1973 Chevy C30 3+3 Dually = The Mothership

1973 Chevy C30 3+3 dually & 1993 Lance 900 extended cab camper. 454 V-8 Turbo 400 Transmission - Another guzzler

We were planning a family road trip in the USA and decided that rather than rent a motorhome we would buy a truck camper and ship it to Australia after the trip. I started shopping for a pre 1986 F250 or F350 Supercab with the idea of purchasing a unit with slide on camper or getting the right truck and adding a camper. The ideal unit would have a diesel engine and auto trans. 4WD was desirable but not a necessity.

Time was running short when we spotted a 1973 Chevy C30 crew cab dually with Lance 900 extended cab slide on camper on Craig's list. A one owner unit that was well maintained. The paint was pretty faded but the body was straight, albeit it had signs of repair work on the passenger side. Time was running out, I tried to get an inspection arranged but it did not happen. Coincidentally, it was for sale in Glenwood Springs - near Aspen, a destination on our planned journey.

We did the next best thing - I committed in principle with the owner and booked a continuation of our flight LAX to Aspen. On arrival we confirmed that the unit was as represented in the advert and agreed to a purchase, pending a mechanics inspection.

The inspection next day confirmed that the truck was sound so we paid the money and made plans to clean it up and hit the road for LA to meet the kids who were arriving in 5 days.

It was the star of an epic journey.

We purchased the truck with 108,990 on the odometer, from the grandson of the original owner who told us that the rig had travelled as far north as the arctic circle and south to the Panama Canal. About 10 years ago and the grandfather started to encounter health issues that impacted on his ability to use the rig. so it was parked up - but continued to maintain the rig meticulously and would start and run it every couple of weeks. Now in his 90's he realised that he had health issues that limited his ability to use it, so sold it to his grandson in October 2015 who drove it from Cortez to Glenwood Springs and parked it. After a long hard think he realised that he would not get any use from it as he had a young family and wished to teach his kids the art of camping in tents, plus he already had a houseboat on a lake with ski boat and plenty of other toys - so it was put on the market.

We spent a day cleaning it up and found plenty of mud wasp nests in and around the choke linkages, brake pushrod and other places in the engine compartment, plus vent tubes for the heater and hot water service in the camper. It was evidence that the unit had not been used in quite a while. We were advised that it was unknown when the auxiliary gas tank was last used so we had drained and refilled.

I flicked the fuel tap over to the auxiliary tank during the drive to Aspen to return the hire car and noted that the engine stumbled a few times, so turned it back to the main tank and resolved that it may have been the remnants of bad fuel. The run down to Grand Junction for our first night on the road was flawless. Next day we set out for Flagstaff Arizona, we started on the main tank and had a pretty good run out on I-70 to the US191 turnoff at Thompson. We topped up on fuel and switched tanks to the auxiliary. It was then that the trouble started - it was as if we were running out of fuel, it would stumble, miss and fluff around then pick up again. We made it to Moab just on close of business Friday night and were lucky enough to spot Ed's Auto Repair was open. Ed agreed to help us out in the morning - so we spent the night at Canyonlands, a beautiful RV park by a creek in the middle of town.

We came to realise our truck got heat stroke in the hot weather, so we did our best to avoid it but did encounter >100ºF in Las Vegas and the odd stumble as a consequence. When we got into the cooler weather in San Francisco the problems disappeared.

Our thanks to all who assisted us along the way. We discovered it was not the destinations that stuck with us but the wonderful people we met on our journey.

Thanks to all we completed a 5,000 mile road trip in a 40 year old truck. There was more than one person who raised their eyebrows when they met the crazy Aussie's on this venture.

We left with the feeling that we had met the real America in our adventure.

We said goodbye to our rig in LA and flew back to Australia early August. The truck/camper is being shipped to Australia and will arrive to a new life - let the next stage begin.