25th Jun 2016, 10:35

I have 3 antiqued. Both Motor Vehicle and a classic insurer like Haggerty have stipulations on this. In my state it's 2500 miles a year max. It must only be used for car shows or cruise nights. Or to a car club meeting. Or a parade. Hauling a truck full of debris in the bed to a dump and then getting in an accident will mean a problem. Off roading or racing is on you. No insurance coverage if you have an accident doing not what's in the coverage. Or worse if you hit someone. You cannot drive to work. You can go out nights in it and park it. No malls etc. Lastly, the collector car insurance will ask where it is actually kept full time. If you tell them it's at an isolated hunting camp with no locked garage, it's not going to go well. It must be in a true locked garage to get this insurance. You have to send 3 pictures of it in its current state of condition. I have all of the above. My other cars and a truck as well are tagged normally. So I can go out nights, go during the week, go to a job, grocery shopping, a game, tow my boat etc. If your motor vehicle sees high mileage, over 2599 year racked on, they could potentially lift the tags. You cannot do any of that with antique exempt tags and collector insurance on it. So you have 2 choices. Or insure normal. Maybe liability will be cheapest with a very high deductible if it were me. But I would recommend full coverage talking to you.

The reason collector car insurance is so low is its strict policy on usage. My cars average 300 year each. But I may up it as they have appreciated every year. Maybe fix it up would be fun. Take it to some cruise nights. I once did up an older large Blazer years ago. A real rust bucket. Had a lift and large tires. I went into the JC Whitney catalog and ordered all kinds of body skins, rockers etc. Went to my relative's shop who showed me how to cut out bad metal and do spot welding. I'd never used body tools, air tools like grinders and sanders etc. Whatever I did couldn't hurt it. It ran well and the interior was fine. In the end we sent it to a shop and painted it black! Worst color to show flaws. It wasn't perfect, but it looked really great. I did tons of block sanding and got it as straight and smooth as possible. I took my time after work. Those parts I ordered were dirt cheap out of that catalog. I knew the metal quality was what you paid for. Not all pieces fit up well; likely restamped parts from overseas. Not all off the original stamp it seemed. The fun part was I learned on that 1200.00 buy, I made a grand on it selling in the dead of winter with a heavy snowfall. Everyone was calling as it was a lifted 4WD V8. I probably actually made nothing if you added my time. My projects since have been on higher end vehicles, but that was a really great learning curve. I even towed a 22 foot I/O boat with a heavy dual axle trailer with that cheap project. I pulled out some bushes in my yard with a chain. Nothing I could have done to the body would have made it any worse. And best was I learned on something cheap vs a high value vehicle. Good luck!

17th Aug 2016, 01:11

I bought my 1988 Cheyenne 3 years ago. Paid 1800$, replaced 100% of the braking system, rebuilt the transmission, had the bench seat and headliner replaced, and replaced the ashtray and glovebox door.

I plan to get it repainted next summer the original maroon color.

The compression is 155 to 160 and the motor is strong; it has 300,000 plus miles on it.

I love driving this truck.

9th Jan 2017, 14:46

The paint was contaminated that year on all the Chevy's; it's an easy fix.

15th Mar 2017, 00:15

A little over a year ago I bought my 1988 Chevy Truck. She only has a 5.0 with only about 46,000 miles on it and it gets me where I want to go. She is also great on gas. She is painted yellow and has 20" wheels, Headers, dueled out and runs great. Maybe some day I'll drop a 350 into her, but for now she's my baby.

28th Aug 2017, 03:12

I have an 1988 Chevy Cheyenne that I replaced the 305 with a 350... Took the mechanic forever and a day to get it right because of the computer PROM was different for each engine... If the 305 is not giving you any problem, don't change it... Nothing but difficulties since, but it's running just fine now... I suggest leaving her be.

12th May 2018, 14:17

Hi, I was looking through the comments and I wanted to ask this question because I too have a Chevy Cheyenne with the 4.3L V6 automatic transmission.

I've been told my Cheyenne is a '94, but when I read through all the comments the '88 sounds more like the truck I have. Can you please help me identify which year truck I have?

13th May 2018, 12:34

Simply check the 10th digit of the VIN.

A 1988 model year will have the letter 'J' for the 10th digit.

A 1994 will have the letter 'R'.

13th Apr 2022, 17:45

Thirty four years later and this truck still turns over on the first try!

It was May 1988 when I bought my Chevy Cheyenne. I did buy a stripped down version with no bells and whistles since I was getting married in September that same year. It came with the 5.0L V8, 2WD, no A/C or radio. As my father suggested, I kept the oil changes to every 3K and kept up on the maintenance. The engine and transmission are still original. Unfortunately, I could never get a space in the garage for my truck. So, it now has primer and some rust showing upon the hood and roof. I did some body work on the cabs lower panels, but now have corrosion on the lower door panels because of the cracked rubber on the window panels. The bed is in great shape since I had purchased a rubber bed mat and one for the tail gate with a tailgate protector. Twice, I was rear-ended while sitting in traffic with some minor damage. The rear bumper is not original nor are the side mirrors.

Some of my favorite things about this truck are the size, having room for 4x8 sheet of plywood, the height and visibility out the windows, heater performance and mostly memories. It's starting to leak some oil now, which I'll have to keep an eye on.