Welcome back to Shitbox Showdown! I’m at my aunt’s house just outside of Wichita, Kansas, I had a long day behind the wheel, and I’m a little punchy. So let’s look at the two strangest cheap vehicles I found on Wichita’s Craigslist.
It sounds like you all had a bit of a tough time choosing between yesterday’s Wyoming pickups. The Comanche won, but not by a whole lot. It was the stripes, wasn’t it? I know it was for me. That Comanche looks like a Stomper 4×4 come to life, and I can’t resist it.
The big Ford took some hits for being “too much truck,” which isn’t a phrase I think a lot of people understand these days, if the past couple of days on I-80 and I-70 are any indication. I’ve never seen so many three-quarter-ton pickups in one place in my life. (Meanwhile, I was chugging along in my six-cylinder half-ton Chevy, towing 4,500 pounds and using every bit of capability it has.) I guess if you use it, it’s not too much, but for day-to-day just driving around, I would want that Super Duty either.
Now then: I found a lot of boring used cars in Wichita, but I just couldn’t bring myself to write about them. So instead we have an old roundy Volvo and a big-ass truck. Hey, why not, right?
1963 Volvo PV544 – $2,800
Engine/drivetrain: 1.6 liter overhead valve inline 4, four-speed manual, RWD
Location: Wichita, KS
Odometer reading: 52,000 miles
Operational status: “I have driven it around the block several times but I wouldn’t drive it across town.”
How is it that old Volvos are considered cool? They’re the dowdiest cars imaginable, not really sporting, not typically high-performance, perpetually ten years behind the times style-wise, and yet we all love them.
I mean, sure, twin SU carburetors automatically grant any car a certain aura of cool. And sporty or not, Volvos have had more than their fair share of motorsports success. They’re also essentially indestructible, as far as anyone can tell. This PV544 runs and drives, technically, but the seller doesn’t feel confident venturing too far from home before the carburetors are rebuilt. That’s a piece of cake on SUs; it takes about an hour per carb, and then another hour of farting around getting them tuned.
It’s a bit rough, but I’ve seen a lot worse. Reupholstered seats, new door panels, and some carpet would go a long way. I’ve always liked the shift lever on these, the way it enters the tunnel so far forward and then angles way back to the driver. It just looks cool. I can’t explain exactly why.
Outside, it has kind of a half-assed rat rod thing going on. At first I thought someone had painted it primer black, but considering how much of the trim is present, I think that’s the original paint and it’s just that dull. The rear bumper is bent and the front bumper is MIA, but the seller is right: it looks better without them. It would also look better with different wheels. Almost anything would be better.
1981 Chevrolet C60 – $5,000
Engine/drivetrain: 350 cubic inch overhead valve V8, four-speed manual, RWD
Location: Wichita, KS
Odometer reading: unknown
Operational status: unknown
So how old were you when you realized that these medium-duty trucks have the same cab and doors as regular light-duty trucks? If the answer is “just now when you mentioned it,” that’s okay. Part of our mission here is to educate. But yes, this is a C-series “squarebody” truck, just a lot bigger and burlier than you’re used to seeing. It’s a Class 5 truck, with a gross vehicle weight rating between 16,001 and 19,500 pounds, compared to 6,000 for a typical half-ton or 8,000 for a three-quarter.
It also looks like it uses the same dashboard as a typical squarebody, but with a much bigger steering wheel and some extra stuff. The ad lists this truck as an automatic, but it’s clearly a manual, probably a four-speed, most likely a heavier-duty version of the same SM465 that I spent all day shifting. The seller doesn’t specify the engine, and a whole lot of options were available, but a quick lookup of the VIN seems to indicate that this one has a garden-variety 350. They also make no mention of whether or not it runs, so your guess is as good as mine.
It looks like this C60 is equipped with a dump bed, which means that one of the SM465’s two PTO ports is taken up by a hydraulic pump. Those two knobs under the steering column probably control everything. When we were kids, the dump bed was actuated by a little lever alongside the bed, but the real thing is just a little more involved.
What are you supposed to do with an old dump truck that may or may not run? I have no idea. But you can’t tell me that your inner eight-year-old doesn’t think it’s insanely cool.
I’m here in Kansas through the weekend; we’re having a little family reunion/memorial get-together for my dad, and then I continue eastward with the move. Sunday night, I’ll probably be somewhere in the St. Louis area, or maybe southern Illinois, depending on how far I get. Wherever I stop, that’s where Monday’s cars will be. In the meantime, have a good weekend, and don’t forget to vote!
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
Those old C60 always give this vibe off:
“Hey, C60, you need help carrying that?”
C60, huffing and puffing “Nah, I’m good thanks”.
We had a much older Chevy C60 when I was a kid. Parked in our tiny urban driveway. My dad somehow found a use for that beast almost every single weekend for about ten years before it was sold. From the inside, it always gave that same “gimme a minute, I got this” truck vibe you described so perfectly.
He used to let me drive it after I turned fourteen, two years before for I was eligible for a learner’s permit. Funny thing was that we’d usually be going downtown to the warehouse district, right past the police station, instead of out into the country! He’d say “It’ll be fine, just look like you know what you’re doing”.
That’s probably why I still love choppy, loud, long-throw truck transmissions with an impossibly heavy clutch.
I bet the Volvo has a transmission like that, too. I want the Volvo.
I have no use for a truck as huge as that Chevy. Thus, the Volvo gets my vote.
