May 2007 - Truck of the Month

[Palf70Step]

Since to most of us they are like a memorial and in honor of Memorial Day, this month our Truck of the Month contest theme is not necessarily a memorial ....

But It Keeps on Running.

It is time for our less than perfect truck of the month, our beaters.

Let us check out the criteria or rules for those being nominated.

• It must be road worthy and currently legal (or close to it) to be on the road.
• It must have at least three imperfections. This includes things like different color paints (or lack of paint), dents, holes (large and small) or whatever might make someone afraid to go near it for fear of catching some sort of disease .
• We won’t call them ugly, because we know it is just our baby’s character and a living (maybe barely) memorial.
• If a truck has won a TOTM already in 2006 or 2007, you are ineligible. If you were nominated but were not selected as a TOTM winner then you may be nominated and compete in this month's category.

To Nominate:

You or someone else may nominate your truck. Just add the nomination to this thread. We will need a picture of the nominee vehicle, the owner’s board name, and the basics specs of the truck (year, engine/drive train specs). You or your nominator can provide additional info if desired.

Nominees will through May 25. If additional information is needed, then I will PM the first 15 nominees to get any additional data or pictures if they have not already been provided. You can PM me for an e-mail address in case anyone has problems resizing them for the board. A Poll Thread will be set up in this board area. An announcement will be posted on the Discussion Boards to notify all of the voting. The Poll will start to run on May 26 and will run until the morning of May 31. The official announcement of the winner will be on the afternoon of May 31. The announcement of this month’s TOTM winner will be posted through the General Discussion Board area.

So let's see what we have for living, or at least semi-living memorials!

[1969k10stepside]

Here is my ugly old truck
1979 K10 longbed.Worn 350 running on about 5 of its 8 cylinders.Motor is all stock.Rebuilt TH350 tranny,rebuilt NP203 T-case.Stock 12 bolt Corp. rear axle and 10 bolt Corp. front axle.4" Rancho Lift kit and worn and weather cracked 33" Wild Country tires.And a fancy rear bumper that's rusted out.Non working air conditioner too.I fixed the rockers and cab corners years ago and they are rusty again! There is a hole in the gas tank so it slowly leaks out gas too.The exhaust....rusted through headers and the exhaust fell of while wheeling so it has rusted out straight pipes that exit after the cab..not intentionally

[heavy71chevy]

Ill throw mine in here for nomination..pics aint that great but ill take better ones tommorow in the day light...my truck is 4 colors..Green, Black ,rust and primer lol the bed is completly rusted out. I have a peice of plate steel thats woodscrewed down to cover the swiss cheese bed floor..both rockers had metal screen for windows rivited down and kitty haired over by the PO...the whole truck is mostly all had peices of everything bondoed up...there is no weather stripping on both the doors is non existent and the top of the windsheild frame is rusted thru in at least ten places..i have three dry rotted tires and one new kelly safari for one rim...the tailgate is rusted out completly also..every time it rains its like a lake inside..there no seat cover at all..its just foam..the headlights dance arund the road at night wildly due to a smashed up and cracked up grill shell...and the best part...i drive it 70 miles a day every day! lol its my only mode of transportation

[hewlett2002000]

i nominate my big brown turd. it has a strong running 350 with a edlebrock performer and a holley 600cfm and a worn 4-spd. the bottoms of the fenders are rusted out, and the strip under the sill plates are rusted off. the paint is peeling and has alot of surface rust. its a gas hog but it will go. i may not win the race but by the time i hit the finish line everyone will have a peice of me, literally!!!!

[Srubydo1986]

Well i guess ill nominate mine. Just to if all is cool she does have imperfections

She has 2 diffent shades of brown. shes had a new engine and tranny installed. Everytime she starts she make a real nice grinding noise (flywheel broken but still drivable) Bent rear bumper and some rust at the cab corners.





Injoy

[Mickey_D]

And then there's mine. 1980 K15 Custom Deluxe 4X4. 336,000 miles on the original engine. Tranny's been rebuilt, but that's it. The driver's side tank is rusted out, so you can only use the passenger's side 14 gallon one.

