My '70 LWB Stepside is finally DONE!

[jcwren]

A big thanks to everyone in the community who has helped me sort things out along the way of getting my truck finished.

I bought this 1970 longbed stepside as an incomplete father-daughter project. Dad was moving out of state, and the daughter had gone to college. I was on the hunt for a C10 that had a body in decent shape (I suck at body work). I wanted a running truck mostly because I didn't have a way to get a non-running truck home. After about a year of poking around on Craigslist I happened across the listing for it. No details, other than it was a father-daughter project.

Called the number, and a girl said I need to talk to her father. I called him on a Saturday and we made arrangements to meet Sunday. My buddy and I drove out there to check it out. The body was damned near perfect, but it wasn't running. It had a 3-carb Offenhauser intake on the 250 L6, 3 carbs in boxes, Hedman headers, no bed, tires barely suitable for rolling it around, no brakes, and a lot of odds and ends that needed cleaning up.

We checked it out, and walked off to discuss it, and my friend told me if I didn't buy it, I was an idiot. It had everything done that I don't like doing, and what had to be done (mechanical, electrical) is stuff I enjoy. I pointed out that I didn't have a place to put it, and my buddy offered his 24x64 shop to work on it. The guy selling it co-owned a wrecker yard, and offered to deliver it. I didn't even haggle on the price. Having it delivered to the shop was worth a couple hundred bucks to me.

Later that night, the guy dropped it off. I started ordering parts from LMC, Brothers, etc. Put the factory intake on it (which was in good shape), ordered a carb from eBay, got the engine running (very solid). Replaced the points with electronic ignition, new coil, replaced all the rubber in the suspension, shocks, completely rebuilt the brakes, ditched the in-cab gas tank for a Boyd Welding tank, ran -8 AN fuel line (in case of a V8 swap later on), replaced all the marker light lenses, did the headlight relay modification, new mirrors, new tires, 2.5" exhaust through 18" Glasspacks that turn out in front of the rear tire, and a mess of other things.

Tonight I finished up the fender braces, installed the rear bumper, cleaned up the tail lamp wiring (not completely happy with that, need to see a factory unit to see how it SHOULD be). Dropped it on the ground, fired it up, and rolled it back and forth. Unfortunately, it was too late to do a shake down cruise. That's for tomorrow morning, where I remember how to drive a clutch after 7 years, and a 3-on-the-tree for the first time

I have to say of this entire project the part that sucked the most was doing the wood bed. I hate varnish, and never want to see a can of it again. If I build another C10, it's getting one of those faux wood aluminum beds. I figure for what I paid the wood bed, the time I put into it, the aluminum bed is a deal. It still didn't turn out the way I wanted; I can see all the defects, and I never got that glass-like finish I wanted. But anyways...

So here's a picture of the dork that owns it, and two better pictures of the truck without him.