I’m sure I’ve shared this before but one day I was driving around with my dad and he suddenly yells at me to pull into a parking lot. I figure he’s about to crap himself or something but no, he points at this old Volvo like the one in this post (and probably the same color based on the underhood shots) and exclaims that he lived in one just like it after getting out of the Navy. He’s full of inexplicable revelations like that. So my vote is obvious today.
So your vote is for the Chevy which, in an emergency, you can climb into the box and take a dump in?
I MIGHT have misread your comment a bit…
LOL
/jk
Dad lore is objectively the best.
If my girlfriend came home and saw the Volvo in the driveway, she’d shake her head and ask why, promptly leaving before hearing an answer.
If she came home to the dump truck, its maiden voyage would be disposing of my body.
I enjoy being above the soil, so I’m picking the Volvo.
On the bright side, the dump truck would conveniently provide a way of transporting your body to the disposal location…
Fail! you could have enticed DT over tot wichita with this one. https://wichita.craigslist.org/cto/d/el-dorado-99-tj-sahara/7734101953.html Seems like a better deal than his Square light yuppie jeep.
also Tyler Hoover is selling his Delorean on there. Though it appears to not be a Shitbox.
Hell even Euroasian Bob has a 1987 Suzuki Alto Works RS-X Turbo listed, though I realize they are not shitboxes either, and the price is high, they are still interesting.
I do see a CRX with a manual for closer money tot he volvo. it would be an easy victory if the front bumper was still on I imagine. as it is it might have been a closer match. https://wichita.craigslist.org/cto/d/derby-1991-honda-crx-5spd/7741582916.html
As much as I love the idea of going over that dump truck with a yellow/black paint scheme and Tonka decals, it’s way more truck than I could possibly need. That little Volvo on the other hand is cute as a button and looks like I could park it in my shed. Hail Sweden!
Volvo, please!
I like it and, curiously, I like the wheels paired with the paint. I do think that it was primered that way and the original color is what we see in the engine compartment (which is most likely untouched since new). The interior is tragic but that can be rectified fairly easily.
It’s funny: I read as far as “How is it that old Volvos are considered cool?” and immediately thought “because of the twin SUs, of course”. Then you addressed that very point below the next picture, so clearly we are both 100% correct about this. 🙂
The Chevy is kind of interesting. With that four-speed and the intent for the truck to be heavily loaded, I suspect the first gear is incredibly low, i.e. a granny gear, necessary to get the beast moving. Someone could fit the front of it with a massive push bar and use it to relocate the ICE vehicles that jackasses park in EV charging spots.
I have to say I have driven coast to coast a few times. This seems to be the country’s slowest gumball rally. However it does give us more vehicles so Yeah!. Cool almost done project or a ???? Gotta go Volvo.
I wonder if I could fit an S52 in that Volvo?
BMW power in a 70yo Volvo would be an instant pass in Lemons, methinks
Oh, and, my tag at one time read WYWRDSN
—too many people thought it meant way weird 😉
That’s okay. THRLBPPPWNURDN.
It’s a pretty sizeable engine bay. I’m trying to remember what the largest engine I’ve seen in one is.
Give me the truck for the annual trip to get mulch and dump it on my backyard lol
Do I have a use for the truck? No.
Do I have the space for the truck? No.
Will my wife accept the truck into our household? No.
Will my neighbors appreciate the truck in my driveway? No.
Will my son think it’s the most Bitchin’ Ride in the World?
Hell yes!
Swede in Charcoal
The C-60 is small enough that no CDL is required, right? It’s under 26k gross?
This was going to be my question too.
From the article:
I almost want that Volvo now.
We had a C60 like that on the farm when I was a kid. Same exact color. When I was about 10 I somehow shorted out the wiring with my foot, catching the cab on fire, while transporting a 5 gallon can of diesel to a stalled tractor. I was in a full arm cast at the time too and couldn’t open the door. Good times.
Is this the first Autopian comment from the hereafter? Maybe!
At least diesel is harder to ignite
run away
Carry on my shitbox son,
Only rust when you are gone
No shocks left; on bumpstops rest,
Dont leak oil no more
1962 Volvo PV544 owner here. There is a discrepancy in the Volvo listing. The last year for the 1.6 Liter engine is 1961. The 1.8 Liter engine came out in 1962, with some other mechanical upgrades. Still a decent deal, just beware of the differences when ordering parts, especially engine parts.
Russ
EDIT: And transmission parts.
The Volvo – with miniature 1940 Ford styling – is cool – I want that.
That gooseneck gear selector – directly connected to the transmission – was in production up through the 1971 model year. I had that in my 144S.
It wasn’t until 1972 that Volvo added the linkage, positioning the gear selector in a more conventional position.
I really want that dump truck, just to look at all the bro dozers with a glance that CLEARLY says “Huh. Nice ‘truck’.”
I do that every day. Brodozer boys get mighty offended when you call their pickups cute little toys. They shut up when they see my 389 Pete with all the chrome
That Volvo looks like a late 30’s Chevy. I did a double take when I saw it was made in the 1960’s/
The Volvo is cooler than the dump truck
I WANT the Volvo. That would make a pretty cool looking gasser conversion.
The fact the seller can’t count to three puts the Chevy out of the running. The Volvo could be a project for a local tech school to go at it.
I’d get the C60 just so I can be the extreme version of the guy that’s always trying to justify his truck purchase.
“Oh, you’re gonna get some mulch for your garden? I know you only need a couple bags, but just think how good of a deal you’d get it you bought 10 yards of it!”