'65 DD/Project 20 years in the making

[Revelation]

Flash back to Amarillo, Texas in the summer of 1994 a 14 year old me was looking for his first vehicle $1500 in hand. I grew up around classic cars but always leaned toward classic trucks and wanted a classic Chevy truck for my 1st car.

Sitting on a used car lot was a unfinished restoration of a white '65 C-10 longbed. great looking truck but the problem for me was it had a 454 transplant in it and my dad was not about to let 16 year old me have anything with a big block in it. still to this day cant figure out why

I wound up with an '89 C1500 that served me well for for many years. Along the way I had '56 & '60 chevy truck projects that never got off the ground. In the winter 2011 I started getting the Classic truck bug BAD! I wanted something I could drive and work on at the same time.

January 2014 rolls around I traded my worn out 1998 C-1500 for a great motorcycle to a friends cousin and found my self with out a pick up for the first time since I was 15 years old. Tax refund come in and it was now classic truck time. I looked at a'71 Cheyenne Super but something didnt feel right. I had also looked at a '64 F-100 that I wanted bad even though I'm a hard core GM guy but the current owner butchered the wiring. Then one day I'm trolling CL and here it is a "65 Chevyrolet C-10 longbed. After 3 days of playing phone tag with the owner I get a call at work to come look it at. I left work with a thousand bucks in my pocket and rode across Oklahoma City to look at her. I talked the owner down to exactly $1000. I figured this was a steal for a running, driving,V8, automatic, big back window truck





Kids and I wet sanded most of the old gray latex paint off the bring back the pretty blue paint





To date I have replaced the starter, had the radiator cleaned and re tanked, new heater hoses, new battery & upgraded part of the wiring

I want to leave the truck close to stock. I am a paint and body guy and a awful mechanic so the old simple 1965 set up is perfect for me to work on. Everybody wants me to do an LSX swap which dont get me wrong is cool and all but simple is better for me and the old 283 is enough power to get me to work and back.

This is going to be a long work in progress I am going to get all the little mechanical and electrical bugs out of the way first then lower it and do the interior and lastly the paint & body. I love the patina on this truck.

Putting this "custom"Texas & Oklahoma license plate bed liner over the rotting plywood to go with the patina until I'm ready to drop a nice oak floor in her after the paint and body work is finished a few years down the road.

[Captainfab]

Welcome to the forum

Looks like a decent truck to work with. And being running and driving is a plus.

[TJ's Chevy]

Welcome aboard! And cool truck! 283 is a great V8!

[rusty76]

Cool truck!

[aggie91]

Great buy for $1000. Looks like it has the gauges and delux heater controls on the inside.

BTW, you need to get the one boy a different shirt...

[Revelation]

I'm shocked that kid is wearing a UT shirt he turned him self in to a Michigan fan a couple years back

[Revelation]

Removed the cab sails and started doing some rust repair and stoppage on the roof.



I'm one of the managers at a auto paint store one of my newer counter sales guys is trying to get as much hands on experience with our products and has been wanting to paint so today I volunteered my tailgate for him to practice on

taped off the CHEVROLET then put down a clack basecoat



I made a pearlcoat with the Lil Daddy pearl, then he cleared it with some PPG Global D894 clear



It looks pretty good in person, i think i would have rather done a white base to put the pearl over but i'm still up in the air. This has kind of a platinum cast to it. one of those things you just have to see in person

[TJ's Chevy]

Well...either way...looks good from here.

[Revelation]

tore up my rotator cuff this past week I can not even drive thr truck muchless work on her. Things are on hold for awhile unless I can talk my wife and kids in to working on her

[Revelation]

Turned out my rotator cuff was a small labrum tear.Three weeks later its healed on its own and I'm good to go again.

Got the cab sanded, rust repair done and body work done.
I am going to paint the part that was white on the custom cabs a white base then put a mid coat of pear with the same pearl i used on the tailgate and clear it. I'll leave the rest of the truck patina.




I have started to re do the bed license plates to a random mess of plates from states Route 66 runs through. if you have any unwated plates from those states let me know


the drivers bedside was covered inwhite spray paint that i got most of the way off. i plan to buff it with a heavy duty compund to hopefully get the rest off.


Removed the fender and beat what i could of the nasty dent out untill i can get another fender. I also was able to wet sand some of the gray paint off.

[Revelation]

I also want to paint my wheels. I can't decide on Harley Davidson birch White to match the the markings on my carry. Or Chevy Sonic Cool Blue/ Blue A GoGo




I am going to run wide whites on her after the first of the year. I feel if i go with the birch white I'll need to run beauty rings to offset the 2 whites. I'm also open to other colors. i work at an automotive paint store so it's not a big deal to go with something else.

What do you guys suggest??