What to do? 72 C10 Cheyenne Super or 71 C20 Suburban Custom Deluxe

[machflite]

Hello all - first post. Really enjoy this website and has been very resourceful for me. I am in at a bit of a dilemma here and would like some opinions so here's my story.

I picked up 2 C20 Suburbans last year - a 71 Custom Deluxe and a 68 Custom. The 68 was pretty complete but not original and rust has gotten the better of this one. The 71 was minus the motor and transmission and has manageable rust. I really want to restore the 71. It was optioned with the 402 and my research tells me it was 1 of less than 1500 units sold. So I have been painstakingly keeping my eyes out for a correct motor and transmission for going on a year now. The other day a complete C10 Cheyenne Super popped up on craiglist within 2 hours from my house. The truck had the 402 so I jumped on it hoping I might be able to use it and the tranny for my Suburban. When I got the vehicle home, I started looking at it a little closer and it appears to me that it is a numbers matching truck and everything on/in this truck is original...I just probably need someone to verify the numbers.

So...restore the truck or the Suburban? How valuable is a numbers matching C10 versus a correct C20 Suburban? Seems like everyone wants to buy the trucks, but this optioned Suburban is quite rare. Then again, I imagine a 402 C10 Cheyenne Super is also pretty rare. They both need about the same work. They both have rust problems, but I really can't decide. My dilemma for the Suburban really is finding the 402 - they are few and far between. The only real dilemma with the C10 is really just going to be replacing the bed with wood and wiring.

Love to hear your thoughts and thanks for your time!

[LockDoc]

Welcome to the board!

If it was me I would probably do one now and save the other one for later.....

I would like to have another Suburban. My last one was fun to drive and it rode really well.

LockDoc

[68bowtie]

oh my. hands down the 402 c10 super. that's a keeper.

[machflite]

Oh yeah, would love to do both. I guess I am wondering how hard it will be to find another correct 402. It seems like there are none out there. But I also think resto-modding the Suburban with a 6.0 or 8.1 late model motor wont hurt that Burb's value. So I lean toward restoring the C10 Cheyenne Super.

[wbc409]

Where are you located. I believe I have a 402 at the machine shop getting checked out. I had 2 blocks without cranks. Traded a guy a block for a crank.

[machflite]

Marble Falls, Texas