Notice the different tires front and back? Well the rear ones are bald as hell.
The heater switch gave out so I put a rocker in and hard wired it so all I've got is off or full blast.
You have to slam the doors so hard you just about dislocate your shoulder. Otherwise you end up doing what I generally do - mule kick it shut. Hence the barely noticeable footprints right below the door lock.
I would say the truck is at least 400 pounds lighter than factory due to the rust. I never use the ashtray, just flick them on the floor and they'll end up out the rust holes. This also means that during -40 degree winter ddriving the heater is cooking your right foot while your left is getting frostbite!!
The front turn signals in the bumper don't work because they've both rusted the contact plates for the bulbs out.
The mechanical fuel pump gave up the ghost, so I put an electrical one back by the tank. Wired it into the heater blower power.
Never dug into the carb to find out why it's so hard to start. Generally involves turning the key on, letting the fuel pump fill the carb back up, pumping the accelerator pump 5 times, hit the starter until it coughs, pump it 5 more times, hit the starter again. Let it idle (if it does) for at least 5 minutes or it'll just stall the minute you put it in gear.
The automatic hubs gave out on it several years ago, so I put Warn manual hubs on it.
I've never tried the parking brake.
There's two leafs missing from the left rear spring pack. One broke before I got it, the other most likely happened one of the wood hauling trips.
The original muffler fell off driving to work one day, I just left it to skitter off to the side of the road and stuffed an old cherry bomb on in its place. It exits about 4 inches in front of the pumpkin.
The dash lights only work (sometimes) at full brightness. If you move the dimmer at all, they go out.
The high beam switch sometimes turns the lights off completely when you hit high beams. Rather interesting when you stomp on the switch right after some numpty goes past you with HID's and the lights go out right when you need the brights the most!!
The speedometer bounces all over the place and even when it stays still it doesn't read the right speed (about 10% fast).
Both brake lights take their turns stopping working. Only way I can tell is the turn signals stop. Have to stop and get out, smack the lens (carefully so as not to break any more off it) until the light starts working again.
The license plate light got kicked out by my son hopping in the back one day. Thankfully no LEO's noticed that fact yet.

Now for the good points:
It starts every time I ask it to.
It goes wherever I point it.
It hauls whatever I throw in it.
It survived a side swipe by a Jeep Liberty without even a noticeably dent.
It's great for knocking over trees that blow over the wrong way when you're cutting them down.
It'll idle for 36 hours without even blinking keeping the battery charged so I can use my inverter when the power goes out to keep the furnace running.
Unlock the hubs, jack the back end up and put a pair of old steel wheels on, loop canvas straps around them and throw it into 4Lo and it'll power a sawmill no problem. And when you're done, it'll haul the lumber away as well. No matter how much you cut.

It's NEVER stranded me. And some of the crap I've put it through, it should have told me to **** off years ago and left my sorry butt out in the middle of nowhere!! Even after blowing through a 6 foot snow drift to clear the driveway!!

Anyways, on to the pics.


That's how you test your suspension.


You thought I was kidding about the cherry bomb, didn't you?


Here you can see the result of bashing through a snowdrift that's part ice...


This is what happens when you get a desperately cold redneck that has a can of expanding foam insulation available...


You though I was also kidding about the rocker switch, huh? It's right there beside the main light switch.


And that's what I was talking about with the leaf springs.


And notice the extra wide gap between the bed and cab on this side? That's what happens when you empty the bed of a full load of firewood by dropping the tailgate off its chains, backing the truck up real quick and slamming on the brakes....

[GREASEMONKEY72]

