Auto News 5

Bruce Parker's remarkably original 1966 Chevrolet C-10 half-ton pickup - a two-owner vehicle with 8900 miles on the odometer - stands as a testament to the qualities that once made the American automobile industry the envy of the world. It's a plain-Jane work truck with an in-line six, rather than the prized 327-cubic-inch V-8, and a three-on-the-tree transmission instead of the upmarket Powerglide automatic. The only option ticked on the build sheet was a deluxe heater. And yet, utilitarian as it is, and despite the slapdash build quality, it manages to be both aesthetically graceful and mechanically formidable - a fitting artifact of an era when working class didn't mean second class. "It's got character and style," says Parker, a carpenter whose throwback collection includes a variety of mid-'60s Chevrolets such as split-window Corvettes and other trucks. "It's old enough to be vintage, but it's not so antique that it's a relic."