Newly acquired 1971 Chevy Longhorn

[JAA]

Dad (Razorbacker) and I picked up this 71 Longhorn last month and I thought I would share. One thing we are looking into now is the fact that the PO stated that the truck was originally purchased by Red Skelton's Horse Ranch. I do know the truck is from southern California as the PO was from the area and towed the truck to his current home in northwest Arkansas. If anyone has any more info on this or possible ways to verify, that would be greatly appreciated. It does have a gooseneck style ball mounting plate assembly still bolted to the frame. Very stout. As you can see, the truck was originally white/med olive, but at some point, very early in its life, it was painted an off-white. We speculate that maybe the truck was painted to match the Skelton's truck fleet? Probably wishful thinking.







The PO installed the black wheels and three different size tires that were dry rotted. That wouldn't do. So picked up some 16x8 Wheel Vintiques and painted them the correct white and a clear coat wrapped in LT265/75/16E General Grabber HTS.






The PO swapped out the factory valve covers and air cleaner and painted everything in the engine compartment black. I mean everything... Dad picked up factory air cleaner, valve covers, and exhaust manifolds and we just decided to install the air cleaner and valve covers on there as is after some CLR and and good washing. I think they look cool and adds a nice bit of patina to the engine compartment. Everything will be painted at a later date.

Sorry, no pictures of the before.




Also, replace the PO's alternator bracket!



So for now the plan is to preserve, enjoy and use as a tow rig. Then a re-paint down the road. Oh, and find and install correct hubcaps. That's a must..



We also thought about moving the Lavern bumper from the K10 (K10 is getting a sport bumper) to the Longhorn and repainting it the correct silver. I believe the factory camper bumper hangs down too low to install a class III or IV hitch?




Thanks for looking guys!