Ms. Blue Belle: The Diary of a Matching Numbers 396-equipped ’68 C10

Photos provided by Owner

We always feature some of the very best builds in these pages—crazy custom builds, lifted, lowered, resto-mod, etc.—but it’s not often that we get a chance to highlight everyday cruisers and “Hometown Heroes” with their classic Chevy trucks restored in their home garages. We wanted to hit on some more of these builds and showcase these more regularly here, so here we are!

Remember how cool the world of online message board forums used to be? The idea of logging on and plugging into a community of like-minded enthusiasts online is still a viable method of giving and receiving help with truck projects and asking for recommendations on parts and products, but it has slowed down some since those old days. These websites are still humming with daily traffic from new and established members alike; however, the popularity of them has definitely fallen to the wayside thanks to the quick-hitting content now found on social media platforms. While there may be newer, more convenient ways of indulging in truck subject matter these days, it’s nice to revisit the boards to see how most of us used to stay informed of the goings on within the scene.

For those who used to surf 67-72chevytrucks.com back in 2005-2006, you may recognize this ’68 C10, or at least remember the story surrounding it. The truck’s owner back then, William Burch of South Carolina, started a thread about the rarity of the truck with it being a numbers-matching SWB fleetside equipped with a 396. With the help of fellow users on the board, William was able to put together some very interesting information about the truck. An estimated 1,400 C10s received the 396 engine option in 1968. A further estimated 500 of those were most likely SWB models—nearly one-third of the total number of C10 models built during that year. Of those, how many could still be left intact? Not many, that’s for sure.

Over the timeframe of a few years, William posted semi-regular updates on his progress restoring the truck, even professing to the board that he had no serious plans to sell it. After a while, the thread he created went dark—for years on end. There were no new posts, no “bumps” (remember those?), no questions for a long while until an unknown user by the name of David Cashion posted to the thread in 2023—17 years after the last entry was made in ’06! All he said in that post was “Greetings from Orange County, California.” While it was a bit cryptic of a message to post after nearly two decades of the thread being dormant, the other users who once used to check in to the thread for updates began to put the pieces together. The truck had seemingly changed hands and moved across the country.

Recently, David reached out to us directly and offered some insight on all that went down during this C10’s nearly two decades in the abyss. The information he shared was rather intensive.

“William Burch, was the second owner of this truck,” David said. “Well, actually his father was after he purchased it from a gentleman local to him in South Carolina who originally ordered the truck new from Harison-Gulley Chevrolet. The truck stayed in the Burch family until 2008 when it was eventually sold to a Nate Gardner of Ohio who restored it over a 2 1/2-year period. I have a book documenting what was done by him.

“It wasn’t too long after he was finished with it when the truck was then sold to Francisco Gamboa who added a few items and lowered it,” David continued. “He has recently sent me a few parts that belonged to the truck. The C10 was then sold to Bruce Dusablon of Vermont, then to a guy named Rick in Denver, and then it was sold to Randy Ford of Brighton, Colorado who only had it for four months before I purchased it from him. I am currently the ’68’s eighth owner.”

David has definitely done his due diligence while researching the history of his truck by connecting all the dots to gain a better understanding of where it has been and who has done what to it. Luckily enough, every caretaker the ’68 has ever had has understood the significance of its rare pedigree. Fortunately for David, the world of online forums is still a thing, and there are those who still use them on a consistent basis. These sites not only offer a great source of reference material for technical knowledge, but they also catalog the people and places of the past that have had an impact on  the current classic truck culture.

Stay tuned as we continue to hunt down more  “true survivor” Hometown Heros builds to share.  If you or someone you know has a cool story like this to share with our readers, send us some photos and info to alexandermediainc@gmail.com and who knows, you could be our next Hometown Hero featured in these very pages!

---