / some lines / new fuel filter. New water pump and hose. New heater core. New dual pot master cylinder / brakes and lines. Four new ball joints and all steering joints except the drag link. Four new shocks. New steering stabilizer. New wiring. New radiator. New ignition switch. New tires.  And a $6000.00 new paint job.

I will get a few more pictures of it after I get it home. Its missing some of the original Apache chrome pieces but it appears that LMC Truck reproduces most of it.

Rick

 

Gees ! Don’t let my boss see this post ! She will want one !!! It’s red

Hello,

The new cap, rotor, and ignition modulator did not solve the engine hesitancy problem at all but I think we can all agree that the distributor needed a little lovin'. But a new TH350 transmission vacuum modulator did help with the problem at least a little. I think the engine still has a bit of a misfire and I will keep at solving it until its fixed.

But it ran well enough tonight that I felt confident at going to a gas station. The tank holds seventeen gallons and the gauge was at a quarter of a tank when I pulled up to the pump. Having no idea if this fuel gauge is accurate, I pumped in 4.2 gallons and when I started the truck, the needle went to a half a tank. The needle is accurate.

Rick