My Slap-my-hand-to-my-forehead 68 fixer-upper

[ixnay]

A friend's beautiful butter-cream yellow 68 4-speed bit me. I had to have one. I wanted a 68-72, 3-speed (so my daughters could ride with me), white, 2WD, long-bed, 3.73 back-end C10. I looked for 3 months all over the Pacific NW. Last week, I bought a restoration-in-process from the widow of the fellow who passed away suddenly 3 years ago. It's a faded hugger orange in color, but I can live with that.

The good: came with a 3.73 diff in the bed, all the heater parts, rebuilt engine, rebuilt tranny, front spindles w/ 5 lugs and disc brakes, more bungee cords than I know what to deal with, new front window, replaced side mirrors, the two rockers, and little rust.

The bad: tires were flat, brakes faded quickly, floor-boards and kick-panels and tail gate are rusted, radio doesn't work, 3 of the 4 rear lights don't work, wiring generally is iffy.

The previous owner put over $4,000 into it before passing away. I don't know what he paid originally. He had a 58 Apache rebuild going on too. That one is going up for sale soon.

So the rig is at the mechanic to swap the diff, install the brakes, work on the points, check the wiring for the rear lights, install the heater, etc. I did one minor restore--a 67 Mustang 24 years ago. I'll handle the minor mechanical and body issues, including windows, weather-stripping, paint, etc.

I ain't even a shade-tree mechanic, but the memories and scraped knuckles are coming back.

It's an honor to serve.