what the hell,

1972 custom/10 lwb sbc 350/th350, it was repainted by the po but its on waaay to thick and flaking off in spots, overspray everywhere both paint and primer, theres dings everywhere, left fender is dented to much to be fixed i think, little half moon dent in the top off the gate and another small one in the middle, left quater under the side marker light is pushed in a bit, i got some out but not all, right rear wheel well has a tear in it infront of the tire and the bottom corner behind it was pushed up and in, i managed to pull that out, didnt have the support bar for that side so i had to make one, i had to weld all the bolts to the rear bumper cause the holes are rounded out, theres varies holes drilled in the bed floor, little bit of rust in the bottom of both kick panels, bucket seats out of something that are welding to square tubing which in turn is welding to the cab floor and the drivers seat is about 2in to far to the left and has a small 1/4in burn hole, only had the drivers seat belt when i got it so i put some belts out of jcwhitney in it, the wiper sprayers dont work so i took them out and the resivour also, the front bumper is rust pitted like crazy and its so bad that theres a nice shiny spot where the plate used to be before i took it off, the grill is obviously not the stock one, but a 69-70 grill and bumper which i like but i do want to put it back to stock '72 but this grill is kinda screwed up in some spots and has a tear next to the left headlight and some dents and dings, the plastic part is falling apart and cracked and broken in different places, 3 different brands of tires on it, the rears are one brand and the fronts are 2 different brands(got a flat), not to mention the rears need to be replaced cause theyre cracked alot, the left wing window has a black frame and the right wing window has a chrome frame and the rubber has a 3in piece missing from it, the steering wheel is from a 73+ model im told and when i got the truck the po had a piece of a carquest box cut out with the symbol on it to go inplace of the horn button well since the horn doesnt work and threw that away and made my own piece out of lexan and put a sticker on it, glove box wont open on its own you have to push the button and pull on the side at the same time, the engine ofcourse isnt like it used to be but thats not that big of a deal but the exhaust is like 3 different size pipes going into the glasspacks from the ramhorns, thats all i can think of right now and i think i got it all but who knows

[GREASEMONKEY72]

couple more pictures BTW, i put that stereo in, the one that was in it was ok but sucked compared to this one

[mudmizer]

Heavy71chevy, it's the "3" sticker on the glove box that keeps it going. Forever!

[Mr79C10]

ALL bad azz BowTies!!

[GMan69]

I'll throw mine into the mix, but I gotta find a picture.

69 SWB Fleetside, 355 with an Edelbrock carb, RPM air gap intake, mild Isky solid lifter cam, Cloyes hex-a-just timing set, Z/28 oil pan with windage tray, Thorley tri-Y headers, AFR 190 heads (no longer produced) Comp pro magnum roller rockers, Spal electric fans, Putter's Custom Concepts intermittent wiper switch, Putter's Custom Concepts in-cab hood release, tilt column, '99 Suburban 2nd row seat, 3-point belts, compass/temp/auto-dim mirror, working factory AM radio (thanks Putter) working Audiovox FM converter (thanks see-ten).

Critical needs: BRAKES!!! (non-power drums just don't do too good), outer rockers, kick panels, radiator core support.
Wish list: Disc brakes, rust repair, paint, trim, Blazer tank, suspension drop, Corvette ralley rims.


Runs ok. Looks decent from 50 ft. That's about it.

[shaneschevys]

I nominate my 72. It is lowered 2 1/2 in the front & 4 in the rear. It has a vortec 350 with a 4l60e trans. I removed the turn siginals out of the grill & put the 72 bumper back on. I wanted to leave a little of the 72 look on the truck.

[Palf70Step]

Per Gman69's request, here is the Putter Mobile

69 Chevy Stepside

Engine is a 355 with T350
Van tilt.
Comp/Temp mirror from Caddy Escalade.
Suburban 2nd row leather seats.
Blazer tank with side marker filler.
DynaMat lined cab.
Stealth latches and hidden Nissan hangers on tailgate (no chains)
In-Cab hood release.
One-off custom built roll pan with LED tailights.
S-10 washer pump conversion for windshield.
Adjustable height Silverado shoulder seatbelts.
Duel electric fans for cooling.

[jsbgump]

I'll nominate my 68 2wd. It has 2.5/4 ECE lowering kit with adjustable panhard and shock relocaters. It has a 350 with a edelbrock carb and intake with a small cam. turbo 350 stock tranny and has a 3.73 posi in the rear.

[royo]

Well then how bout this 454/700/12 bolt 373s needs rockers and paint and i just had to put the ece drop spindles on 6in in the back 2.5 in front and a cut coil this is a daily driver I have to go to the line up shop first

[Igotachevyor2]

well here is mine

1958 apache 3100

some of the specs so far
350 4 bolt motor boreds .060
World Products Sportsman-II Heads
Elderbrock Performer Air Gap Intake
Hooker Headers
Holley carb
Cloyes noisy gear set
Crane Cams Energizer 274 HO6
Electric Fan
K&N Air Filter
POS dual exhaust
3 on the tree trans
stock rear and brakes
stock interior except for the pos bucket seats

16x10 American Racing wheels
rear Goodyear 285/60/16s
front Goodyear 225/60/16s
as you can tell from the pictures she has a few dings and dents also needs some new glass. she has strateicly placed rust holes for weight reduction. but she fires up every time i drive it to work a few times a month to turn a few heads im not sure if it is the different colors they like or the loud exhaust maybe even the whining coming from the timing set. im not sure but it works.

