Frankentruck

[cwcarpenter98]

Ok so now that I've posted up a bunch of pictures, here's the backstory of how this rusty hunk of steel became known as Frankentruck.

Frankentruck originally came from the factory as a lwb fleetside doused in the beautiful, dark green paint (code 505). At one point, the truck was rear-ended, which ruined the original bed and pushed the front of the bed into the passenger side of the cab. The previous owner replaced the bed with one from a truck that had side trim. The driver's side door was replaced as well. I believe it came from some government truck or something because the door is yellow and has some stickers on it that is covered by the green repaint. I think the rest of the sheet metal was original up until I replaced the driver's fender earlier this year. The previous owner painted a lot of the sheet metal with red oxide primer, but did a terrible job on the bed. He also painted the interior that was visible with some beige paint. I will be returning it to the original green exterior and fawn metallic interior at some point, but that will not be any time soon.

The previous owner replaced the original 292 straight 6 backed by a 3 speed with overdrive with a 283 v8 backed by a regular 3 speed. I believe the bellhousing is original to the truck because it still has the paint color that was only used on the 292 in 63 on it. I just finished up replacing that 283 with another 283, but maybe one day I'll go back to the 292 and add either a turbo or a supercharger, or both, but for now, v8 is gr8. I am confident that there was an overdrive transmission in it from the factory because the pull cable for the overdrive is still in the dash. There is also a relay located on the driver's side inner fender, below the master cylinder.

With all these different bits and pieces replaced over the years, Frankentruck was an appropriate name that described the truck perfectly in one word.