1972 Shop Truck Build (with some extra goodies)

[OneOffStroker]

I've been lusting over this particular '72 Shortbed for nearly a decade. A guy who lives around the corner from me owned it and whenever I saw him while walking my dog, I'd ask him if he was ready to sell it to me. As anticipated, I got the "No. I'm gonna fix it up one day" response, so I'd keep walking the pooch and wait for the next time.

As luck would have it, around April of 2021, there was a knock on my door one afternoon, and it was that 'ol fella! He told me that he was selling his house and moving, and he came to the realization that he was probably never going to actually make the time to rebuild the truck and wanted to know if I was still interested. So I stopped by to actually look at it for the first time ever besides a moving glance, and we came to an agreement on price. The original engine was pulled out and on a stand in the garage, as well as a lot of other tidbits for the truck.

I had a ready-to-run 350 from a previous project that ended up with a Blueprint crate engine, as well as a bunch of extra little pieces left over from my old '69 Suburban that I built years and years ago. (link in signature) I also had a new EFI setup in a box in the attic, and a decent 5-speed manual transmission that I knew I could fit with relative ease.

I needed a full-size truck to haul project cars around (I have 13 project cars, lol), and this is the perfect platform for what I have planned. I've been using my '98 Toyota 4Runner for hauling, and while it did the job, it was on the 'light duty' side of things...and I sold it to my ex early this year anyway...so I had to build this truck with some quickness.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow when I'm able to get them from my phone to my computer, as well as a link to a walkaround video from the first days after I got the truck to my shop. I'll update every now and then until I can get caught up to where it is now. She's not quite done, but very very close to being the daily driver Shop Truck that I need in my life!

Stay tuned. Thanks!