Over 25 Years Later, Finally My 71 C-10 Truck Build

[jlaird]

Thanks for sharing road trip pics. Looks like a blast!

[hgs_notes]

The 2nd day on the road was pretty uneventful. We took Hwy 50 most of the way to St Louis. Saw some nice back road towns, and as we got closer to St Louis the road got hillier and windier. That was a nice change from the long flat open stuff we typically travel.

My daughters car tracking us all the way...


Entering St Louis...




Made it to my friend Damon's place...


That evening was primarily spent right here on the back patio, drinking beer, BS'ing, planning the next days schedule and catching up.


I met Damon in the navy. That's him looking at the camera. His youngest boy in the yellow tee. Whenever we get together, no matter how long it's been since the last time, we take off like it was yesterday. He always tells the same story about how we met and ended up getting tangled in each others lives to his friends when he is introducing me, so I will tell a version of it here.

Damon and I were in the navy nuclear power program together. When we got to Orlando for nuke power school there was a waiting period before we would start in the classes. In the meantime the quarter masters are responsible for assigning all of us idiots fresh out of A school to menial tasks around the base to keep us occupied until the day comes that we start to learn stuff. Damon and I got assigned to "trash watch". I'm not making it up, that's what it was called and where we first met.

Everything taught in the nuke power school is pretty much classified. Most of it was available through the library or other public records, but there were things specific to actual navy plants and I suppose the procedures for our training, etc that the navy didn't want dumped in the local landfill. Our job, the trash watch, was to show up around noon each day at a loading dock. The morning trash had been deposited there. We sorted through it. Every bag was scrounged through. Every paper that had anything on it even remotely tied to the training was pulled out and set aside for proper disposal. The aluminum cans were bagged and tossed into a semi trailer parked behind the dock. The rest was just trash and would go to the dumpster.

At first we just thought, ewww. Several guys in school were tobacco chewers. No smoking was allowed in the school and leaving for a smoke wasn't really an option outside of lunch time. Lots of partially full coffee cups and chewed gum in there. You got used to it pretty quickly and the yuck factor waned. After an hour or so of sorting, we were done. Then we waited, there in the trash dock, until afternoon when we would head out into the school and get the afternoon trash and haul it back to the dock. This was around 3 or so, when it would rain like the sky was dumping the ocean for about 15 minutes everyday and the sun would poke back out and you could watch the moisture radiate out of the ground like a vampires myst. Oh yeah it was hot. The hottest wettest place on earth as far as I knew at the time.

Anyway, we sorted that trash, cleaned up the dock, found the quarter master in charge of us and begged for dismissal. That's where I met Damon.

After that, we were put into the same section (class) in nuke school. We made it through that and got assigned to the same prototype facility in Idaho. We ended up having to wait again for our school to start and we got assigned to the maintenance training group (MTG). It was a group of fleet machinist mates on shore duty that did maintenance in the prototype plants. These are operational nuclear reactors based on actual ship/submarine reactor plants that are operated by us students with qualified operators looking over our shoulders.

We started in the same class again, which is on a rotating shift work schedule. We were on the same shift.

We managed to make it through that hell and were getting orders for where we were going in the fleet. Before that though, I was going to be a ships emergency welder, so I was going to San Diego to go to an abbreviated Hull Tech welding school. Damon didn't do that, which put a slight shimmy in our groove. I have an uncle that was a chief of the boat (COB) on the USS Nevada. A trident missile boat in Bangor, WA. He wanted to get me assigned to his boat. Well they didn't need a welder. Each crew of each boat is allowed 2 welders only. So he said, "fine, just give me the next guy on the list then. And get Wells assigned to the boat that has the closest patrol rotation as the Nevada." That was Damon. I was sent to the USS Michigan. Our patrol cycles were about 2-3 weeks apart.

We both did our 6 years, got married, had kids or were about to in my case and were going back to civilian life. Damon is from Decatur, IL. I'm from MN but my wife is from Idaho, which is where we went. Somehow Damon ended up in MN. About an hour drive from where I grew up.

He was working with a guy that was a boiler inspector, but had been laid off and doing energy surveys for a utility. I was working at a potato dehydration plant. I got laid off and actually found a job back in MN, so we were back in the same area again. Then the boiler inspector he was working with got offered a job with Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB) and they asked him if he knew anyone else that was qualified and he gave them Damons name. He called me up and gave me the good news of the new job. He didn't tell me about it before hand cause he knew I was looking for something different and didn't want to compete with me for the job (smart on his part, I was more qualified, lol). To help me out though, he said they were still looking for more people and gave me the contact info. I faxed a resume from my work the next day, interviewed a few days later and gave my 2 week notice the day after that. Never looked back, it's been an awesome career.

