Perfectly Patinated Apache Is Original and Glorious
If 60 years of weather and a shed collapse can’t kill it, will anything stop this vintage Apache?
There is something indescribably beautiful about well-worn tools. The grime, decay, and scars that come from a life of use and abuse is something that can’t be really be manufactured, only earned. This is why I love vintage trucks and barn finds, and why Dustin Sample’s 1961 Chevy Apache 10 may be my car of the year for 2017.
For decades this old truck served its owners faithfully, and then the storm came. Thanks to rust and a lack of maintenance, the truck was parked in a shed, a soft attempt at protecting its fragile and corroding metal. The weight of the rain and the power of the wind caused the shed to collapse in on the truck, and its owners decided it was finally time to part ways with the truck.
This is where Dustin comes into the mix, and where a bit of fortune and coincidence meet. “You know it’s a pretty funny story,” he says. “My buddy, he actually saw the truck and he bought it for $500. But really he’s always been more of a Ford guy, and I’ve always been more of a Chevy guy. So here he is with this Apache, and I’m actually driving around at the time in a 1987 F-150. So he’s more of a Ford guy and he has a Chevy, and I’m more of a Chevy guy and I have this Ford. So we kinda just made an even trade with it, and I’ve had it ever since.”
That was five years ago now, and the truck has been an unstoppable force. In that time the truck has existed essentially trouble free. “I just change the oil and keep gas in it mostly.”
The engine is the original 235 inline-six that it hit the showroom floor with, attached to a three-speed transmission. Last year Dustin finally had to have the carb rebuilt, and he swapped the rear gearing just to cut the engine speed on the highway, but that’s basically the only mechanical maintenance he’s done.
Even from a rust and decay point of view, this truck is relatively solid for a machine of this vintage that spent much of its life being abused. The floors were rusted out and had to be replaced, and there is a lot of patchy rust around the rockers and fenders, but a large portion of this truck is solid. The biggest surprise is the wooden bed, which Dustin says is still original, and it exists entirely because of how this truck was used earlier in its life.
“Basically, I like anything old.” he said, “And so with this I started trying to find out how many owners and stuff it has. I’m pretty sure I’m the fourth owner.” I ask him what he’s learned about the truck and its past and his face brightens.
He starts the story with a laugh as he points into the bed. “Look over on the side there. That’s a welded engine mount in the bed. The original owner, he used to haul engines in it.” Years of old motors, bleeding oil into the bed as they were hauled around the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains had given the bed a sturdy and water resistant coating that still holds up today. “That’s why the bed isn’t just rotten completely away.”
He then continues with the ownership story, speaking it more like a tale of heroism than a simple ownership history. When the first owner sold it, it immediately went to the farm where it was promptly parked in the fateful collapsing shed. “When the shed collapsed, it was just out in the middle of the field. Just sitting there. My buddy got it for $500 because they were talking about just scrapping it.”
You can hear some pride start to fill Dustin’s voice. “My buddy, he got it running right there in the field. Right where it sat. And then he just drove it out of the field and took it home. He never did any real work to it. I got it. I never really did any work to it. Aside the carburetor I’ve never had any mechanical issues out of it.”
If you ever wanted to see my idea of a perfect truck, just glance through this gallery. And you may want to bookmark a few of your favorite photos also, as this Apache won’t look like this forever. Dustin has plans to restore it back to showroom glory, complete with a fresh coat of paint to match its original color. We personally love the aged and ragged look that shows of the history of a truck, but if there is any machine that has earned a new lease on life, it’s certainly this old Apache 10.
