First Ride Reborn: 68 CST

[Maxxd07]

The story starts about 15 years ago when it was a few months before my 14th birthday and my pops and myself were at a local auction sale. They had a 67 and this 68 CST there and for some reason I fell in love with both. I think my pops figured it out and supprised me with the 68. I would be getting my drivers licence in a few months and it would be my first ride. It came with a 283 4spd but was a factory 327 3OTT. The old guy that was selling out had painted it but with what I dont know since it was rougher than 80 grit sandpaper. Rust was minimal and it was pretty straight except for the back end which had a bowed tailgate and a few dents around the tail lights. It needed mirrors, seatbelts, lights fixed and an inspection from the NDHP to be legal. Done and done. I drove it for about a year and a half and the 283 gave it up. We had a 327 so it went under a mild rebuild. Ran that for another year and stuck a junkyard 700R4 and a ratchet shifter in it and ran it through my first year of college. During that time I smoked the tranny, had it rebuilt cheaply and then the front bushing went out and I smoked it again. Then for some reason instead of fixing it I started taking it apart thinking I was going to redo some stuff. Well that never happend so the engine was donated to another project. The summer after the second year of college the chevy garage I was working at put new rockers and cab corners and patched a small area of floor for me. After that its been sitting in storage for about 9 years. Now its time to get it running again. Plans call for 5 lug conversion, short box conversion, mild drop, and probably a 350/350 combo. I picked up an 80 2wd lwb at an auction for a song on accident a few years back that will donate the body to my 80 4wd so it is donating the front end, tranny, power brakes and maybe a few other little things. So now for some pics:
This was back in college at the car show. The red tailgate was a flawless original I scored from my dads cousin for $40.

This was about 10 years ago before the body work.

These are unfortunatly the only pics I have of it before yesterday.