So we were going through the training to get out inspector commissions, car pooling into Minneapolis everyday, when a change in the company prompted lay offs. Here we are, newbies, unqualified and saw the writing on the wall. But things don't always go as expected. Turns out HSB had an opening in southern IL and they offered that to Damon instead of him staying in MN as was the original plan. I still got my territory up in the Fargo/Grand Forks area and life went on.

We both changed employers a few times, always staying in this field though. And here we are over 20 years later, still friends, in a sense still co-workers, and tangled up in each others lives. I helped build the 400 sbc in his Camaro he still has. He helped me do lots of stuff on my truck and other cars from back then. Now he's teaching my kids how to shoot (He's a certified instructor).

Well that's a lot of words. Hope I didn't bore you all too much. That's it for day 2.

Sunset that evening...

[Low Elco]

I like the "how it happened" stories.

Oh, by the way, your camera is broken. It apparently distorts the image to make people look fatter than they are!

Come back anytime!

[Dieselwrencher]

Great story about you and Damon. Chip is a cool dude too. I can't believe he didn't show you his ski-ing talents?

[Low Elco]

Flat tire! I gotta get on that.

[mcbassin]

Always a great read on this thread! Thanks for sharing. Looks like great times.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

I like the "how it happened" stories.

Oh, by the way, your camera is broken. It apparently distorts the image to make people look fatter than they are!

Come back anytime!

You may be right. I know it makes my gut look bigger than it looks to me when I look down at it. Anytime you say?! Got an extra room? Would be nice to go somewhere warm in the winter.

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Great story about you and Damon. Chip is a cool dude too. I can't believe he didn't show you his ski-ing talents?

He mentioned a jet boat. His eyes glazed over a bit as he stared off into the distance and rambled on about his true love.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Flat tire! I gotta get on that.

Get on that and much more dude.

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Always a great read on this thread! Thanks for sharing. Looks like great times.

Thank you, it was a great time. I'm sure many are not thrilled to read about other peoples vacations. Like watching a slide show at a neighbors house. But it's my thread. The truck was built to be used and these trips are the result of all my hard work.

The next day was spent hanging out at the farm, shooting things, riding bike and ATV's and just plain relaxing. Cindy cooked enough food to feed us, them, the dogs, the neighbors, extended family, and a baseball team.

Damons shooting range...


One of the primary motivations for my daughter making this trip is that she wanted to shoot. She was jealous of that part of our last trip down there. I have a couple guns. I learned to shoot when I was young, but I don't hunt and never took up any shooting sports. So my kids were not involved with any shooting. Wasn't against it, there were already plenty of things keeping them busy.

So now was her chance. Damon has a large variety of guns and he started her out with a 22 auto.


She used a few different hand guns, up to a 9mm I think. Then he had her shoot some rifles.


She's right handed, but her left eye is dominant. She turned out to be a pretty good shot despite that. Damon recently bought an AR-15 (with the money I gave him for the dirt bike) and both kids shot that.


The bike mentioned previously...


I need to replace fork seals and there is something in the carb not quite right (has a hesitation off idle sometimes) but otherwise a good bike for me to beat around on.

Shelby didn't want to drive an ATV herself, so she road with her brother...


But I knew that once she got on one, no matter how much she protested earlier, she was gonna give it a try herself. After lunch we were going to try shooting trap. She took the ATV on her own,


None of us have shot trap before, including me. It was pretty fun. I think we did ok for beginners. Shelby couldn't get it at first. She tried the 12 gauge and the 20 gauge with no luck. Damon had a 410 and she hit the next 4 in a row with that. Go figure.


Later on we took out the muzzle loaders. I brought mine and Damon has a rifle and some revolvers also. He said it's probably been 6 years since he fired them.

I have never fired mine. When I was a kid, like elementary age, my dad built a muzzle loader from a kit. It turned out beautiful. He had a talent for such things. It was so nice that a friend of his badgered him into selling it. So he built another one. I remember them shooting once out at the farm my grandparents lived at. I think I might have shot it, but don't remember for sure.

