Papa's 68 C10- Frame Off Build

[Karl's Kustoms]

The History:
Approximately 2 years ago I purchased my wife's grandfather's 1968 C10. He had bought the truck in 1969 as a year-old Red short bed with matching Red interior and wood bed. It was powered by an inline 6 and had a 3 speed Saginaw column shift transmission. He drove it until he passed in December of 2007. It was a truck built by GM for at least one lifetime.
During that time the truck went on countless camping trips pulling a camper from the Piedmont of South Carolina up into the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and beyond. It was his sole source of transportation to and from work, as he worked until retirement at both Spartanburg Steel and Firestone. And as mentioned before, he was still driving it when I started to date and eventually marry his granddaughter.
By that time he had long ago replaced the inline 6 with a 283. He had rebuilt the transmission himself more than once. He had repainted the truck once in Chevy Red/Orange, replacing the driver’s side cab corner and driver’s side front fender. He took the time to put the trim back on the truck after repaint and kept it on with all manner of screws. He added 6-lug rally wheels. He also added an aftermarket bed liner and of course kept up with all maintenance issues as best as he could into advance age.
He left the truck to my father-in-law, who after the grieving process decided to do a mild restoration and repaint. But soon after, my father-in-law suffered a debilitating leg break, preventing him from walking for over 2 years. When he did regain the ability after long hours of physical therapy; he was unable to shift gears and stop the manual brakes truck. He eventually offered it to me in hopes that I would provide the truck with the restoration he felt it deserved and one day give the truck to my son, his grandson.

More to come soon…