1968 C10 Project "The Twin"

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

While my this project is now complete, I figured I would share all the photos of the truck and its transformation.

I found this truck on craigslist for sale back in July of 2018. I was looking a truck to tinker with and drive to work in the winter here in the PNW. I was mainly looking for a 71/72 Cheyenne as both my grandfather and great grandfather have had a couple of them when I was little and growing up. Plus the factory disc brakes and 5 lugs was a nice thing to just start with, but really any clean 67-72 would do.

That's where this truck came along. It checked all the boxes I had. Was a very rust free cab and nose, doors never cut for speakers, was an original full trim truck, and ran & drove. It just needed some brake work and a few other mechanical things. The bed was the worst of the metal on the truck. The previous owners were using it as a work truck for artificial lawns and while loading a pallet, the forklift had smacked the passenger bed side and then dropped the load onto the metal floor pretty well ruining it. The truck had spend all of its life in so cal and had only migrated to Oregon a few months before I bought it, hence why it was so rust free, but it was an original 2 tone Custom cab truck.

Made a deal and drove the thing home with 2 and half working brakes.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

Once getting the truck home, fixed the brakes, flushed the fluids, touched up a few bare spots, swapped out the door panels & steering wheel and promptly began driving the truck. It was just a sweet running little truck. Replaced the door seals before winter and just overall had a blast owning this truck.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

While having a blast driving the truck, one morning after a very heavy rainstorm and hopped into the truck to go to work. I noticed the passenger side floor was dark and felt over there and it was full of water. The windshield seal or rain gutter sealer had failed. Was not too surprised as the truck has spent so much time in nice sunny so cal it was not used to the wet weather in Oregon.

This seal failure was the tipping point off the cliff to start really restoring the truck. So in July of 2019 the tear down began.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

Since the bed had been smacked by that forklift and all the stake pockets were busted. Made the call to take the long bed off and sell it and cut the truck down. My grandfather was helping as well since I had the truck stored at his place and was chomping at the bit to cut the frame down. He has been cutting these trucks down since the mid 70s. This was going to be truck number 15 or 16 so it was as simple as a weekend in the shop and the frame was done.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

With the frame bolted together loaded the truck up onto a trailer to have a certified welder weld up the joints and add a fish plate on to truly finish the frame up. Welder also fabbed up a new exhaust system to the rear axle as the old glass packs needed to go. Swapped to Flowmaster mufflers.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

From now with the frame done, started fixing a few of the worst dents and dings on the truck prior to pulling the panels off the truck.

[tutone]

Welcome to the board. Nice truck and some good work you've shown so far. Hard to beat early camaros, too.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

Now that the frame was cleaned up, turned back to the motor and getting it all dressed up and dropped into the frame along with the 4 speed.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

With the motor and tranny set back into the frame, measured the driveline put in a order for a 1 piece driveline, ditched the 2 piece.

At the same time it was time to really finalize the bodywork. Got the top, fenders and grille piece all done and it was time to start masking everything to paint the white area of the truck. Made a make shift booth in the shop to shoot the pieces.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

Once painted here was the results once unmasked. Then after a couple days it was time to start remasking to paint the jambs.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

For the next stage of painting the truck, was able to rent a spray booth to lay down the Medium Blue Poly. So masked up the new white paint and all the main exterior surfaces to spray all the jambs and inside the cab. Also tore the bed apart again to be able to paint the inside surfaces easier.

[bwl101]

Great transformation, good looking truck!

[68 C10 Driver]

Outstanding build so far, the truck looks brand new! I pray that mine comes out as good.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

With the side trim on the bed, moved to the interior of the truck and started buttoning that up. Got the stock bench recovered and got the shifter boot all finalized. Went with a 71/72 style houndstooth seat cover. Used a blue comfort grip wheel to tie everything together.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

With the interior buttoned up, it was finally time to put the nose all together. The end of the main project was close and about ready to get this truck back on the road.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

Got the hood put back on and fitted and it was finally time to take it on its first shakedown drive after putting it all back together. Found a few little rattles and a leaks that needed buttoning up. Quickly realized that I was not going to like the original 3:73 gearing in the rear end for longer distance drives, so started planning what gear set I wanted to swap to. Also started planning on lowering the truck more, changing tires, and then swapping for power disc brakes up front.

[raggedjim]

Nice work on this truck.

Good luck, Rg

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

Forgot I should share some pics of why the truck is called "The Twin". Once I decided to go the whole way on restoring the C10, decided to use my 68 Camaro sitting in the garage as a template/inspiration. The Camaro is my first car that my grandfather and I restored. It was the training tool to learn how to work on these old things. The Camaro is an all original numbers matching drivetrain car, with a 327 and M20 4 Speed. The only real things I changed was dressing the motor up like a Z/28 302, added the SS stuff and changed colors from Red to Blue. So since the C10 was a red small block, three pedal truck would be pretty fun to make a tow rig/twin to the Camaro.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

Did a little upgrade/changing on the truck today. Swapped out the metal door panels for the correct padded door panels. Found out the the "Custom Comfort and Convenience" option included the vinyl door panels over the metal units originally. So made the swap and put the metal panels up for another truck down the road.

[FRCvette]

Those looks really nice. Preparing to install mine real soon.

[hardwaa]

Nice Job! truck looks Great!

[GSFMECH]

Very very nice, I love this truck.

[yuccales]

Tire, wheel combo is fantastic. Great looking truck.

[chewychevy67]

What brandsize tires did you go with? I love those red line tires.

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

Originally Posted by chewychevy67

What brandsize tires did you go with? I love those red line tires.

The tires are from diamondback tires. 245/60 15 Fronts and 275/60 15 Rears.