I had always been a fan of the older Chevrolet trucks, especially the Suburban and Blazer models. Living outside of Philadelphia in the suburbs, coming across these trucks for sale was rare, albeit they were usually in quite dismal shape. Yes, I loved square body trucks, but I wasn’t about to be stupid with my money and buy a rotted out one! I was merely looking for a car for Point A to Point B traveling, and if it happened to be a square body, awesome!

This past summer I had plans to go to Maryland to visit my grandparents for a month or two. My grandfather and I were working on my uncle’s project house and I was learning a great deal. Once it came time for me to head back to Pennsylvania, my uncle paid me for my work. The next day, he offered to take me to an auction to see what I could find, not necessarily to buy something, but just to look. Being that I live closer to a city, an auction in a grass field is not something I had usually attended.

I decided to go and early Saturday morning we headed out to the auction. We walked around most of the morning and around lunch I spotted the Suburban. Immediately, I quickened my pace and approached the truck. Initial inspection was good, it was locked up, but I could see the interior was quite nice. The body was decent looking, some rust on the back quarter. I found the owner talking to someone about the truck, and asked him if he could start it up. It started and ran great, and he told me it had a reserve of $1700 on it.

I was quite unsure about buying the Suburban, but after anxiously watching no one bid on it, I went to the owner and offered him the reserve in cash. He accepted and I am now the proud owner of a 1989 1500 Suburban! I’ve had some small problems with it, some wire work was needed under the dash, I replaced the passenger power window regulator, replaced the original radio with a very nice Newport Radio from LMC, and some other small details with rust patching and cleaning. It has been a steady daily driver, and the gas consumption isn’t as bad as one would think. Still working on a good name for it!

My goal for the truck is to keep her as original as possible, but also add a little of myself to it! Thanks LMC Truck for giving me all the tools and parts necessary to make this a fun, yet easy project.