1972...ish C10 - Finishing What They Started

[ClassicIron]

We have some catching up to do! After 6 years of perusing the forum, I decided it's probably time I started a build thread for my truck. Here's the backstory: I was 13, my dad (scotts72heavyhalf), brother (blue/72), and I were told about a guy outside of town who might have some trucks we could check out for a family build. We walk into the guy's shop and we see everything from a fully restored 56 f100 to a real 1968 gt500 KR convertible, but certainly nothing within our budget. We check out the other dozen cars before he takes us around the back to show us something we might be interested in. There sat a 72 c10 long bed sunken into the ground with blackberries growing up around it. The owner's son started rebuilding the truck over a decade prior and installed a 67 front clip, doors, and steering wheel, as well as a then-new crate 350 backed up with a th350. He finished it out with full body and paint before he was diagnosed with cancer and tragically later passed away before he could fully finish it. The truck was tucked away behind the shop where it sat for about 9 years in the Oregon weather. While it of course held sentimental value, the owner was happy to see it move on to a new life with two young boys and their dad for a father and sons project. My dad did some quick negotiations and paperwork before we used a tractor to tow it out of the field onto the trailer and bring her home. I'm 21 now and over the next few weeks I'll be posting the progress that has been made since towing my pride and joy out of that field.

[68Gold/white]

Hmmm, that pass door is not a 72 door.

My first words should have been, major congrats!!!
I like it!!!

[cornerstone]

Nice find! The more pics the better.

[ClassicIron]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

Hmmm, that pass door is not a 72 door.

My first words should have been, major congrats!!!
I like it!!!

Yeah, I could've been more clear on that.. doors are 67 too! The bed is not original to the truck either buts it is 68-72 with some *interesting* Bondo work that I'll post up soon

[MySons68C20]

I'm thinking 67, no side marker lights and a slant hood....

[ClassicIron]

The tires actually held air pretty good so we put a little more in them and she rolled out without a fight. My brother (right) and I after we got back to the house, gave the truck a quick wash and rolled it in the shop for the night

[Getter-Done]

Nice purchase
I will follow along with your build



,.....///

[ClassicIron]

Originally Posted by MySons68C20

I'm thinking 67, no side marker lights and a slant hood....

Let's clear this up Cab and chassis are 72. Front clip and doors are 67. Steering wheel is 67-68. Bed is 68-72. I believe the tailgate is also 72 judging by the yellow paint I found underneath which matches the cab

[ClassicIron]

The next day we stripped the interior (unfortunately someone cut the dash at some point), we pulled the rear bumper off had a lot of cutting to do underneath to get the bumper off as someone reinforced it by welding pieces of angle iron to the frame from the bumper. We also pulled the wheels off and got to work getting the brakes working.

[Getter-Done]

Originally Posted by ClassicIron

Let's clear this up Cab and chassis are 72. Front clip and doors are 67. Steering wheel is 67-68. Bed is 68-72. I believe the tailgate is also 72 judging by the yellow paint I found underneath which matches the cab

Here is a link to a Thread about tailgate I D.

Link:https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...t=tailgate+i+d

Did the marker lights on the bed get filled in?

Regardless on the parts
It's going to be Cool




,....////

[lil hoodlum]

Love it! Looks like a great build so far.

Somebody loved that truck before.

[ClassicIron]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

Here is a link to a Thread about tailgate I D.

Link:https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...t=tailgate+i+d

Did the marker lights on the bed get filled in?

Regardless on the parts
It's going to be Cool




,....////

Interesting! I love learning about all the little differences between each year. By that thread, the tailgate is 69-72 with the raised line and a dimple.

Marker lights on the bed were filled, literally *filled* with Bondo... When we got the truck one side had cracked and began falling out so we had to go back and fix it the right way by welding in a patch panel. The truck also had a saddle tank at some point with a bedside filler neck that got filled in, lets hope those patches never fall out too

[ClassicIron]

My brother and I worked on some quick appearance changes while our dad worked on getting the engine ready to fire. We traded a different set of wheels for these deep dish rallies which I painted a dark gray. What I am realizing today as I go through old pictures is that the truck had silver front trim when we bought it which looked to be original. It had some dents so we sold it and bought nicer trim to paint gray like the wheels, but I am curious if we unknowingly passed up some rare pieces? I know the 67-68 had quite a few different grill color combos, some with an argent silver trim? Hard to say now not having them in hand.

