My father bought the first 4x4 our Chevy dealer ever sold, a ‘68 model delivered in the fall of 1967. He traded after that about every 4 years and my 2000 Silverado 1500 LS 4x4 5.3L is the last one he purchased before his passing. It had 45k miles on it when my mom passed away and I inherited it. It now has nearly 68k miles on in and I invested $12k in it to replace the inner and outer rockers, cab corners, rear cab mounts, replaced the box with a California takeoff, had the frame pressure washed and painted, the body repainted, and replaced the transfer case with a rebuilt NP 246 transfer case that had the “pump rub issue” corrected . The ‘68 model that had NO power steering or brakes, it had a manual shift transfer case, 3 speed manual transmission and its only options were an anemic 307 V8, lockout hubs, radio, custom cab, and wood pickup box floor. It drove and rode like a WW ll deuce and a half. It makes this 2000 Silverado look like a luxury limousine by comparison in ride quality, ease of handling, performance, driveability the convenience of the NP 246 electrically shifted transfer case (2 wheel HI, 4 wheel HI, 4wheel LO, and AWD), quiet cab sound level, and twice the fuel mileage with that coming along with twice the power. I put the money into this truck not only for sentimental reasons but also because I love the looks and styling of this truck and couldn’t find anything that I could replace it with for anything near the $12k that I put into it. The 4x4’s were TRUCKS back when dad first began looking in ‘66 and few dealers even stocked them except for a smattering in large cities. Those they had were 3/4 and 1 ton trucks that had a huge stack of springs and that you needed a small stepladder to get into. Dealers ordered them for “plow trucks” for snow plowing or for off road use by utility companies. Even hardly any farmers had 4x4’s back then in our area (north central Wisconsin). Power steering was rare and automatic transmission were even more rare if they were even available at all. The 4x4’s of today are largely bought by people who’ll never use the 4 wheel drive and seldom, if ever, haul anything. The last truck my dad bought has everything that I want and far more than I actually need. It still remotely resembles what I think of when I say “pickup truck”. It continually reminds me of my dad and especially of my mom who had to give up her ‘63 Buick LeSabre (w/automatic, PS, PB, and AC) for a brutish handling, manual everything pickup TRUCK which only had “4/60 air conditioning” and that she had to drive everyday to the school where she taught.

I have 63k on it and it’s 25 years old. Great truck. It only has a small rust spot on the driver side rocker panel.

Awesum, I.m the second owner, mom bought new and I got it when she passed from cancer. It has 20,000 orig. miles. I get 21mpg as long as I stay under 60mph. My only complaint is the placement of the fuel selenoid. It went quit working one time, i made sure the motor was cold because the selenoid filled with fuel and when you pull it apart the gas runs onto the motor/manifold.