True Low Buck Trucks!

[LeatherMan69]

If you got pics of inspiration for me of TRUE low buck trucks, meaning making something outta nothing, buying the cheapest of cheap (but of course good quality) parts. Off the wall engineering techniques, But still a kick ass ride, Please post em here. I see alot of shiny things that make me wish i had that kind of money but the truth is I DONT so i was hoping to get some true inspiration of some low buck but quality trucks!! I havent done alot or much to my truck for a long time and I got a LONG way to go. Wanting to reignite that fire i had when i first brought hte truck home!

Thanks guys!
you are all true artist!

[PistonPete123]

I'm right there with you, I have very little money and time, but I'm slowly making something out of nothing. I hope to build a smoothed out rat rod style truck on an airbag suspension, but that will be down the road. do you have any pics. of what you have right now and any idea what you want in the end?

[JRBECK64]

Originally Posted by LeatherMan69

If you got pics of inspiration for me of TRUE low buck trucks, meaning making something outta nothing, buying the cheapest of cheap (but of course good quality) parts. Off the wall engineering techniques, But still a kick ass ride, Please post em here. I see alot of shiny things that make me wish i had that kind of money but the truth is I DONT so i was hoping to get some true inspiration of some low buck but quality trucks!! I havent done alot or much to my truck for a long time and I got a LONG way to go. Wanting to reignite that fire i had when i first brought hte truck home!

Thanks guys!
you are all true artist!

Tell me a little about your truck and what kind of speed bumps you have in front of you. Is there a lot of rust? What does the paint look like and is there enough on it to color sand it and buff it out? I think Pictures would help this process a lot. There are a lot of things you could do to make a really nice truck out of what you have. Are you wanting it to look stock or do you want to make it custom?

JRBECK64

[LeatherMan69]

Originally Posted by JRBECK64

Tell me a little about your truck and what kind of speed bumps you have in front of you. Is there a lot of rust? What does the paint look like and is there enough on it to color sand it and buff it out? I think Pictures would help this process a lot. There are a lot of things you could do to make a really nice truck out of what you have. Are you wanting it to look stock or do you want to make it custom?

JRBECK64

I got a 69 fleetside, I live in Indiana and the winters and being kept outside have not been kind to it. Being my first build ever I think its easy to get a little frustrated. The cab is the worst part of the whole thing. Cab supports are Nearly ALL gone. floor is rusting out and i fully rusted in some parts. Both Rockers Inner and Outer are completely screwed, as well as the cab corners (of course) BUT i have to say Im still happy with it. I paid 600 for it and in runs and drives. SO i cant be all that disapointed.

Im wanting to go custom. I have a vision in my head that if i pull it off i feel it'll be one Mean lookin machine! I asked myself what i wanted it to look like and i said "what would a pissed of Lepercauhn drive?!" My Girl is a redheaded Irish girl so she was my inspiration for that thought. I hope to be able to get back to the truck soon, but im broke so (as the thread implies) BUt that will not keep this truck from tearing up the streets once again. And in style!

[Cbrown67]

what an inspiring thread you just got me all fired up!

[WHITE-NOISE]

subscribed !!!!

[Sinister]

Here's mine. Bought it for $1200. Rattle canned it flat black. Working on it slowly, one step at a time.

[hchad18]

Originally Posted by Sinister

Here's mine. Bought it for $1200. Rattle canned it flat black. Working on it slowly, one step at a time.

I love those valve covers

[Sinister]

Originally Posted by hchad18

I love those valve covers

Thanks. About $80 on Fleabay. Just search for finned valve covers.

[LeatherMan69]

All those are great inspiration! Thats what i like to see! I was getting a little dicouraged cause I kept see chromed out, Brand New Blower engines, with some crazy expensive paint job, needless to say i would/am out of my league when it comes to that! I've gotten alot of my inspiration from a very good friend of mine (whos 70 c-10 is his daily driver) who is a completely low buck guy. He's building a 39 chevy from scratch and it looks amazing! So i've definately got a "jedi master" teaching me the ways of the LOW BUCK BUILD!

I just got my computer at home set up so i'll try and get you pics asap. On the Project and Builds page you can see my truck under "young-gun-69" I had some name remorse cause i found out that im A:not as young as i thought B:there are alot of teens and younger on here building nicer trucks than what i can put out. So I changed it to Leatherman69 Because i am a leather tooler (some of my work is on that page as well)

Cant thank you guys enough for inspiring me once again. Its hard to find you guys on the build threads!!! keep in touch and keep me posted!

[rstewart09]

Here is my low buck truck. I started with a $1200 67 GMC and converted it to a Chevy because the the grill was shot and found a cheap 67 Chevy grill. I bought an 89 Chevy van for $100 that had a good motor and trans to install in the truck. It had very little rust but replaced the rockers and fender cup on right front fender. I painted it with 2 quarts of blue and 1 quart of white rustoleum. I found a great deal on wheels and tires that I picked up for $400 new. I'm still looking for a deal on side molding and a seat. Its not done yet but I only have around $2000 in it total.

