1968 GMC Shorty - Pearl

[Graham57a]

Last few are a couple scores from the glovebox. Also found a spare key under the center console

[68bowtie]

Good progress. Based on the upper/inner driver door paint wear, I think 105k is a safe guess.

If you are patient maybe you can find a nice matching OEM dash pad?

[Graham57a]

Originally Posted by 68bowtie

Good progress. Based on the upper/inner driver door paint wear, I think 105k is a safe guess.

If you are patient maybe you can find a nice matching OEM dash pad?

Good deal, well that should help make this whole thing a little easier haha. I think I am going to take the sample I have to my local paint store and see if they can match it. Patience has never been my thing.

I did get the rear drums pulled off over the weekend, the RR was locked up when I pushed it into the garage so I wanted to make sure it was a brake issue and not the axle. I will be putting new brake shoes on the rear and put all that back together next. Once I have the rear back together I will roll it out into the driveway for a solid day of pressure washing and cleaning everything. Once that is done it will be time for rust repair and reassembly. Sounds easy enough right?

[Graham57a]

A couple side notes, I am trying to decide the best way to go with the seat. I obviously ditched the 80 Silverado buckets for something a little more factory but I am not sure which route to take. I thought about finding a bench seat that is a decent drivers quality and the correct color to pass off as the original bench seat. I also thought about by the time I do that I could probably recover my buddy buckets and bolt them in for around the same cost but then I am not sure if I will get that value back out of the truck when I decide to sell. I also thought about getting a bench seat and having truckseats make me a factory cover like the picture below. What would you guys do?

[bigdog55]

I like the buddy bucket idea. (it would fit in with the truck pretty easily). I have thought about doing it to my GMC. But mine came with the buckets and center console.

[Graham57a]

And finally after finding the protect-o-plate I was able to gather some history on the story line of this truck's life. This is one of my favorite parts about working on these old trucks.
It was bought new on May 8th 1968 from Smith Pontiac in Forest City, NC. I have the address from the dealership and it is now an outdoors store in downtown. I would like to go to Forest City in the near future and try to find some memorabilia from Smith Pontiac to put with the truck.
The Padgett family bought the truck new, they were from Fingerville, SC (about 30 minutes away from the dealership). They kept the truck up until 2012 when they sold it to a local Mr. Wells who I bought the truck from. The man who originally purchased the truck just passed away in 2016 and as far as I know his wife is still alive. I may have to drive down there one day and pay her a visit to hear some stories and learn a little more about the history. Since I had the Padgett family address I decided to do a google search to see what the house looked like and this is what I found. It looks like the photo was last updated in 2012 so it must have been just before they sold it to Mr. Wells

[raggedjim]

You could do a 88-94 model bench in green and houndstooth. Here's one I had done.

[Graham57a]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

You could do a 88-94 model bench in green and houndstooth. Here's one I had done.

Man that looks good but I am to committed to the factory look on this one. This is a good example of what the buddies would look like

[raggedjim]

I'm sorry, I misunderstood. I personally like a bench. Most will go with the buddies though.

Nice truck, Rg

[GAc10boy]

Glad to catch up with you on this truck lately, Andrew. Really regret not going to look at it when I first saw it posted. Glad you’re doing it right!

Let me know how I can help. I’ll be making a trip up your way soon!

[Graham57a]

A minor update on this one, I made a trip down to Greenville, SC this weekend to grab a few parts off a parts truck I found on CL. I ended up getting a pretty good tailgate that I can use to fix the rust in my OG tailgate and scored a pretty nice piece of front hood trim. I also stopped by the truck shop in Concord and picked up the patch panels I need to start on rust repair. I talked to them about my interior color and was happy to hear that they can make a carpet kit in custom colors. This was my favorite color match, what do you guys think?

[Graham57a]

Also scored a SWEET camper shell while I was in Charlotte, it weighs about 300lbs so hopefully the straight six can handle it but it's gonna look so killer on this thing. I think I am going to paint the tan accent on the sides of each window body color to match the truck.

[Graham57a]

And finally I am getting ready to order my tires. I am leaning towards Hankook Optimo H724s. They are $65 a piece and I think will have a nice look on the truck, what do you guys think? I've done my research and it looks like most people are running 235/75/15s on factory height trucks so that is most likely the route I'll take.

[ghalperin]

Originally Posted by Graham57a

And finally I am getting ready to order my tires. I am leaning towards Hankook Optimo H724s. They are $65 a piece and I think will have a nice look on the truck, what do you guys think? I've done my research and it looks like most people are running 235/75/15s on factory height trucks so that is most likely the route I'll take.

I'm running them on my truck. I've probably put about 1,000 miles on them and so far-so good, although my 396 can let the smoke out of them pretty easily. P215/75R15. I have 4 1/2 front and 6 3/4 rear drop.

[Graham57a]

Pearl got new rear brake shoes today
Before

[Graham57a]

And after

[68Gold/white]

new drums also?

[Graham57a]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

new drums also?

No just cleaned the factory drums, there were in great shape

[Graham57a]

I rolled the old girl outside today for a solid pressure wash.

[Graham57a]

A little scotch brite went a long way with the firewall

[Graham57a]

The grease markings after all the rust was cleaned off. You can barely make it out in the last two pictures but I found "503" drawn underneath the paint. I'm guessing this is the paint code "503 light green". Thought it was pretty cool

[Graham57a]

A little clr before and after on the roof

[Graham57a]

Here she is back inside for the day. Now that everything is clean I will probably start minor assembly and maybe some rust repair at the same time

[GAc10boy]

Man, that thing is cleaning up well. I've run the hankooks before and they are a solid tire for the money. That size will be perfect on a stock height truck. Just put that size on my stock height 69 GMC lwb. And, obviously, 503 Light Green is my favorite color, and that truck is definitely 503.

Keep the pics coming!

[Graham57a]

Got my wheels back from the blaster today. Will paint tonight and mount tires probably Wednesday. Pretty cool having 68 correct date codes