Beelzeburb, The Story More Than a Decade in the Making

[Beelzeburb]

If you've owned a vehicle this long then you know that this story is going to take a while to tell properly. Go ahead and relax, I'm going to be here a while relating it. Don't worry though, I've been taking pictures all throughout the process.

Okay, I've been a member here since 2002, but adopted a new user name not that long ago. I've owned my Suburban even longer. It was at the tender young age of 14 and a half years old when a friend of mine had offhandedly insinuated that he could imagine me driving an old Suburban. I passingly mentioned his remark to my father, and a short while later this was mine:



Yes, that is a grainy 640x480 picture from a 1st gen digital camera. I had to retrieve it from a floppy disk (remember those?). It was taken in May of 1998.

My dad had bought this 1970 K10 Suburban for me as a father / son project. He paid $1500 for it and threw in an 18 year old Craftsman 536.255280 model Lawn Tractor in trade on top of that.

It was pretty much a bone stock 350 / Turbo 350 / NP205 combo with a 12 bolt rear, Dana 44 front, power drum brakes, power steering and an intact roof mounted A/C system. It had been ordered with the full width front and middle seat but no 3rd seat. Only the front seat was left, as some second row seat from a Jeep had been mounted directly to the floor in back without any brackets at all. I didn't think to take any pictures at the time, but the interior was still stock Medium Green with astro-turf instead of proper carpet. Just let your imagination run wild with that visual for a minute.

Here's the SPID because I know how much some of you guys like to peruse them:


The 350 ran on seven cylinders and still had all the factory emissions equipment. The passenger side front rocker panel was completely bashed in and I believe it was involved in some sort of front end collision at one time. The front panels, bumper and grille had been replaced with '71-'72 parts and re-painted the original Medium Green color (the paint was much thicker on these panels). No frame damage though. The rear bumper and left rear quarter had been hit more recently and became close good friends. Aside from that it was pretty straight, you know, insert the old “it'll buff out” line here.

The only other really notable things were the (in my opinion) ugly aftermarket rearview mirrors that had replaced the original medium sized tripod mount style ones, barndoor type rear and the gargantuan 40 gallon aftermarket fuel tank.
It looked almost exactly the same as in the above picture until I was ready to turn 16 and get my driver's license.