My 66 Project

[ChrisDollins]

Thought I would go ahead and give the truck a build/project page. Haven't done much to the truck, but plan on doing quite a bit more. I'll go ahead and post everything done so far.

Papa got the truck as a trade-in while he sold cars at the local McFall Chevrolet here in town. He got it when my mother was young and she grew up in it riding back roads digging up wild flowers. He polished the paint off of it a couple of times, the first time my Mom painted the "CHEVROLET" script in the grille when she was young, and the second time I did it when I was about 8 or 9. After years of it hanging around, I bought the truck from Mom in spring 2011. Thanks for reading, now on to the pics!

Chris

Papa and his truck.


Filling it up for breakfast with the car guys


All cleaned up. Sometimes wish I would have left it like this.

[ChrisDollins]

After driving the truck for a while like that I got the itch to change it up some. Never can leave good enough alone lol. Me and a friend were talking at our local car show and I talked him into painting the little truck. Didn't need any rust repair and just a couple very small dents. About a month later and I can't believe how different it made the truck. Went with chrome front and rear bumpers, grill and side mirror. Wanted a little extra shiny on the truck. Brian talked me into pulling the center caps off and going chrome lug nut route. Cool look for it. Anywho, on to the pics.

Chris

After being painted.


Decided to go with black on the dash to change it up.


Wanted to see how low I wanted it to be, so... I... heated the springs... lol.

[ChrisDollins]

This was the trucks first snow. The Firehawk was in the garage, so the poor truck had to sit outside. Made for a cool pic though. Drove the truck like this for a while until a friend found a deal on a set of chrome smoothies. Thought they looked right at home on the little truck.

Chris



New to me wheels

[Danny#2]

Good looking truck. With a lot of history. That is what makes them fun.

[Mikes66ChevyC10]

Great looking truck and nice story!

[1963c-10]

Hey chris, glad to see you finally opened up a thread. The work looks great. Really digging the changes.

[ChrisDollins]

Thanks guys! Working on a couple more posts but the Internet is arguing a little.

Chris

[ChrisDollins]

Me and my Wife like to use the truck to haul the bicycles when we go trail riding. And it's a good excuse to get out in the truck! Also ordered a set of clear blinkers. Here's a couple pics of our little one Carson helping me clean on the truck.

Chris





Pic with the clear lenses


Pic from breakfast

[TJ's Chevy]

That is one beautiful truck you have there Chris! Nice history to!

[McMurphy]

Very nice, and to the site !!!

[ChrisDollins]

Business was slow so we came up with this little idea haha. It did get a lot of looks!

Chris

[ChrisDollins]

Thank you TJ and McMurphy!

Chris

[ChrisDollins]

During summer break (Wife is a teacher) I thought it would be fun to daily drive it. And it was actually a lot more fun than I could have ever imagine! Always a cool conversation at the gas stations, walmart, everywhere. And its strange that if you drive at the speed limit in a normal car people will try to rush you, but 10 under in the old truck and people just casually cruise around usually with a smile and a wave. Just too cool I thought. But after having a brake scare, decided that a disc upgrade was needed lol. Here's a couple of pics. I also went with actual lowering spring instead of the trashed torched ones.... haha. Also upgraded to power steering.



The 2/4 drop was a little lower than I had it before. Kinda miss the rake.

[Ta2Don]

Looking Good!!! Digging the Stance!

Stay Warm and Safe during this wintertime fun we are enjoying here in the Natural State...

[ChrisDollins]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Looking Good!!! Digging the Stance!

Stay Warm and Safe during this wintertime fun we are enjoying here in the Natural State...

Thank you! Man I hear ya, its no fun haha. Well maybe a little, as long as we keep power!

Chris

[ChrisDollins]

I also changed out the "idiot light" cluster for one with gauges. First time I've seen the temp and oil pressure of the little engine! I'll try to get a better pic of it after this nasty weather goes away. Next on the list is getting the windshield trim installed, seat recovered, and seat belts installed. Would like to do a cammed/convertered 6ltr/4l60e swap too, but that will probably have to wait.

Chris



At Craighead Forest in Jonesboro, AR

[Spragg]

Great looking truck.

[NEWFISHER]

I love the black trucks! Yours is top notch.

[ChrisDollins]

Thanks guys! Not sure I'd call it top notch, but its good enough for who its for.

Chris

[aggie91]

Cool story and really cool truck.

[ChrisDollins]

I finally finished up the bed wood install. Started to just replace a couple boards that I thought were bad, but after looking at it, there was only like one corner board that was good haha. Then the plan was to replace with pine and paint black like factory. I didn't want a poly'd bed that I wouldn't want to throw a cooler, bicycle, or toys in. Ended up going with poplar and three coats of linseed oil. I really like the oil finish so far. I used the stock strips, just painted satin black and stainless bolts from LMC. Which they shorted me 6 bolts... but anywho. Also decided to just bolt the cross sills to the frame and not run the bolts through the wood. I think it makes for a cleaner look. I cleaned the truck up today and took a couple pics with the cell. Still need to get better pics with an actual camera haha.

Chris

[Ta2Don]

Your Truck is so Sweeeet!
Great Job on the Bed Wood!!!

[62 Barnfind]

Nice!!!

[ChrisDollins]

Thanks guys! The little truck is starting to come together. I'm really liking the oil finish look, not too shiny or nice for a driver. I'm trying to organize all of the pics, I'll post a couple during the install here in a few. Now I just need to replace the emergency brake cable. Any tips or tricks? I haven't even looked into doing it yet. But need to get that done before I take it to the glass place to get the windshield trim installed.

Chris

[ChrisDollins]

Here's a few pics of during. For some reason a couple are laying on their side, I never have an issue with that, but fquick uploaded them like that this time.

Chris

This is what was started with. Really had to watch where you stepped! Always expected one of the handle bars of the bikes to be ground off by the time we got somewhere lol.


I was planning on leaving the bed on the truck until I got to this point. Decided to sawzall the 8 bed bolts. Me and a coworker picked it up and stood it on end on some 2x4's. Made life MUCH easier.


Little project took over my shop for a while!


After I painted a good coat of black house paint on the bottom, I coated the boards in three coats of linseed oil. I let each coat dry/cure over night. I'm really happy with the finish.


For some reason Fquick decided to let this pic lay on its side. This is where I noticed I didn't have enough stainless bolts in the LMC kit. Ran to Ace and picked up 6 more. Didn't want to drill the boards for the bed mounting bolts, so I just bolted the cross sills to the frame.