Project Cannonball C10

[mikentosh]

Background
I've been watching the forums for a while but now its time to share my build. First a little background...my departed 78 Blazer. This was my first truck and was in the family for 9 years when I took it over. I spent another 7 years fixing, painting, and putting enough miles to roll the odometer over a few times



It stuck with me through a move from BC to California, and a year later back to Canada. I ended up selling it back in 2001 when I got into Corvettes and eventually BMWs. Still, 12 years later, every time I see a nice squarebody passing by I still give a long look. I've reached the stage in my life where I now have the garage space, tools and (some) financial backing to go through with my ultimate squarebody build.

The motivation for this build
All I wanted 12 years ago was a great stance and lots of power. A few years back I got into track/high performance driving and have become hooked. I've owned a couple of M3s and a track-focused MINI, and what I like about these cars is they are equally happy puttering the family to the grocery store or tearing around Laguna Seca. I want to build out a truck with the same kind of "swiss army knife" utility to it. I'm planning to drive it to work at least a couple of times per week, use it to haul my bikes, take it on the occasional family trip (pulling a small trailer), and take it out to Laguna Seca or Thunderhill once or twice a year. I'd also like to do the Hot Rod power tour in it.

A few days ago I stumbled onto a thread asking about a fantasy build and that's when I came up with the project name. I'm setting out to build a truck that is fast, good handling and reliable enough to do the Cannonball Run in: Project Cannonball C10.

I'm hoping to do a lot of the work myself, however I'm not a fabricator, so I've got a buddy who owns a custom shop (One Off Customs in Santa Clara, CA) to help out with body mods, paint, and some assembly.