[ClassicIron]

We reinstalled some of the parts we found sitting in boxes and made a run to the local parts store for what other missing parts we needed for the initial start up (fuel filter, air cleaner filter, breather, carb rebuild kit). We found a nice used fuel tank and used a borescope to ensure the inside was clean. After some spark problems, we ended up with a new distributor, coil, and plug wires as well but then it started and idled smooth. The dual cherry bomb glasspacks on the other hand were not as smooth

[CG]

The chrome/aluminum trim isn't super rare. I see it for sale here on the board now and again. I believe its also made reproduction, but I have no idea on the quality.

[ClassicIron]

Now where were we.. what was supposed to be a family flip started turning into my first truck. My young self only having the money made from bucking bay, my dad bought out my brothers share in the project and we started building what would become my high school daily driver. It needed some more mechanical tlc before I could safely make it down the driveway. We rebuilt the rear drums, replaced a stuck caliper, new brake and fuel hoses, and the truck was off to the exhaust shop for a full 2.5 inch exhaust with H-pipe and flowmasters that were laying around the shop.

[ClassicIron]

The flowmasters sounded perfect, much more mellow than the glass packs but still made some noise! That Goodwrench 350 was healthy. As I got into high school and started making more money I put a lot of it straight into my truck The next few posts will cover a blur of about a year when the truck went through a transformation from farm truck to shop truck. We fixed the marker light by welding in a new patch, after a skim coat and some primer it looked decent enough. The inside of the bed was straight, but all different shades of red and yellow as the 10 year old paint job was flaking off. We matched the grey on the wheels and front trim to a couple cans of raptor liner and prepped the bed for spraying. I cringe when I think about bed lining a classic truck but for the shop truck look, it fits.

[ClassicIron]

Now it was time to dress it up. After treating the surface rust on the floor with a wire wheel and por-15, we installed sound deadening, carpet, new seatbelts, steering wheel, and pedal trim. A new dash bezel helped bring back some life, and my dad later surprised me with a new tach dash. The dash was already cut so I installed a new Bluetooth stereo, a kenwood under-seat sub, kick panel speakers and a new in dash speaker - because everyone knows a high schooler needs a good sound system. Under the hood I removed the inner fenders and resprayed them (rattle can, for the time being). I repainted the booster, master cylinder, and covered up the rest of the yellow firewall. After painting the manifolds with several coats of a high temp exhaust paint, an edelbrock performer intake, valve covers, and air cleaner finished it off with some much needed SHINE.

[ClassicIron]

No shop truck is truly complete without door art! A gentleman by the name of “spike” (anyone know him?) helped us come up with a design and did a fantastic job making it come to reality. We decided on “Classic Iron Hot Rod Garage”. Now it was a truck with some true personality

[ClassicIron]

I guess it runs in the family… our first car show with all the trucks together. My brothers ‘72 and dads ‘69 which won Best Truck.

[ClassicIron]

Somewhere along the way I swapped out the tiny chrome steering wheel for a larger wood grip wheel and installed a ‘Bad Boy’ horn. At the time it was the loudest horn they sold that didn’t require an air compressor. That was fun until the ground wire fell off in the high school parking lot.. if anybody at school didn’t know the truck before that, they did now. More pics of interior and its first snow day in many years.

[ClassicIron]

In 2017 I decided to show the truck in the Portland Roadster show along with my dads ‘69. While he was center stage I got stuck in the back corner of the expo center with the high schoolers. It was a fun experience and I ended up winning the high school challenge class. My dad didn’t leave empty handed either taking home ‘Best Street Truck’. Pic featuring a new to me rear sport bumper.

[ClassicIron]

I continued to drive the truck as it was through high school. It helped me get my high school girlfriend and was the vehicle of choice for every date night and weekend cruise.

I eventually went off to college, only able to drive my truck once every month or two. Besides trading wheels for some wider corvette rallies on cooper cobra tires, not much changed until the summer of 2020 when I decided I was tired of looking at all the grease and surface rust underneath. Not to mention the 3/5 drop from 2015 on stock geometry shocks that were probably blown by now, 50 year old wiring, and brake likes that were likely not flowing like they should. It was time for a rebuild.

[clay68c10]

I love it! Cool story, and it's great you've kept it.
Round 2 will be interesting when you look back at what you did for round 1 as a kid.

[ClassicIron]

Now at this point I still wasn’t in a place to spend the time or money to do a full restoration, so I decided to start with a cab-back rebuild. I got all my parts on order and after 2 days had it stripped to the frame. There was nothing too surprising along the way, at least nothing a breaker bar couldn’t fix. Looking back now I’m not sure why I didn’t just pull the driveshaft out.. would have made things a lot easier.