The guy that bought the 1st one had a house fire and it was destroyed along with almost everything else. Dad sold him the 2nd one later.

Several years later dad decided to build another one. This one he kept. After he died, 10 years ago now, my mom gave it to me. It's a 50 cal Hawkins. Dad had it sighted in real good. I was amazed how accurate it was. Lots of fun to shoot.




The kids got to try it out also.


Shelby kept souvenirs for all the things she shot. Bullet casings for the various rounds, a clay pigeon and a ball for the muzzle loader.

To add a little more bang Damon took out a can of tannerite. It's a publicly available explosive. He set it up on the hill in the shooting range and let Donovan take a shot at it. Damon said it took them about 5-6 shots the 1st time they played with it. The sights weren't quite accurate. He told D to just aim 6" below the target and he nailed it on his first shot...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsni...ature=youtu.be

That's it for day 3.

[Palf70Step]

Looks like a lot of fun. You sound like me. When I left the farm, I just never got into hunting or having to clean my own food again. Shoot some when I get the chance. Got to get my son to the range one day to let him have the experience too.

[Low Elco]

Damon's place looks awesome! I can hear the Skynyrd and feel my hand curling around the Bud Light. My kinda place.

Glad the kids enjoyed the guns, and I like your new bike! Neighbor Jay has one, suspension is soft, but it's a great trail rig.

[mcbassin]

We start them off shooting young here too. Looks like a very good time. Keep sharing the stories and pictures. Love the old .50 cal....

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Looks like a lot of fun. You sound like me. When I left the farm, I just never got into hunting or having to clean my own food again. Shoot some when I get the chance. Got to get my son to the range one day to let him have the experience too.

It can be fun to do the shooting sports and hunting is a great social activity, but it gets expensive, depending on how "into it" you get. Just like any hobby I suppose, this truck thing included.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Damon's place looks awesome! I can hear the Skynyrd and feel my hand curling around the Bud Light. My kinda place.

Glad the kids enjoyed the guns, and I like your new bike! Neighbor Jay has one, suspension is soft, but it's a great trail rig.

They inherited a farm, split with another relative, who sold her share almost immediately. Damon and Cindy kept theirs. 250 acres of mostly tilled ground, which they lease out. The rest is wooded. There are 2 properties, the farm site and another house with attached land. Lots of work to keep it all up. They have been there a year and steadily making it their own.

The bike is good for me. Never had a dirt bike before and I'm too old to start racing or doing stunts.

Originally Posted by mcbassin

We start them off shooting young here too. Looks like a very good time. Keep sharing the stories and pictures. Love the old .50 cal....

I started shooting at about 12. Here is a couple better pics of my guns. The bolt action is a 22 savage. My grandpa gave it to me and was my 1st gun. The other is the 50 cal Hawkins. Damon really liked it and might be looking to get 1 of his own now. I think his was a 44 cal.




Back to the trip. The next day Damon took us into St Louis. The boy and I had seen the arch and brewery last year, but the girl hadn't. We had lunch at bandanas BBQ. Pretty good food. One of the customers started singing operatic music while we ate. Odd, but she wasn't terrible.
Damon showed us the place they lived for 20 years before moving out to the boondocks. It was in Collinsville, and I guess its the horseradish capital or something. But also has the worlds biggest ketchup bottle...


We had to do the arch visit again.

Cuatro hombres...


Inside, up at the top.



Hmmm, camera continued to work. Go figure.

An example of how much better the zoom is on my new camera. (50x) If you look in the pic you can just make out a horse and carriage or buggy, whatever, at the far side of the park area in front of the courthouse...


Zoomed in...


Damon didn't take the ride to the top. Not that he has a problem with it (ex submariner and boiler inspector, closed in places not an issue). He had a small jack knife in his pocket and security was gonna take it away. He waited outside. The kids found him and we took his pic...


As we were leaving a storm was rolling in. We made it back to the car with about 5 min to spare before the downpour hit.


It was getting late in the day so we met up with Cindy (she had to work) at Steak N Shake. Which my kids new favorite restaurant I think. We don't have them up here. We were trying to decide what to do next over dinner, and buying more things that go BANG! won out, so we piled into the cars and headed west across the river where they sell the good stuff.


This aisle would be about the equivalent we can get here, minus the roman candles...


Everyone likes firecrackers, but 16,000 in a continuous string? Wow


Shelby found 1 she liked...


Damon almost got this box set...


Contents...


