As a kid, my uncle (dad's brother) worked in the StLouis assembly plant at Union, and Natural Bridge streets where the 73~87 square bodys were built. Even worked on the truck line.
Everyone in our family had a '76, '78 or likewise......Had to keep Uncle Bill employed.
Anyway, I remember going to that plant somewhere around 1977 during an open house. Got to tour the assembly lines, and all.
I guess it was just destiny, because I never knew anything different. To me there was no other kind of truck.
So when in high school I became old enough to buy my first truck, well there was no other option. I bought the '77 Chevy in my sig. At that time it was a K10, with an automatic tranny, chain drive t-case, and a 400 small block. Now it is a K30 with a manual, NP205, and 454. After my rebuild, (thread going on here elsewhere) the only thing left that was part of the truck the day I bought it will be the frame rails, and the cab shell. LOL! Everything else will have been replaced.
When I was 16 you could still buy a square body brand new. Too bad I didn't bite. Oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be.
One other cool morsel.....
My '77 was built in the StLouis assembly plant. It would be sort of improbable, maybe not impossible, to determine what day exactly my '77 was built. But I do know it was built during a narrow span of time of that day that I was at the StLouis assembly plant's open house. It would be easy to believe that I was there within a couple of months of that day.
Like a gun.....Pry it from my cold dead fingers.....I feel pretty confident that if I live to be 100 years old, I will still own my first truck.......My 1977 Chevy 4x4.
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