1977 K20 aka Grandpas Truck

[Diggerdan11]

So I have decided to put my 69 Chevy c20 project on the back burner (see link in signature) but I am going to be working on my 77 Chevy so I figured it would be fun to make a build thread.

My grandpa bought this truck at the end of 76. He passed away in 2013 and since then it has been just sitting at my parents house. I finally was able to convince my dad to turn it over to me. The truck is in pretty good shape, very little rust and only 45k miles. The biggest issue is that it has been driven so infrequently that it needs some simple maintenance. The interior is cracked and faded, but overall its a pretty nice truck.

Here is some more info on the truck:

1977 Chevy K20 Silverado Camper Special
Cordova Brown/ Santa Fe Tan with the Mandarin Orange interior
400 Small Block, 3-speed Auto, Full Time 4wd
45K miles

I plan on restoring her to just like she was in 77, but with a few minor custom touches. First thing first is to restore the interior, then eventually I would like to have it re-painted. It will be much easier now that I finally found a source for the Mandarin Orange parts and vinyl dye. My hope is to one day pass her on to my son.

Here is an older picture of her doing what she was bought to do:



Here as she sat when I picked her up from my parents:



First thing I had to do was replace the door locks. When my grandpa was literally on his death bed the meth head neighbors broke into his house and stole everything. Luckily they did not steel the truck, but they made off with the keys. I was able to swap out the ignition right after it happened but I never got around to swapping out the locks. Here is a picture of me getting some help from my little helper



Then I replaced the mufflers. The pipes and mufflers were so rotten that one whole section of tail pipe was broken off and the entire system rattled like crazy. So I went ahead and had some new pipes, mufflers and turn downs put on.



The Next step was a deep clean. It has been who knows how many years since the truck was washed, or waxed or the interior even vacuumed out. After cleaning out the interior that had 20 years of dust build up, I then washed, polished and waxed the entire truck. It is by no means perfect but it looks much better. Check out the picture where i taped off a section and you can see the major difference between the oxidized paint and the freshly polished and waxed paint.




As she sits now:




Over the next few months I will start replacing and re-finishing the interior. I also plan on installing a stereo as well

[AnotherWs6]

Nice truck. How is that thing not rotted to pieces sitting for so long? Everything rusts where I am.

[Wwes]

Nice truck, amazing shape. I wish I had a couple of my grandfathers' sqaurebodies.

[Diggerdan11]

Originally Posted by AnotherWs6

Nice truck. How is that thing not rotted to pieces sitting for so long? Everything rusts where I am.

Thanks! It has spent its entire life in the high deserts of southern Oregon so we don't have to deal with rust. I live in the Portland area and even though it rains all the time, cars don't rust here as bad as other places in the us
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[Bears63]

I am truly amazed at the condition of that truck. You have a beauty there.

[Diggerdan11]

Originally Posted by Bears63

I am truly amazed at the condition of that truck. You have a beauty there.

Thanks! It is pretty nice and I love driving her around. Need to get the AC fixed though.
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[erichevy]

Really like this truck. Do you have the camper too? I love a Square with a camper!

[Diggerdan11]

Originally Posted by erichevy

Really like this truck. Do you have the camper too? I love a Square with a camper!

Unfortunately no. He sold that camper a long time ago
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[Diggerdan11]

I figured since I am planning on driving the truck around more I should gets some tunes. I was getting sick of listening to sports talk on AM.

I had and extra Alpine head unit laying around so I went ahead and installed it. Yeah I know I know I committed the ultimate sin by cutting the dash.

I also had an amp and an 8" sub so I wired those up a well. I just thad to purchase a couple 6x9s and boxes for behind the seat. I plan on adding some 4" speakers in the dash once I replace the dash pad since my 6x9s are a little muffled behind the seats.






Also my wife decided to try an experiment on the floor mats. I thought the mats were permanently stained and ruined, but I guess not. Take a look at these before and afters. They almost look brand new.

[Jaysonb]

Floor mats turned out great!

[Shtudwn]

Great looking truck!

Yeah, I puckered a bit with the stereo install as most of these trucks have either the dash cut for a stereo or the doors cut for speakers.

I purchased a 76 K20 Camper Special and cant wait to mate it up with my 71 Caveman Camper! Soon.....

Thank you for the post.

[LT7A]

That is a great truck. And a great legacy. You might want to consider doing like your wife did with the mats and you did with the paint: Just cleaning it and fixing it the best that it can be and retaining what's original rather than replacing it with reproduction parts unless absolutely necessary. And sorry, I do have to agree that leaving the sheet metal intact wherever possible would be in keeping with how well preserved this truck is.