Barn find grain truck.

I 'ran across' a 59 Chevy C60 grain truck. Been in a barn,last licenced in '91.15' box,hoist;tag axle;good tires;348 V8;4s2s? Decent,straight old truck.The front bumper is straight!the old woman only wants $250.00 for it. She just wants it GONE.A lot of potential there. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna buy it. Will try to talk today. Even if it turns out to be a 'boat anchor,I can still get my money back.....There is also '57 R180 IH there. Another straight old truck. tag axle,20' side hoist beet box. Big 6 cylinder gas engine.Same thing with it.She wants it gone. I think I'll pass on that one.However,the man renting the farm may want that one.

Wow! That 348 Wedgefire was a real horse in its day.
The tires, though, are likely rotted inside and check
the rims. They might be the old killer split rims.
For $250, how could you go wrong?

Looking forward to seeing pictures, I a sucker for old trucks.

When my wife and I were dating, and after we were married, she had a '61 Chevy Impala with a high performance passenger version of the 348 engine. That thing would haul arse if you got on the throttle.

That engine series always intrigued me for some reason, maybe because of the odd-shaped valve covers. Here's some info if anyone wants to take the time to read it ...

W-series (Mark I) ....The first version of the "Big Block" V8 Chevrolet engine, known as the W-series, was introduced in 1958. Chevrolet designed this engine for use in passenger cars and light trucks. This engine had an overhead valve design with offset valves and uniquely scalloped rocker covers, giving it a distinctive appearance. The W-series was produced from 1958 to 1965, and had three displacement options:

348 cu in (5.7 L), available from 1958 to 1961 in cars, and in light trucks through 1964;
409 cu in (6.7 L), available from 1961 to 1965; and
427 cu in (7.0 L), available in 1962 and 1963.

The W-series engine was made of cast iron. The engine block had 4.84-inch (123 mm) bore centers, two-bolt main bearing caps, a "side oiling" lubrication system (the main oil gallery located low on the driver's side of the crankcase), with full-flow oil filter, and interchangeable cylinder heads. Heads used on the high performance 409 and 427 engines had larger ports and valves than those used on the 348 and the base 409 passenger car and truck engines, but externally were identical to the standard units. One minor difference between the 348 and 409/427 was the location of the engine oil dipstick: it was on the driver's side on the former and the passenger's side on the latter. No satisfactory explanation was ever offered for why this change was made. However, it did provide a fairly reliable way to differentiate between the smaller and larger versions of the engine.

As with the 265 and 283 cu in (4.3 and 4.6 L) "Small Block" engines, the W-series valve gear consisted of tubular steel pushrods operating stud-mounted, stamped-steel rocker arms. The push rods also acted as conduits for oil flow to the valve gear. Due to the relatively low mass of the valve train, mechanical lifter versions of the W-series engine were capable of operating at speeds well beyond 6000 RPM.

The combustion chamber of the W-series engine was in the upper part of the cylinder, not the head, the head having only tiny recesses for the valves. This arrangement was achieved by combining a cylinder head deck that was not perpendicular to the bore with a crowned piston, which was a novel concept in American production engines of the day. As the piston approached top dead center, the angle of the crown combined with that of the head deck to form a wedge-shaped combustion chamber with a pronounced quench area. The spark plugs were inserted vertically into the quench area, which helped to produce a rapidly moving flame front for more complete combustion.

The theory behind this sort of arrangement is that maximum brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) is developed at relatively low engine speeds, resulting in an engine with a broad torque curve. With its relatively flat torque characteristics, the "W" engine was well-suited to propelling both the trucks and heavier cars that were in vogue in the USA at the time. The W-series was a physically massive engine when compared to the "Small Block" Chevrolet engine. It had a dry weight of approximately 665 pounds (302 kg), depending on the type of intake manifold and carburetion systems present.

348
The first iteration of the W-series engine was the 1958 "Turbo-Thrust" 348-cubic-inch (5.7 L), originally intended for use in Chevrolet trucks but also introduced in the larger, heavier 1958 passenger car line. Bore and stroke was 4 1⁄8 in ? 3 1⁄4 in (104.8 mm ? 82.6 mm), resulting in a substantially oversquare design. This engine was superseded by the 409 cu in (6.7 L) as Chevrolet's top performing engine in 1961 and went out of production for cars at the end of that year. It was produced through 1964 for use in large Chevrolet trucks.

