69, no wait, 71 C10 Project

[flipper58]

I originally bought a 69 C10 in January of last year as my project truck. After getting it down to nothing but a frame, which was in real bad shape, I gave up on it, especially when my body guy told me the cab, after sandblasting, would require way too much work. I decided to part that one out to recover some of the purchase dough. Still doing that, albeit not very well as I have yet to become a paying member here to post the parts I do have. That will be coming soon.

So, I turned to this forum (which has been an unbelievably helpful resource) for leads on a "new to me" truck. Someone posted a Craigslist ad for a 71 C10 in SW Michigan. Turned out it was a gem and it has become my project. It is unbelievably clean and has 85,000 miles on it. I drove it home late last year from the Battle Creek area. It was well kept and garaged nicely.

The seller is a class guy and had tons of documentation from the original owner, from whom he had bought the truck. History of the truck was that 2 brothers bought identical pick ups in the Fall of 1970. This one spent a significant portion of its time in Florida. In fact, the now removed cap had a very well worn and faded "Florida County Sheriffs Association" sticker on the rear window.

Pics of my project below. Yes, that is some snow you see from inside the windshield. I had to let it spend a night outside of the garage and it snowed, of course. Since then, it's been in the comforts of my garage.

And so it begins. I am going to do a static drop of 4/6. I've got CPP front and rear disc brakes all the way around, with lowering coils, spindles and front shocks from CPP. I have Brother's tubular control arms for the front and ECE trailing arms for the rear, along with PB trac bar, frame cross members, c-notch, shocks and shock relocation kit.

The plan is to get the frame and suspension done before it gets nice enough to drive this Spring. The front suspension and cross member are off. Going to blast and powder coat (or simply paint) the cross member this weekend. I'll be doing the frame clean up and painting in stages, starting with the front. Bed comes off later when I get to the rear frame and suspension work. Update photos to follow.

Ultimate plan is to go to a newer drive train (maybe an LS) and to repaint it in original colors. That will likely be next winter as I want to start driving this thing as soon as possible.

Here goes nothing...