[Spray-Bomb]

Traded my dad a car for this one and the engine I had traded a boat for a long time ago, everything past that was done by me and cheap lol
Cept for the bags

[ebfabman]

here is one........

[QKENUF4U]

[quote=ebfabman;4125255]here is one........quote]

now thats one i could own for cheap....

[camrycurt]

Originally Posted by Spray-Bomb

Traded my dad a car for this one and the engine I had traded a boat for a long time ago, everything past that was done by me and cheap lol
Cept for the bags

I love the look of those wheels and tires! I can't quite tell if they're the same on the front and rear - what size tires are you running?

[Ackattack]

Check out my "No buck" thread. I bought the truck for $250, cut it into a SWB, found a relatively rust free cab for $250. I recently got a 1/2 ton 'burb that I'll be swapping in the suspension from and parting the rest....basically making the suspension free.

[Cbrown67]

I plan on mine ebing a low budget build like leather said cheap parts but quailty parts and some back yard engineering i plan on going for a show truck not a wheeling truck. paid 1000 bucks for her

[Shyguy]

I bought my '71 for $600, just what the mechanic's bill was. All we had to do was put gasoline in the tank and jump start it and I drove it home 30 miles.

It was pretty much stock with a 350. Since then new tires were put on it, free from my son and a '73 454 was put into it. I got the 454 from my son as a trade for the low mileage 350 in my truck. The 350 was put in one of my grandson's truck because it gets better mileage than the 454.

I gave the fleetside bed to my son to be used on the truck he built for his wife and we put a '67 long step bed on it we had from a parts truck.

I figure right now I have about $1200 into it and it is my daily driver when it is not too darn hot.

She is not a beauty, but since I use my trucks here on the farm it is ok for now.

[Pont406]

Don't buy anything new. Cash is king right now. You can get good deals on shiny and bling parts new or slightlly used for about 25 cents or less on a dollar. I check craigslist and other local listing daily.

[Jwill41]

People are very surprised to hear that this is rattle can brown primer with cheap clear sprayed from a gun in a booth. 4 years later and I think it still looks good.
.

.

[68 TT]

Originally Posted by Jwill41

People are very surprised to hear that this is rattle can brown primer with cheap clear sprayed from a gun in a booth. 4 years later and I think it still looks good.

I'm going to do the same thing but with rustoleum as the base coat. Mine is going to be an off road toy and parts hauler so no point in putting several hundred bucks into the paint materials. I like under $9 a quart much better.

I paid $400 for my 67 C10, bought a 74 K10 rolling chassis & 84 K5 rolling chassis for $300 (sold the spare differentials, seats & top off the K5 for $240 so the actual cost for the 4x4 chassis was only $60), picked up a nice condition TBI 350 with freshly rebuilt heads for $135, a GM Goodwrench reman 4L60E that looked to be a couple years old at the most and an NP208 that bolted right to the 4L60E for another $110.

I got a good bed side and a good fender for another $35.

I snagged a roller cam & all the parts to do the conversion out of a vortec truck for $20 and a nice bench seat out of a 90 Z/71 for another $25.

So far I have $785 into my 67 K10 project.

I have a bunch of labor to do still but I should be able to get it running & driving and have less than $1000 into it with EFI and overdrive too.

[LeatherMan69]

jwill that is freakin awesome! A primer clearcoated paint job..... NOW that is a low buck move..... "she's primed and ready for clearcoat!" Looks insanely good too

[Jwill41]

thanks Leatherman. It worked out very well. You would never know its not paint by looking. It made the brown primer look more orangish. I call it "cinnamon brown" and thats exactly what it looks like. I will be trying the same thing with some grey primer on an upcoming project. It will probably be two tone, light and dark grey.

[CJ Loeffelholz]

Originally Posted by Jwill41

thanks Leatherman. It worked out very well. You would never know its not paint by looking. It made the brown primer look more orangish. I call it "cinnamon brown" and thats exactly what it looks like. I will be trying the same thing with some grey primer on an upcoming project. It will probably be two tone, light and dark grey.

Damn, dude, you're a Renascence man. Did you spray the clear or was that rattle can too?

[PanelDeland]

I think the best way to approach a "low buck" build is to start by getting the mechanicals right.Get it running well,stopping well steering straight and as clean as possible.Then every week take something and detail/clean/repair it.Setting a goal will help keep it going and take pics of what you did.Have the Redheaded Irish girl do an album cronological order of the progress.You can't look at it except once every 2-3 months,unless you start getting burned out or bummed because you don't think you're making progress.
Maybe start by taking brackets and cleaning/painting them.small stuff like this can make a big difference in how you perceive your truck and your progress since they are very visual.Cleaning and doing a good rattle can detail job on stuff will really make the truck look better.

Here's pics of my engine when I got it clean.It looks pretty bad but at least it's clean.I will have to wait for some light since I haven't taken any afters.It's much better except the valve cover didn't come out and is waiting for a less humid day to get a repaint.