Ironically, Cindy is a paralegal at a family law practice, ie. divorce lawyers.

He is well stocked for the 4th now...


That would be the end of day 4.

Don't worry, there is more truck/car pics on the way. I'm getting there.

[Dieselwrencher]

Very cool and thanks for sharing. I like his shooting range. Nothing wrong with that at all. Both times I've been to the Arch, it has been closed. So we will have to revisit sometime when the kids are bigger. If you ever have to roll through Iowa City, there is a Steak and Shake there.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Very cool and thanks for sharing. I like his shooting range. Nothing wrong with that at all. Both times I've been to the Arch, it has been closed. So we will have to revisit sometime when the kids are bigger. If you ever have to roll through Iowa City, there is a Steak and Shake there.

You can't wait til the bars close to go see the arch. Gotta get there a wee bit earlier. That Iowa City one is the closest one to us up here, but about a 5 hour drive.

The next day was just me and the kids doing more site seeing. Shelby was going to Louisville later, so going to the brewery wasn't high on her list. We went to the science center and zoo instead. Even though the kids are older, they are still into cool science stuff and learning so it was a good time.

The lobby area is pretty cool with this huge rail system with rolling balls going everywhere.




Memorabilia from one of mine and Shelbys favorite Scyfy movies...


Space ships...


Astronaut costume...


To think about what those guys did back then with so little is humbling. Makes you want to go kick some NASA ass and yell "Keep it simple, Stupid!"

The zoo was pretty nice. I haven't been to a bigger one like this in a few years. The steel sculpture out front was awesome...




I'm not gonna bore you guys with dozens of pics of animals from the zoo. Just a few. The primary animal for Shelby to see was the elephants. She has been fascinated by them since she was tiny. She has seen them in various circuses over the years. I think we even paid for her to ride one once. This is the first time she has seen them in a zoo.


She would have gladly sat there the rest of the day and watched them and if it was just me and her and nothing else going on I would have let her. It was one of those priceless moments for me to see her be a little girl again and in awe of the big animals.


I'm more drawn to the primates. Maybe cuz we're related. I don't know. Maybe it's from the family vacation when I was a kid. We visited some relatives in Wisconsin and one day we went to the Milwaukee County Zoo. The big draw there was Samson. He had a glass walled enclosure. He was big and not happy to be watched. He kept hitting the glass. HARD! Slamming into it over and over. It was scary as hell to this little guy. All I could think was "how thick is that glass?" and "When will he break through?" It made a serious impression. Here's a little info on him...
http://www.zoosociety.org/Education/...onMemories.php

Anyways, the apes at this zoo had more natural settings and they were pretty chilled. The gray back stayed in the middle and kept a watch over everything. And pondered the problems of the world thoughtfully...


Or maybe he was just thinking about his dinner options or which cheek to scratch. I'm not the gorilla whisperer.


Oh, and the cats. I like the big cats. Heres a white spotted kitty kat...


And another spotted kitty kat...


And a striped kitty kat...


And another spotted kitty kat...


And big yellowish kitty kats. A boy and a girl, but the girl is the one with the short hair. The boy yellowish kitties are like the Joe Dirts of the cat world. They like metal \m/ \m/ And not just any metal, but 80's metal.


Alright, enough of that. Next up is the continuation of the road trip. We load up and head north and find lots of other old cars (and plenty of new ones) that got together for a mega road trip that we joined up with for a couple days.

[Low Elco]

Looks like good fun!

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice! It's funny you mention the Milwaukee County Zoo. I remember going there as a youngster and getting the formed plastic statues out of the machines they had. I thought that was the coolest thing then!

[mcbassin]

It's pretty cool to follow along with your journeys. It's always a good story. Makes me jealous too. I hope to get to do the long haul in my truck some day.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Looks like good fun!

You know it.

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Very nice! It's funny you mention the Milwaukee County Zoo. I remember going there as a youngster and getting the formed plastic statues out of the machines they had. I thought that was the coolest thing then!

Oh man! I forgot about those. We got them too!

Originally Posted by mcbassin

It's pretty cool to follow along with your journeys. It's always a good story. Makes me jealous too. I hope to get to do the long haul in my truck some day.

You have almost a year from now to get it ready. I don't think you will have a problem meeting that deadline. Power tour will start at the Dells next June. Be there or be square.

I've been editing pics. Hundreds of them. I won't post them all but I still have dozens to go through.

