Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10

[cornerstone]

Well, here we go. I've been watching some seriously talented guys on this fine forum for almost 6 years occasionally showing portions of my project usually on the "What did you do to your truck today" thread. I often comment on my favorite builds and actually consider many of you friends, in spite of never even meeting you.

I had just moved to Texas in 1991 and was attending UTA when I met my future wife, Susan, who lived with her cousin, aunt and uncle. While dating Susan, I had the good fortune to get to her know extended family. After about a year I had to move out of the house I was co-renting since my room mate was getting married, and 3 is a crowd. By then the relationship with my girlfriend and her family was strong. The Stephens offered their guest house for me to rent at a stupid cheap price of 50 bucks a month, which they would never accept since I helped with the work around their 3 acre lot. I became very close to my wife's Uncle Loyd, he worked days as a Lineman for Ma Bell, and evenings and weekends in his own business, a lawnmower repair shop on his property. These were some of my "good ol'days" I remember many trips to the landfill with a londbed full of tree limbs, and constant runs to the parts house for his business. The first time I got a ride in Loyd's C10 the truck was 20 years old, and ran like sewing machine. As he got up into his mid 70's I noticed he had a harder time turning the non power steering wheel, so he let me add that to the truck. Loyd knew the quadrajet like the back of his hand and would rebuild it every other year. I don't think it even needed it, but he loved to do it so he found a reason.

After Loyd passed on, Laura sold his truck to me. I drove it for several years just as it was, but eventually lowered it, changed out the wheels and tires and added a rear roll pan. I bought myself a new RCSB Silverado in 2005, and loaned the 72 to an employee to drive for a few months. That's when it got the dents on the passenger fender and bedside. That employee moved on and I let another use it for over a year and a half. Eventually the motor developed a hard miss and a nasty sound coming from the valve train. That's when I parked it for good.

I had been working on a 69 fastback Mustang for a couple of years when I came across this forum and instantly the fire was lit again. I officially started the disassembly in July of 2016. The plan was a quick ls swap. After all I had done this before on a replica 65' Cobra. As I continued to frequent this site, I became more and more infected with the common disease, scope creep. I blame every one of you who's build thread blew me away. You know who you are....

I've got a ton of pictures to share, but since I type with 2 fingers, its going to take me some time to get y'all caught up to where the build is currently.
Please feel free to tell me what you think, it may not be too late for me to make changes. I'm pretty used to that.

Brian

P.S. I'm someone who just can't come up with a name for their truck. So I took the easy way out and titled the thread what I've always called it, but I am open to names for it if you've got something I like.