72 C10 Build

[7dee2]

It’s time to finish the old 72 C10 Short Wide project, I think the best place to start is at the beginning. The Leopard truck, a short-lived nickname due to the Por15 spots all over it came into our lives back in May of 2011. The truck was sporting right front damage (nothing major) but did come with a bed full of used parts to repair it with.

[7dee2]

A few more first pics from under the hood. That’s a whopping 307 with a 2bbl (it did run, not well, but it ran and drove) backed by a T350 and a 3:73 one-wheel peel truck 12 bolt.

[7dee2]

All my earlier 67-72 trucks have had bench seats, which I liked and served the purpose. To change things up though I decided very early on that this truck as well as my 72 K30 build would get a bucket seat and console treatment. That meant this beautifully recovered original bench seat in the pics was returned.

Note: I purchased the truck from a dealer friend of mine and negotiated the price without a seat.

[raggedjim]

Nice start. Good swb are getting hard to find in my area.

Good luck, Rg

[7dee2]

Thanks Roger, same here, I lucked out in that it was literally at the end of our street on a used car lot back in 2011.



The original build sheet was still there in that bench seat, here it is along with the SPID for this truck. It was born a Custom Deluxe with nice colors and a special ordered rear leaf spring setup. It appears to have been in Utah its entire life, delivered to Farnsworth Chevrolet in the small rural town of Panguitch. I did a quick google search and I don’t believe the dealership exists under the same name anymore. Not 100% sure but this may be a pic of the dealership around 1963.

[jaros44sr]

Nice start, I’ll follow along

That’s the truck I wanted to start with, but couldn’t find one at the time. Ended up with a Jimmy

[7dee2]

Thanks Jim. There was a time when all I built had to have 4-headlights and a big block. Finally, let go of the 4-headlight thing but not the big blocks.




A little more history that affects this build was my 68 GMC shorty (with its homemade air ride suspension, also a rear leaf spring truck). After all these years I still miss the truck to this day. My time with that truck made me a big fan of lowered trucks, low and wide baby! One of its jobs was to pull our 66 Vette to car shows, I’d offload the Vette and then put them both in the show. The plan is to do this again with this truck and our recently finished 67 Camaro build.

Note: The Camaro build thread is still going, trying to catch up with an 8-month lag in the thread (my bad it is so far behind) but the car is complete as I’m writing this.

[7dee2]

Just a few more pics of the GMC working. Taking the 66 427 Impala SS clone (4 headlights and a big block) we did for Mrs. 7dee2 quite a few years back for a body-on-style media blast. All I have left of that truck are the wheels and tires which do fit this truck just fine. Last I knew the GMC left Utah for Washington State and the Impala went into a private collection in Vernal, Utah.

[68bowtie]

Cool project!

I wish you didn’t have to return that seat I need a black bench cover and that one looks great haha

[7dee2]

Thanks, I wish I’d kept it also. You know, I checked on that seat years later and was told it got left outside and that the weather had destroyed the cover.



Teardown started! Forgive the poor-quality pics, they were taken with my old shop camera many years ago. Poor old truck has waited a long time for its turn to be built. I promise they’ll get better when we get closer to this decade!

[68Gold/white]

Do you still have the Corvette?

[PowerdbyChevy79]

Subscribed!

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by PowerdbyChevy79

Subscribed!

Welcome!

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

Do you still have the Corvette?

No, after owning it for a decade I traded it to a friend (Tom) who has since passed away. His boy then sold it and last I knew it was in a private collection in Salt Lake City. Here’s a link to the Vette with some of the last pics we took.

A trade? For that Corvette? It’s what broke the 4-headlight trend I had going on. Tom had this very wicked 55 Chevy, part of an American Graffiti thing that he had going on at the time (complete with a yellow 32 of course). I took the 55 and a 73 GMC Canyon Lands with some cash and did the deal. Here’s the back halved 55 and the GMC after I’d put my spin on them.

[68Gold/white]

That 55 is VERY nice. Tell us more!!!