I've made you all suffer enough through my family vacation pics. For now I have this; pretty much all of the chevy trucks we saw the first day. Including the Holden ute from Australia.


There were only 2 K-5s we saw. This real nice one and another that was a nice driver.






















This is a members truck. We talked for a bit.










Loved the 2 tone on this one...


Was labeled a 350SS I think. Pretty badass...








Crew cab short stepper...


And last, but not least, mine in the crowd.

[Low Elco]

All very nice, but you'd have had to drag me away from that red 69 camino with a chain! Lawdy, looka dat motor in the bed!

[mcbassin]

Bunch of very nice trucks, including yours...lucky! Thanks for sharing.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

All very nice, but you'd have had to drag me away from that red 69 camino with a chain! Lawdy, looka dat motor in the bed!

The motor under the hood was pretty sweet also.

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Bunch of very nice trucks, including yours...lucky! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, more later.

[Dieselwrencher]

Very cool and thanks for posting them! Post all you want. I doubt anyone watching is getting bored.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

I doubt anyone watching is getting bored.

I bet youre wrong on that. There are people that get bored on rollercoasters.

The day we left Damons to head north and join power tour went well. But I was surprised at the lack of hot rods we encountered going to the quad cities. In fact, this pic represents all of the hot rods we saw until we actually got to the quad cities...


We coming from the south but figured there would be more like us going for the day. Oh well. It was a good trip anyway. We did stop at a car wash before we joined the line on the bridge.




And the line on the bridge...


Getting closer...


That's where we're headed...




Cars turning ahead of us in line...




Then we finally get off the highway...


A small herd of goats seen in their natural environment, the parking lot...


We eventually make it inside, with a small overheating problem during the wait. (something to address next winter) I took dozens of pics. Too many to post here so I'm going to just put up some of the things I found the most interesting.









Canadian Dodge...




I don't know what this is, or was, or will be, but it was interesting...




The 'other' Shelby...


Patina ford with a twist...


turbo, hidden underneath...


A rat rod, which I'm not a huge fan of, but I like some of the creativity. Like the copper plumbing on this one...




I liked the cowboy boot uppers shingling the door panels. Kinda tacky, but not too far out


Door knobs and door locks


Another patina rig. Definitely different though with the side opening hood. And huge!






Read the steering wheel


GT350






I found where the turbo Buicks were hanging out. Not that it was difficult.




Old school racing and tow vehicle...


WOW!








Another Canadian import. Acadian...




Bugsy...


That extension at the lower rear looked ok from the side...


But from the rear? Not so much...


Another oddball...


A pair of oddballs...


The pinto interior was awesome!

I think this was a corvette with a body kit...




Badass, note the license plate Bomp. Close enough anyway...






Big engine...


I liked the interior...




Vega. Kinda surprised not to see more of these around. There weren't a ton of 70's cars that were sought after by collectors. These (not particularly wagons) were very popular for hot rodders though. Engine swaps and narrowed axles and combined with the light weight, made awesome drag cars. Hot Rod used to have them all over their pages back in the 80's. Maybe they all rusted away to dust.

[hgs_notes]

The boy and I both dig wagons...








Family Truckster...


I think this one was Donovans favorite...


Ultimate utility wagon...


The new Z28...






Massive brakes!


Loved this GM Performance redo of a Monte...






Look! Its not a train! Its not a bus! It's ???? not superman!








Sweet vette...


Dat-ass, like the kids like to say now...


The Lingenfelter T/A. I dig it, but the lower part of the front fascia just doesn't look right to me. I don't know why but looks to bulky or something down low there.




The interior was outstanding though. Loved it...




Camaro roadster redeaux?










Crusher...


Factory Five... I will have one some day...








Funny how some colors you think would be hideous turn out not looking so bad when applied professionally and on a good ride.


Born to run...


Not sure what this is, but I kinda liked it. I thought Mercury made the Capri..




End of the event for us. We headed back to the truck. The guy that owns the car next to us was just getting back to his also so I asked him to take a pic. I think he did an awesome job.


Off to find dinner and the hotel from this point. The day wasn't over yet but it's late, so those pics can wait til next time.

[VA72C10]

Thanks for sharing! Great pics! I love wagons too...but trying to convince my wife to trade her odyssey for a suburban...a 67-72 burb

[Low Elco]

Too Many to comment on. Great job with the coverage! Making me sad, I had a good time in '97, '98, and '99. More, please. Good shot at the end!