With a four-barrel carburetor, the base Turbo-Thrust produced 250 hp (186 kW). A special "Tri power" triple-two-barrel version, called the "Super Turbo-Thrust", produced 280 hp (209 kW). A "Special Turbo-Thrust" further upped the power output to 305 hp (227 kW) with a single large four-barrel carburetor. Mechanical lifters and triple two-barrel carburetors brought the "Special Super Turbo-Thrust" up to 315 hp (235 kW). For 1959 and 1960, high-output versions of the top two engines were produced with 320 hp (239 kW) and 335 hp (250 kW) respectively. In 1961, power was again increased to 340 hp (254 kW) for the single four-barrel model, and 350 hp (261 kW) when equipped with triple two-barrels.

Big truck for small $$. Have fun ;-)

I am with Bruce a sucker for old trucks. Buy it hope the other guy buys the IHC they are my favorites.

Stored indoors the tires are probably fine. But you will likely spend more fixing the brakes than the initial cost of the truck. Hydraulic brakes don't do well sitting. Seems like I replace wheel cylinders way too often as they start to leak.

The 409 was still available in 1964 in passenger cars. I did tuneups on a couple of them.

My brother and I replaced a 283 with a 348 in his black bubble top 61 Chev. Put three deuces on the 348 for more zip.

I agree with Rusty. Will take $300 to get brakes working and $200 to reappolster seat but you will still have a cheap truck.

Boy oh boy If I was only closer that IH truck would be a good one for my use. The chevy would be best with a tongue on it and pulled with the tractor. Never had a chevy that would stay running more than the time I spent on them spend a couple hours on it and run about 5 minutes.

I don't see how you could go wrong ? Are they close to you ? I'd tow them both home !

(quoted from post at 12:39:15 04/11/19) I don't see how you could go wrong ? Are they close to you ? I'd tow them both home !

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And fix them up.
You can make money on one of them, keep the other.

id grab it and fix it up, going to try to add 2 pics of the 57 i did, after it sat out in a pasture since 1970, it was rough! open the drivers door and it dropped 5 inches, the lower hinge box was gone, so i made another, took me two years but worth it, the old friend i did this for still owns it, and the cool thing is, he bought it new!

Have one similir on craigs near me for 500.00 thought about it but wondered how easy brake parts esp. etc are to get for that year and size..

That?s a no brainer, you better jump on that deal now, don?t even think about it

IIRC, the '58 impala was available with the 348 with the 3 deuce setup and a 4 sp tranny. Always (still do) wanted one. But, I have seen hundreds of late 50s, early 60s farm trucks and pickups, but never one with a 348.

I just watched a special on Duntov, he had a hand in designing that engine too !! I had a 59 Impala with a 348, a smooth engine!!

I went to the vo-tech school in Beloit in the early '80s for auto mechanics and the automotive instructor told this story several times during class:
The school had an old Chevy school bus that had a 348 in it. One year it needed an overhaul and the automotive class overhauled it, using all replacement parts purchased from the local Chevy dealership. The engine was put back together, fired it up and never really could get it to idle right. It ran down the road okay, but the smooth idle was nonexistent. After numerous attemps of carb rebuilding, distributor rebuilds and looking for vacuum leaks, the instructor told the kids to pull the engine back out because they needed to find the problem. According to the instructors, the Chevy dealer had given them a 409/425 HP camshaft instead of the stock 348 camshaft. One of the instructors, who used to do a little 1/4 mile drag racing himself, told the kids to put the engine back into the bus and let them run it. He claimed that this bus, long retired before I ever went to school there, so I never could verify this, would just love to rev down the highway at 85 mph, plenty fast for an old school bus.
Once again, I can't verify the actual truth to this story as the bus was retired before I ever went to school there.

I remember it the same way. I looked at a 58 Impala 4 door sedan with a 348
when I was in college but passed on it. The seller wanted more money than
I had to spend.

I went through the welding program at Beloit. Graduated in 77. That place was full of good stories. I have an SP 818 New Holland forage harvester with a 348 in it. I think it has a single 2 barrel carb. It's only rated at 130 HP. New Holland said it would burn 6-8 gallons per hour, I believe it. My son and I joke, "every time you walk by it, dump in another 5 gallons of gas". Ron

I can vouch for the weight, I once hauled 2 truck version 409s home from the junkyard in the back of a 59 Chevy 3/4 ton, long steep grade coming out of the town of Jordan MN. I had to stop and shift to granny low halfway up that hill.