Farm Fresh from ND

[mywifestruck]

My wife and I picked up this truck this spring off an auction in North Dakota. After inspection it appears to have spent A LOT of time on the farm, a few farm mods, like the fabricated hitch that seems it would be perfect for pulling a grain bin or hay wagon. The tread on the tires is impeccable; however, they the amount of dry rot on them, I would not trust them over 25MPH for a short distance. BUMMER! The wood bed is extremely dry rotted. The truck is a survivor of a deer hit, which crinkled the original hood pretty and the grill, I was able to pound the grill out pretty good, but haven't attempted anything with the hood yet. TIPS? The rocker panels are GONE, cab corners need replaced and the driver floor is should be replaced or patched. After a VIN search the truck came with a V8 (just not the one that's in it, 1978 305), which makes this truck an excellent candidate for an LS swap.

My daughter and I went to an estate auction this summer of a gentleman who was obviously a C10 enthusiast, I picked up the tailgate for $9 (it's rough), a couple boxes of interior parts for $6 a box ( NEW arm rests, NEW sun Visor, NEW door trim, NEW dome light, NEW door handle grommets, I also picked up a set of drop spindles for $50. Funny story, after I collected the items and set them in my pile, an older gentleman cam to me and asked what year my truck was and what I planned to do with it. The bad part about the time that it took to do all that bidding and talking I missed a hood on the other ring of the auction which I had to buy off the guy who bought it.

So things left purchase to get ready to start the build:
Painted front and rear bumper
front rotors and calipers
LS motor and 4L60E tranny (easy find off of CL)
new fuel tank to relocate
and some bucket seats ( actually found them at the local auto salvage yard)

Against my wife's wishes I am going with the Rat Rod/Patina look. I am still debating on air bags or lowering the suspension. Northern Minnesota roads can prove to be hard on air ride in the spring when the frost is coming out. Unless anyone on here says other wise. The first time I washed it I used a squirt of dawn dish soap and 0000 steel wool and man did that bring out the Patina.. Going to keep the 15" rims paint them red and get a set of Coker white walls hoping to go 285 in the back and 265 in the front without having to modify the wheel wells. I have 2 baby moons and 3 (?original?) dog dish hubcaps.

need to work on getting the photos up loaded, security token missing?!