A Truck to Break the Monotony

[desertrefugee]

I’ve been sort of half heartedly looking for a project Chevy pickup lately. Was sort of looking for a runner, and a pre-73, ended up with neither!

I have done an awful lot of classic vehicle restoration, but it’s been a while. Now that I’ve got a little bit of breathing room, I thought I’d pick up another one. Don’t have much of a budget for this one, and it’s a going to need a lot of love. Quite a dilemma. But it has good bones.

75 C10 shortbed, Rode hard and put up wet. Guy and his son picked it up and began a restoration, then picked up a better candidate. Lucky me. Arizona rust in the passenger floorboard, Body rough as a cob but solid. Zero interior. Freshly rebuilt very strong 383, TH400, 12 bolt. Truly the drivetrain is the best part of the truck. Everything else, and I mean every blasted thing needs attention.

Got a bed full of extra bits to pick and choose from.

Got what I think was a pretty good price, but all these little bits are going to add up. Interior and body will be the worst.

It will be a lengthy process, but I’d like to turn it into a driver sooner rather than later. Needs brakes, fuel line, interior, tires for that to happen.

We will see…

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[5speed]

love the square bodies..
I owned a 76 Jimmy High Sierra Classic. 400 4bbl..
wish I still had it but the body was pretty much toast.

[heraldhamster]

I'm partial to the '72 model chebbys, but very nice score, man!
keep us in the loop as ya make progress.

[Whiskerfish]

Good Bones is how I pick my houses. Generally anything built before 1920 or so!

[ancientdad]

Nothing like opening a hood and being able to actually see pretty much everything you need to touch, and even better, being able to reach it all without much contortion... love older V8 vehicles. You should have fun with that, Darrell

[desertrefugee]

Welp. As noted, I've missed having a truck since the big D, but now actually needed one. Didn't need to be nice, just a hauler/tower for once or twice a month duty. Somehow, I ended up with the monster above. Monster you say? Guy before me took it over from a friend who'd started the build and passed away suddenly. He didn't know much about it other than the motor was fresh. He hadn't even started it.

But holy smokes is it fresh. Don't know the specs except it's a stroker (383), roller rockers, an Edlelbrock dual-plane and a Holley double pumper. Monster cam and a roughly 2500RPM stall converter. Actually a pleasant surprise! But, not exactly the ranch truck I was looking for. Definitely not the "driver/hauler" I needed.

So, what I "really" needed was an actual working truck to get stuff done...

Original owner '73! Rough, but cheap - and strong! My FAV truck transmission: M20 4-speed with granny low. Solid 10 year old 350 HO crate motor. Arizona rust, innumerable dents and dings:

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Meanwhile, this beast remains a project. Will likely never see street duty. I'm getting the fever to play at the strip again. (But, on a shoestring budget.) Bed floor is going away to make room for rubber. (Don't worry. It's wasted anyway).

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[Whiskerfish]

So you have had it fired up now?

[desertrefugee]

Yes indeed! Strong, strong runner. Clean burning, high compression. BIG cam. Stall converter. Idles like a top fuel dragster. Home made unbaffled race mufflers with 4" tails. Did a couple tears up-and-down the street much to the neighbors' dismay, I'm sure.

This one was built to run. Need a fuel cell, some wheels and big rubber, a couple of buckets in place of the bench, get the gauges working, long wheel lugs and it's time to take it down to Wild Horse Pass...

...or just sell it to my son who's dying to pry it out of my hands. ( would save me a lot of trouble to be honest. )

[wingrider]

Ahhh, keep it, and run it! Kid will get it someday when you are done with it!

[Whiskerfish]

you going to upgrade the brakes I hope!!

[desertrefugee]

Front discs. Will see how they work. So far, so good...

[gltriker]

Power brakes?
Sufficient vacuum available from the HO engine for the
booster to work correctly?

[desertrefugee]

Good question. Dont know yet. At this point, still firmly in the assessment phase. Had to put lines in front. Pedal is solid. Truck stops well from 30ish. Thats all i know for now...