[cory321]

Dustin I was going to vote for your truck.Until i saw all the cut up 67-72 parts in it.J/K .

[killthewabbit]

Can I get in on this?

(Copied/pasted from this thread)

Gentlemen, I present my daily driven (70 miles round trip to work & back) Chevrolet C10 step side.

It's got a Vortec 350 with a turbo 350 transmission, mismatched tires, 3/4" plywood for bed wood, and the all important Indian Blanket $20.00 seat cover. The one you see on it is actually the newer one. The wife made me replace it before she would ride in it. There are rust holes in the fender, cab corners, and inner fenders. It looks like the tailgate metal actually separated from the latch and the PO (original owner who used this for a landscape business) booger-welded it back together. There's a cut down, bent-up, rusty-assed step bumper of unknown vintage booger-welded to the frame. I did manage to get all the leaks fixed except for a nasty steering box leak that made the side of the truck look like some kind of a leopard, and the bottom of the driver's inner fender look like I drove through a tar pit. If you look closely at the carpet, there's a giant oil stain where the pressure gauge line popped off one day and sprayed the carpet with really hot oil.

Pics (more in this thread)


The rust spot on the front driver's side of the hood is the only place on this truck I've ever washed. A couple months later, it started to rust.


Nice rusty fender


A good shot of my rusty rear step fenders and the ugliest bumper in existence


P.O. (original, at that) tried his hand at re-welding where the tailgate sheetmetal separated at the latch. Notice it's still separated at the bottom


Cab corner dents and rust holes, and check out the leopard spots from the power steering fluid leak


Check out that oil stain on the center hump


Completely original door panel (hard to believe - I know) and probably $25.00 worth of change in the door panel pocket. That's a great look.

[hewlett2002000]

excellent examples of chevrolet engineering, been to hell and back then back again and still going!!! i love it!!!! eat it FORD!!!!!

[Mrboson1]

Hello everyone, here is my chevy diamond in the ruff. Has you can see, there are a few things that need fixing. I pick it up in a trade from my uncle. The truck has a inline 6, with a 4 speed tranny on the floor. Hopefully one day I will have a weekend warrior! I have a lot of great ideas and no money..

[panhandler62]

It's a 68, it's creaky, it's tagged for the street and it has half a ton of bricks i the bed right now...

[tavenner13]

since this is the first TOTM that my truck has been eligible for i guess ill throw mine in...

the paint is in very sad shape and has a rust hole completely through on the driver's side rocker. has a crease in the driver's fender from a blowout and a rust hole on the passenger side cab support. theres always greasy fingerprints everywhere and the interior is less than show quality lol. the engine bay is ugly and its a miracle if i can ever get the hood to sit flush. i love it cuz it is what it is...... nothin fancy just an old truck that hauls A$S!!

[xtreme80]

Ok I'll play.

This is my 1980 C10 Scottsdale, 350/TH350. I've owned the truck for 5 months and have replaced the engine, tranny, entire fuel system, ignition system, and brakes, all because I had to, not because I wanted to. It's my daily driver and things kept breaking! As you can see from the exterior shot, I've got a nice line of primer all the way around my bed. This was from a 1980's style tonneau cover on it. It's also got bondo on the top of the bedsides by the rear window. You can't see in this pic, but since then, ALL the truck on the bed has managed to come loose or fall off, so I don't have trim on the bed anymore, just the cab. You can see the stains from the gasoline all over the side by the filler neck. The bed also doesn't line up with the cab on the right side, for some reason.

Well, here's my baby and my daily driver

[NONHOG]

What the hey ,I'll nominate my beater it has the Fred Flinestone floors
exhaust leaks , various fluid leaks , no speakers so I don't know if the radio
or 8 track works , the left window won't roll down and its missing a couple of
feet of sheet metal due to rust and most of the interior mold is gone other than that its cherry !
ls9 350 turbo 350 3.08 drum brakes (fixed that leak)