My New 1976 Silverado SWB

[79 silverado]

After some time away off the board in "hunting mode" I finally found a truck I pulled the trigger on to resurrect. Here's the background:

1976 Silverado, actually the first SWB I've ever owned so that is something of a new experience for me. The previous owner purchased it in 1979 after his divorce and has had it up until yesterday when I brought it home. I'm sure I overpaid by a few hundred given how the economy is, but it is a nice original truck which seems harder and harder to come by for the 73-80 years. (I almost sprung for a 81-87 a few times, but there's too many headaches involved in converting to the 73-80 front end for me to handle without just going that age to begin with.)

There is 132K original miles on the original 350v8 with the automatic trans. Numbers match, and engine has never been opened up, not even the valve covers. Unsure of rear gearing since the original SPID label in the glovebox does not list a rear gear option??? Has the nice sport rear bumper (and mirrors) and never worked or towed a day in its life! A nice bonus down here in GA is the factory AC package.

I will need a little work down the road, and once about 13 years ago now it had been repainted. The body is super straight as far as dents and dings go, but, it had a little mud put in back when that repaint happened in the past... Bottom of the fender and one of the lower rear bedsides behind the wheel - still a nice ten footer though. Likewise, being about to turn 37 years old in September (it was an early build date) The little bumps and bruises from time are relatively minor and what little rust there is is not severe at this point... Still, for something no shadetree mechanic ever worked on and is basically factory status except a period correct radio and a conversion to true duals back in the early 80s by an exhaust shop (factory manifolds in place) I think its a good start - no time to be wasted un-doing or even figuring out what someone else may have tinkered with and cobbled together...

I'm attaching some pictures taken with a camera phone, so sorry for the lower quality for now. Eventually I think I'll make a 1-2 year build thread fixing it up right, and likely the way I would have ordered one had I been around back when these were new. For right now I know I need to replace the factory lap belts with shoulder ones and do some good tuning up and cleaning. New tires are also in the works, just the basics.

Most importantly, I'll need to be renewing my membership here since I'll be around these parts again more... Then we'll see about figuring out the colors and parts I need help finding

So here's some pics from above for now, comments appreciated good or bad so don't hold back!

[flashed]

Nice find ,where in Ga are you ?

[motornut]

looks real nice

[79 silverado]

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen. The truck was out of northeast Georgia...

Originally Posted by flashed

Nice find ,where in Ga are you ?

As far as where I'm at, north GA, generally the metro atl area. Have a townhouse in Decatur at the moment although the pics are at the cottage in Newton Co... Probably shift over to Conyers soon if the land purchase goes through.

[RPOZ11]

I Like It!!!

[MusicMan70]

Love the Black and red combo; NICE!

[black_sheep454]

Sweet find
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[N2TRUX]

I love it. Cant wait to see your updates.

[1774btcrew]

I love it! I have always had a thing for black trucks as we had a black short bed 1972 . My dad still owns that truck too! I have been keeping my eye on a black 77 4x4 gmc short bed. Haven't been able to catch anyone there yet.
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[DBLSPRT68]

Looks great!

[88Jimmy4x4]

very nice, congrats

[legendman]

ditto all the above, very nice looking truck you picked up.

[J Knight]

Wow! A nice unmolested original, sweet find!

[primrrd]

That is a beauty!

[Corts60]

Great find man. I look for the same things in a truck!

[FourByGuy]

Great lookin' truck and seems to be in similar condition to my '76 K20 LWB. It's nice to find a truck that someone took pride in and kept it straight and stock. However I'm curious about your tailgate, was it an option for the brushed panel?



Also what condition are your wood grain door panels and chrome trim in? My wood laminate is peeling and the ornate detail on the chrome trim has faded or worn away.

[79 silverado]

Originally Posted by FourByGuy

Great lookin' truck and seems to be in similar condition to my '76 K20 LWB. It's nice to find a truck that someone took pride in and kept it straight and stock. However I'm curious about your tailgate, was it an option for the brushed panel?

Also what condition are your wood grain door panels and chrome trim in? My wood laminate is peeling and the ornate detail on the chrome trim has faded or worn away.

The brushed panel was there from the factory as an option along with some of that other chrome trim... Part of a package.

I'll need to get some detailed pics over the weekend once I get back out to the truck as well of another interesting point: the bedside rails were a factory option on the spid as well but looking inside the channel in the chrome I can see VERY faint remainder of some faded woodgrain, something I'd never seen before but imagine must have been present new?

My door panel are nice in the woodgrain but the details in the chrome are getting worn, at least on the driver side (I cannot recall the passenger side condition at the moment.)

One thing I really have tochoose at this point is whether to keep her matching to how she was built or go with mild changes - like lighted pass mirror with the extendable centers off a 90k5 I have around, am I going to change up colors down the road, etc... Too many possibilities!
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[truckfan]

i'll watch

[Your41Plague12]

Pretty sure the aluminum trim on the tailgate was available from '73 up. I remember vaguely seeing a '73 GMC gate that had the chrome GMC emblem in the top left corner with a blank aluminum tailgate band, it was pretty neat.

[trout]

lmc trucks sellls the wood panels and door panels now

[Karlthegrillguy]

I said it today, and I'll say it again...That's one nice truck! Also, my 74 has the brushed trim, but the box sides are from a 75, so maybe someone put that on my original tailgate.
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[Karlthegrillguy]

Here's mine, it's dark but this is the original tailgate.

[trout]

Originally Posted by Karlthegrillguy

Here's mine, it's dark but this is the original tailgate.

your tailgate trim piece is origanl to the truck they only cam on the 73-74 gmc plain like that

[Damon23]

Was that the one on Craigslist? When I was looking a guy had a all original one in Decatur for sale that caught my eye but I wanted the stacked headlights.
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[79 silverado]

Originally Posted by Damon23

Was that the one on Craigslist? When I was looking a guy had a all original one in Decatur for sale that caught my eye but I wanted the stacked headlights.
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Actually nope. This one came out of Lula Ga and currently lives in Newton County. Also not for sale.

Ironically, there are currently 2 of this truck's clones on the market for sale. One is the Virginia Highlands one I think you are talking about for $5900... although I think that was a 75 the more I think about it. There is another one up in Cartersville that has the same options/bumper/mirrors, except that it was repainted from factory lacquer to flat black paint, has a cloth seat instead of the vinyl grain, and the guy hotrodded the drivetrain.

I think being in dawg country there are tons of black with red gut trucks of these years running around