It was 1977 and Joan Cross wanted a pickup truck — 50 years later the 1971 Chevy C10 is still in the family, where it's going to stay.

A lot has changed since Joan Cross and her husband Nelson, then a chief master sergeant in the Air Force, purchased the Chevy. But, her personality and the memory of her can still be found throughout. A dent on the passenger side put there by Joan when she may or may not have backed into the garage, was just about the best place you could put it, said Averee Johnson, Joan’s great-grandson. If you aren’t looking closely it’s hard to distinguish from the natural lines of the truck. 

The truck was eventually passed down to his parents and Johnson has developed a special bond with the old Chevy workhorse in the years since. It was even used in his graduation photos — after Joan’s passing Averee and his family found one of the photos with the story of the well loved truck on the back. That’s how they found out the original name — Black Beauty. 

In 2018, Joan decided to pass the truck on to Averee’s parents Joel and Michele Johnson. But, “keep in mind it’s an old truck,” Averee said. Joel had to drive the 47-year-old truck that had an aversion to cold and worn brakes down the mountain with storage in the bed. It may have had trouble starting once or twice but it made it. 

Eventually Averee began using the truck for his lawn care business, although he didn’t have any particular connection with the truck yet.

“At first, I was kind of like, ‘Oh my god it’s an old truck,’” he said sarcastically.

As time went on Averee fell in love with the truck and he and his dad went to work on it. The first few fixes were mostly cosmetic along with a few small repairs.

When the truck’s lawn care days were over it was time for bigger repairs and replacements. The engine and gauges were fixed and with the help of the Cooley family so was the antenna, rust, and cracked tailgate.

Averee also painted the hubcaps by hand, three of which were the original blue, albeit a little faded. All four hubcaps match now in the original blue tone. 

The truck was so well loved by Joan and Nelson that the 400-cubic-inch engine wore out on them and had to be replaced with a 350 engine.

“The list [of states they drove to] is ridiculous, they basically went across the U.S. in that old thing,” Johnson said. 

So what’s next for Black Beauty? She’ll get some sun damage touched up and some new seals around the windows “so when it’s raining we don’t have water get in very easily.'' After that the truck will eventually be passed down to Averee and his siblings, “It’ll end up staying like that,” Averee said.