Grandpas 1950 Chevy

[dante81_98]

So I think this may be the first time I am posting about my truck. We have been working on it for a lot time. And by we I mean mostly Todd over at Lowboy Motorsports in Mesa, Az. I just went in to help with some of the grunt work. Long story short, I got the truck from my grandpa, got it down to a more respectable height, put in an LS engine and am now going to drive the piss out of it. And now to to make the long story long.

A little back story. My grandpa purchased and did a little mini restoration on this truck in the early 90s. He never finished it. He did get it running and driving with the original running gear but really only drove it around the block and into the barn where I picked it up. I bugged him for the better part of 10 years to let me come get it. Finally I got the call from him to come by with a trailer.

I did end up getting it running again, but I knew that I wouldn't be using that drive train at all. I did however get it to the shop, strip it down and make a handsome profit on the original parts. I took it to the shop knowing that it was going to be a slow and steady build. I was very pleased to see how things progressed. Todd was able to work on something and take his time to tinker with it and make it even better until the payoff this last weekend.

The original idea was to take the original truck and lay it out on the running boards with a more modern engine and trans. We knew right away that we were going to use the original frame. No S10 swap here. The front suspension is all custom built using the spindle and breaks from a 95 Chevy 1/2 ton truck. The rear is a 12 bolt out of an early 70s truck with a custom 4 link to keep it in order. The frame was boxed then the frame and suspension got powdercoated before final assembly. It rides on a full air ride setup using the latest offerings from Accuair. All of this was built and installed by Todd at Lowboy Motorsports.

For the engine we were originally going to just go 350/700r4 but when there were issues with the engine I had I through him a curve ball and we went with a 4.8 LS with a 4l60e from a 2004 Silverado. Todd build a fuel cell for it and Diego from Desert Auto Works also in Mesa, AZ did the wiring and pumbing of the engine. He did the chassis harness as well. Some notable parts for the LS swap are the Hooker LS Swap manifolds that worked out great, the dirty dingo accessory brackets, GM Performance muscle car oil pan and American Eagle aluminum 3 core radiator.

Once we got it all put back together, wired and plumbed we were able to start driving it. We took the truck to the Severed in the Southwest show last year as a shell and our goal was to drive it into the show this year. We made that goal. I was able to drive it into the show and even ended up putting some freeway miles on it as well. It was a very successful payoff and we got a very good response on the truck at the show.

I want to say that I couldn't be happier with the work that Todd at Lowboy Motorsports put in on this truck. He has put up with curve balls from me and some rather crazy mood swings as we were getting close to deadlines. In the end though he pulled off exactly what I was looking for. If you end up reading this. Thank you again Todd. I also want to say thank you to Diego from Desert Auto Works for all the hard work on the wiring and plumbing of the entire truck. We took him a shell and a pile of wireing and were able to drive the truck away. They both killed it and I can't wait for us to build something else.

Now onto the pictures. Enjoy

Thanks,
Chad