S111985: Gary Greenwood

Rescued but not yet Restored

In July, 2015, Gary Greenwood of Anderson, SC, purchased this Loadside from John Nickel, of Barnardsville, NC. John had purchased the truck from John Kirkman of Oxford, GA, in May 2013.

John (Kirkman) had purchased the rig in Alabama and had the following to say about it:

"I do not know anything about the history of the truck. A friend of mine told me where it was. I hooked up the trailer and drove the 225 miles to where it was located, made the deal, and hauled it home. The previous owner stated it ran but ran hot. He claimed he had rebuilt the motor not long before I got it. I didn't look at it too much at the time.

At a later date when I could look things over, I found why it ran hot: no heat shields! That's not the only thing I saw. The heads were swapped; the right was on the left and the right on the left with the crossover vacuum line hooked up with very long rubber hoses."

John described the truck as "rough but salvageable" and as "one of those 'get around to it' projects":

"I had other projects going on at the time, so I put it under the shed and filled up the bed with more Corvair junk. You know vans make good storage units. Of course you forget what you put there so it is like Christmas when you start looking for something..."

John remembers that there is some sort of evidence of a sign on the side of the truck, so it was likely used commercially at one time. The truck has a four-speed transmission.

Gary started restoring the truck shortly after he bought it and finished it in time to show it at the CORSA NC "Vairs in the Valley" show in October, 2017, although the truck had transmission trouble that took some time to sort out. The Rampside was fully on the road by December of that year.

John (Nickel) sent these photos the day the truck came to his house: