Silverado K30
I bought this beauty brand new back in 1984 when we lived in Anchorage, Alaska. It was a special order truck (VIN 2GCHK34W8F1136645) purchased from Good Chevrolet in Seattle, Washington. We bought the truck because we wanted a camper, so we ordered the Silverado K30 model, a 1 ton heavy duty chassis with the big 454 engine and 4 wheel drive. Since I financed it through our credit union, I bought the truck and camper through Good Chevrolet, but we flew down to Seattle and picked up the truck, without the tailgate, and drove it to Hollister, California to have the new camper installed on it. The camper was on the truck until 2022 except for about a month in 1992, when I removed the camper, modified it, and rebuilt it to make it nicer inside and outside. Good Chevrolet shipped the new tailgate to us in Anchorage, and the tailgate had never been out of its original packaging until I installed it in 2022. We moved to Sequim, Washington, in 1987 and the truck/camper was in our garage except for our camping trips every few years. The truck now has about 93K miles on it, with all of those miles on the highway on long distance trips.
There is not a single dent anywhere on the pristine body and not a bit of rust anywhere. The paint is all original. There are a few very small paint chips here and there, but otherwise the paint is almost like new. Mechanically, the truck has been amazing. There have been no significant repairs necessary except for a new alternator and air conditioning compressor in 2019. When I replaced the compressor, I also replaced other A/C internal components like the receiver/drier and expansion valve and a complete R-12 refrigeration cleanout, evacuation, and restoration. All parts are genuine Delco, including the new alternator.
The truck rides on 16 x 8" American Racing polished aluminum wheels and new 285/75-16 Load Range E Michelin tires. The original exhaust system was replaced with headers and a dual exhaust system. That is the only modification to the drive train. It's got the Turbo 400 transmission, New Process 205 transfer case, and automatic locking hubs. I've always used Mobil One synthetic engine oil and even with 93K miles on it, it is only about a half a quart low when I change the oil and filter in 3-5K miles.
The interior looks like new with GM rubber floor mats protecting the original carpet. The seat is almost perfect. I replaced the original radio with a more modern Pioneer unit with Bluetooth and USB. I added a Floscan fuel meter that measures instantaneous gas mileage and fuel used every tenth of a gallon. This is very handy for knowing how much fuel will be needed to fill both 20 gallon fuel tanks. The Floscan meter is mounted in the original ash tray location, so it could be removed if desired and the original ash tray reinstalled. I added a crossover tube to allow both tanks to be filled from either side. I also added a Stewart Warner vacuum gauge to keep an eye on engine performance, and a dash electrical panel with a voltmeter, two USB charging ports, and a 12 volt power outlet.
Note that many of the photos were taken just before I removed the camper in 2022. It has always been inside one of my garages.
