1972...ish C10 - Finishing What They Started

[ClassicIron]

We have some catching up to do! After 6 years of perusing the forum, I decided it's probably time I started a build thread for my truck. Here's the backstory: I was 13, my dad (scotts72heavyhalf), brother (blue/72), and I were told about a guy outside of town who might have some trucks we could check out for a family build. We walk into the guy's shop and we see everything from a fully restored 56 f100 to a real 1968 gt500 KR convertible, but certainly nothing within our budget. We check out the other dozen cars before he takes us around the back to show us something we might be interested in. There sat a 72 c10 long bed sunken into the ground with blackberries growing up around it. The owner's son started rebuilding the truck over a decade prior and installed a 67 front clip, doors, and steering wheel, as well as a then-new crate 350 backed up with a th350. He finished it out with full body and paint before he was diagnosed with cancer and tragically later passed away before he could fully finish it. The truck was tucked away behind the shop where it sat for about 9 years in the Oregon weather. While it of course held sentimental value, the owner was happy to see it move on to a new life with two young boys and their dad for a father and sons project. My dad did some quick negotiations and paperwork before we used a tractor to tow it out of the field onto the trailer and bring her home. I'm 21 now and over the next few weeks I'll be posting the progress that has been made since towing my pride and joy out of that field.

[68Gold/white]

Hmmm, that pass door is not a 72 door.

My first words should have been, major congrats!!!
I like it!!!

[ClassicIron]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

Hmmm, that pass door is not a 72 door.

My first words should have been, major congrats!!!
I like it!!!

Yeah, I could've been more clear on that.. doors are 67 too! The bed is not original to the truck either buts it is 68-72 with some *interesting* Bondo work that I'll post up soon

[MySons68C20]

I'm thinking 67, no side marker lights and a slant hood....

[Getter-Done]

Nice purchase
I will follow along with your build



,.....///

[ClassicIron]

Originally Posted by MySons68C20

I'm thinking 67, no side marker lights and a slant hood....

Let's clear this up Cab and chassis are 72. Front clip and doors are 67. Steering wheel is 67-68. Bed is 68-72. I believe the tailgate is also 72 judging by the yellow paint I found underneath which matches the cab

[ClassicIron]

The next day we stripped the interior (unfortunately someone cut the dash at some point), we pulled the rear bumper off had a lot of cutting to do underneath to get the bumper off as someone reinforced it by welding pieces of angle iron to the frame from the bumper. We also pulled the wheels off and got to work getting the brakes working.

[Getter-Done]

Originally Posted by ClassicIron

Let's clear this up Cab and chassis are 72. Front clip and doors are 67. Steering wheel is 67-68. Bed is 68-72. I believe the tailgate is also 72 judging by the yellow paint I found underneath which matches the cab

Here is a link to a Thread about tailgate I D.

Link:https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...t=tailgate+i+d

Did the marker lights on the bed get filled in?

Regardless on the parts
It's going to be Cool




,....////

[ClassicIron]

The tires actually held air pretty good so we put a little more in them and she rolled out without a fight. My brother (right) and I after we got back to the house, gave the truck a quick wash and rolled it in the shop for the night

[cornerstone]

Nice find! The more pics the better.

[CG]

The chrome/aluminum trim isn't super rare. I see it for sale here on the board now and again. I believe its also made reproduction, but I have no idea on the quality.

[ClassicIron]

Now where were we.. what was supposed to be a family flip started turning into my first truck. My young self only having the money made from bucking bay, my dad bought out my brothers share in the project and we started building what would become my high school daily driver. It needed some more mechanical tlc before I could safely make it down the driveway. We rebuilt the rear drums, replaced a stuck caliper, new brake and fuel hoses, and the truck was off to the exhaust shop for a full 2.5 inch exhaust with H-pipe and flowmasters that were laying around the shop.

[ClassicIron]

The flowmasters sounded perfect, much more mellow than the glass packs but still made some noise! That Goodwrench 350 was healthy. As I got into high school and started making more money I put a lot of it straight into my truck The next few posts will cover a blur of about a year when the truck went through a transformation from farm truck to shop truck. We fixed the marker light by welding in a new patch, after a skim coat and some primer it looked decent enough. The inside of the bed was straight, but all different shades of red and yellow as the 10 year old paint job was flaking off. We matched the grey on the wheels and front trim to a couple cans of raptor liner and prepped the bed for spraying. I cringe when I think about bed lining a classic truck but for the shop truck look, it fits.

[ClassicIron]

Now it was time to dress it up. After treating the surface rust on the floor with a wire wheel and por-15, we installed sound deadening, carpet, new seatbelts, steering wheel, and pedal trim. A new dash bezel helped bring back some life, and my dad later surprised me with a new tach dash. The dash was already cut so I installed a new Bluetooth stereo, a kenwood under-seat sub, kick panel speakers and a new in dash speaker - because everyone knows a high schooler needs a good sound system. Under the hood I removed the inner fenders and resprayed them (rattle can, for the time being). I repainted the booster, master cylinder, and covered up the rest of the yellow firewall. After painting the manifolds with several coats of a high temp exhaust paint, an edelbrock performer intake, valve covers, and air cleaner finished it off with some much needed SHINE.

[ClassicIron]

No shop truck is truly complete without door art! A gentleman by the name of “spike” (anyone know him?) helped us come up with a design and did a fantastic job making it come to reality. We decided on “Classic Iron Hot Rod Garage”. Now it was a truck with some true personality

[clay68c10]

I love it! Cool story, and it's great you've kept it.
Round 2 will be interesting when you look back at what you did for round 1 as a kid.

[ClassicIron]

Now at this point I still wasn’t in a place to spend the time or money to do a full restoration, so I decided to start with a cab-back rebuild. I got all my parts on order and after 2 days had it stripped to the frame. There was nothing too surprising along the way, at least nothing a breaker bar couldn’t fix. Looking back now I’m not sure why I didn’t just pull the driveshaft out.. would have made things a lot easier.

[ClassicIron]

I threw a wire wheel on the angle grinder and got to work. I took the frame close to bare metal, but not fully. The base coat would later be POR15 which doesn’t like perfectly clean metal. After several 10 hour days and every wire wheel you could think of, I had a new appreciation for spending the money to get frames sandblasted and powder coated - maybe on the next project!

[ClassicIron]

I wiped everything down several times with paint prep surface cleaner and started laying down POR15 with a foam brush. The frame took two coats with about an hour in between. Two hours after that it had tacked up enough to scuff. Then I sprayed two coats of rattle can satin black. I was pleasantly surprised with how smooth it turned out! The rear drums had already been rebuilt years ago so I hosed them down with brake clean, then sandblasted and painted the drums with black caliper paint. I didn’t have enough jack stands to support the rear end to paint it all at once, so I started with the backing plates and threw the wheels back on to finish the rest after they dried. Since the rear end would have a harder life than the frame I opted to leave POR15 as the final coat - and I’m glad I did! Today I do a full chassis wipe down after every few drives and with one wipe using a shop rag it looks brand new. Dirt and dust seem to stick to the frame a bit more.

[ClassicIron]

It turns out by this point I got a little excited. Here are the only two picture I have of the reassembly, the day I started and the day I finished. Here’s an overview: I replaced all the brake lines/hoses front to back from Inline Tube. New wiring from the firewall back. Finned aluminum diff cover. Trailing arm bushings. Front and rear CPP nitrogen drop shocks, CPP rear shock relocation brackets, CPP bent track bar. I also replaced every bolt I touched with grade 8 hardware. I didn’t want to put the bed back on and cover it up!