71 chevy short/wide

[Schwinn68]

here's my new project. I drove a 69 chevy stepside to high school but had to get rid of it shortly after graduation. I've regretted it ever since. Now, thirteen years later I again have an old chevy except this time it's a 71 short/wide.

I've been looking for a while for a truck and was torn between a 47-54 or a 67-72. I really wanted one of the older trucks but they were either complete junk or overpriced, nothing in the middle. The other range, I found a lot of long beds. Some were pretty close to what I wanted and the prices were a lot more in line with what I wanted to spend. I just didn't want to have to cut a frame down and then still deal with finding a bed. Finally I found the one I bought. It was about four hours away in Iowa.

The truck is a shortbed fleetside with a 350 with four speed manual. The truck is in pretty good shape. It's not a show winner but it's a great driver. The truck came with a 5 speed overdrive trans that I plan on swapping in real soon. My other plans include several parts from CPP and classic parts.

I'm having trouble with my turn signals right now so high on my list is a replacement wiring harness and maybe a new tilt column from CPP. Next on the list is a lowering kit with shocks and a set of sway bars. I'm also looking at a bunch of replacement parts from classic parts to make my truck feel like new. I plan on driving this truck as often as possible so I need it to handle good and drive right.

I plan on using this thread as a log book of my progress on the truck. I'll put pictures and updates in as I go. So far all I've done to the truck is give it a good tune up and put new wipers on it. I finally got plates and insurance on it yesterday and was finally able to drive it around a little and I loved it! I haven't been able to drive it much with the turn signals acting up and now the weather went bad today but soon I hope to be driving it daily. Here's a couple of pics from when I picked the truck up and after the tune up. I'll update as changes happen.