Pick An Unusual Truck: 1972 Chevy C60 vs 2003 VW New Beetle

Good morning! For the rest of the week, I’m just going to keep it simple, and show you cars from Facebook Marketplace that are local to me. There’s a pleasingly strange assortment of stuff for sale right now, so I should be able to keep you happily entertained. Today we’re looking at an old fire truck, and a half-finished ute conversion.

Yesterday we looked at a cheap and cheerful Chevy convertible, and a Teutonic technological terror, courtesy of Gossin Motors. The voting was pretty close on this one, but as of this writing, Stephen’s Mercedes has a slight edge over the Cavalier, so I’m declaring it the winner. It has been said that with used cars, you’re buying the seller as much as the car, and I think Stephen’s reputation for good work gave that Mercedes the edge.

I understand that completely, but I just don’t have any interest in that SL. It’s too complicated, too high-maintenance, and not engaging enough. I can’t think of anything it can do that my own Chrysler 300 can’t do at least as well, if not better. But a stickshift Cavalier with a three-figure price tag? Now that’s right up my alley. It’s funny; I spent years driving cheap rickety cars because I had no choice, but now that I have a nice car, I kind of long for something cheap and rickety just to mess around with.

But cheap and rickety will have to wait for another day. Right now, let’s take a look at a big old truck, and a little economy car that wants to be a truck.

1972 Chevrolet C60 tanker fire truck – $9,500

Engine/drivetrain: OHV V8 of unknown displacement, four-speed manual, RWD

Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Odometer reading: 18,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives

Some old fleet trucks can easily lead second lives in private hands. I should know – there’s one in my garage. But it’s just a regular pickup truck; nothing special was done to it for Forest Service duty except a hole in the roof for a CB antenna. But what about trucks that were modified more extensively to perform a specific task? Like, for instance, a fire truck? What are you supposed to do with that? I mean, it’s cool and all; who didn’t want to drive a fire truck when they were a kid? But it’s not like you can drive a water tanker to Home Depot, unless you’re there to pick up a lot of Roundup or something.

This is a medium-duty Chevy C60, which GM calls a “2 ton” truck, but it must be able to carry more than that. It’s equipped with a 1,200-gallon water tank, which is almost five tons, not counting the tank itself. Moving all that weight around takes torque and deep gearing, which are provided by what looks like a big-block V8 and four-speed manual transmission. My guess is that it’s a 366 cubic inch engine and either an SM420 or SM465 transmission, both of which have a “granny” first gear. The seller only says it “runs and drives,” without elaborating. I guess that’s something.

Medium-duty trucks look a little strange sometimes, with the cab of a familiar light-duty pickup perched high on the frame, oversized front fenders and grille, and great big axles underneath. We don’t get any shots of the interior, but it’s going to look just like any ’72 Chevy pickup, only with a few extra controls for the pump and lights, and maybe an extra shift lever if it has a two-speed axle. If it really does only have 18,000 miles on it, which is entirely possible for a fire truck, it’s probably in pretty good shape in there.

It’s clean and shiny outside, but it has obviously been decommissioned. All the hoses and other firefighting equipment have been removed, and I’m certain those lockers on the side are empty. I honestly don’t know what you’d do with this thing. Movie prop, maybe? Give neighborhood kids rides in it? If you have a better use for it, tell me in the comments.

2003 Volkswagen New Beetle – $6,000

Engine/drivetrain: Turbocharged 1.8-liter DOHC inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD

Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Odometer reading: 84,000 miles

Operational status: Runs fine, but incomplete and not drivable

The last production car-based utes sold in America were the Chevy El Camino and its twin the GMC Caballero, which were last produced in 1987. But that wasn’t the last car-based ute built in America. Over the years, some coachbuilt utes have been made, flower cars for funeral use and such, and of course there have been untold numbers of home-built jobs. Several years ago, a company called Smyth Performance recognized the desire for pickup trucks built from cars, and started offering conversion kits for some popular models. Of course, not every kit that gets bought gets built, and that seems to be the fate of this little VW Beetle. Its conversion to a ute has been started, but it will be up to the next owner to finish it.

The basis for this conversion is a 2003 New Beetle Turbo, with a 1.8T engine and a five-speed stick. The seller doesn’t say whether it’s a regular Turbo or a Turbo S, and the difference is about thirty horsepower. I doubt it matters much, though. It has a freshly-changed timing belt and new brakes, and from the sounds of it, it’s ready to go as soon as you finish the bodywork. The 1.8T has its foibles, but it’s well-understood these days, and keeping it humming shouldn’t be too difficult.

It’s pretty fancy inside for a Beetle, with two-tone leather seats and a bunch of power options. It might be some sort of special edition; I know there were a bunch of them. The open box of baking soda next to the seat is a little worrisome – what smell is it trying to soak up, I wonder?

The whole Smyth kit is included, with fiberglass fenders, an aluminum truck bed, and a tailgate. Since all the metal cutting is done, the rest of it should just bolt together; these kits are designed to be built without any welding. Looking at the info on Smyth’s website, it looks like taillights are up to the builder, but you could probably cut round openings in the rear fenders for the stock Beetle taillights if you wanted. And, of course, you’ll have to paint the fiberglass pieces to match, unless you’re okay with the flat-black look.

Neither one of these is going to be particularly useful for traditional truck jobs, but they’re both pretty cool in my book, especially if you just consider them as toys. We all liked to play with toy trucks once upon a time. Which one of these would you rather play with today?