Finally beginning the restore of my 1968 C 10 shortbed stepside truck

[sniperpix]

NEW MEMBER HERE

This truck was bought NEW in 1967 in PA by my moms 2nd husband, they were divorced at the time, he dropped dead 3 months after buying it, the truck was put into the garage area of a building he owned along with all other kinds of stuff and covered with an army tent. He had a large estate which was fought over by his siblings and children for over 20 years. In the meantime a lousy lawyer oversaw it, whenever he needed to sell something to pay taxes he called my mother in a panic. Around 1980 he called and begged for help , she bought the building the truck was in and all its contents, truck included.

It had under 3000 miles on it. One of my older brothers tried to drive it and could never get use to it, his lasting mark was a slice through the body part right below the driver side windshield near the door and fender when he hit a trash dumpster. The truck went back into a garage until i pulled it out in 1984 to drive around as a firewood collector and hunting truck, i was 14, didn't take it on the state roads, just around my mothers property.

I slowly fixed it and used it as a daily driver from 1986 to 1996, left it with 33,000 miles on it and in kinda rough shape. The truck was always owned on paper by my mothers business for insurance purposes. I had a lot of wrecks with other cars when i was young.

So i moved to San Diego from PA in 1996 and left the truck in moms driveway. She died in 2001. My brother took over her business and was executor of her estate. He agreed to let the truck sit at the property in a garage until i was ready to do something with it. He ran her business into the ground a few years later and held an auction of all assets. I bought the truck prior to the auction for $200.

I was due to inherit X amount of dollars from our mothers estate and he and his lawyer decided to lie - cheat - steal their way out of it, so i filed a lawsuit, actually 3 different ones. He still held title to the truck though, i wasn't slick enough to get the title first i guess, it was a deal done over the phone from CA to PA and i mailed a check.

So, i had the truck "stolen" in the middle of the night and hid at a friends place in PA. My brother didn't care but he also refused to turn over title. Our lawyers are finally coming to a conclusion over the whole mess. 2 months ago i heard from an old friend who said he was into restoring vehicles and wanted to know what i evr did with the truck. We talked and he is going to begin restoration, a Frame - UP job.

So i called the other friend where the truck WAS SUPPOSE TO BE and his mom said .......................... I sent that P.O.S. to the scrap yard 6 months ago. I was heartbroke, i began tryign to find it and did, it is still there in PA, only thing missing is the radiator.

My restore buddy picks it up next week and will begin the long and slow restore process.

I will drop in pics and more info when i have time


He is going to put in a Chevy 350 engine and new tranny, I have the original 6 cyl engine and tranny and don't know what to do with it. Some things i need are:

Radiator

all new rear body parts for 1968 C 10 step side

a very good quality driver door or just outside "skin"

2 trailing or swing arms

the engine was never removed or rebuilt, it is as original as you can get, about 33,000 miles on it, tranny is 3 speed manual

it is reported to have run OK, no smoke, or any odd sounds in 2005 and the tranny operated correctly as well.

The restore will occur around East Stroudsburg PA, if you know any good parts places or junkyards than please let me know

[Orange]

First of all - WELCOME TO THE BOARD! Hope you like it here - sounds like you are going to fit in just fine.

Second of all - WOW! What a story!

Third of all - everyone (including me) wants pics. I speak for the legion of members on this site. So, if you don't have any, start trying to get some.

Fourth of all - only subscribers can list sales/trades. It's just the rules. So you may want to just say that you have an original 6 cyl. engine and leave it at that. The mod's will have to edit it otherwise. For info on subscribing - check it out here: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/payments.php

And lastly...
Man, it sounds like you were just destined to build this truck. Keep us updated. That is really quite amazing. Sent to the scrapyard and rescued. Wow. Best of luck with it man. Have fun.

DLB

[BB72CHEVKT]

from Texas you lucky SOB. JK

[sniperpix]

best i can do right now, i have a few 1987 - 88 era pics and a ton from 2005 and will load them in the coming days - weeks - months, etc

this pic is from 1988 era, i will replace it with a cleaner image later on, copying images from a word doc right now and they transfer in a very blury state

[Orange]

Great! and great on the post edit.

I am sure someone around here could help you with that "PROBLEM" of an original 33,000 mile inline 6 and tranny.

Man - that truck is so stock and cherry it isn't funny! You're a dog!

DLB

[sniperpix]

1996 image a week or so before i moved to CA

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this is from 2005, someone who worked for my brother was allowed to work on the truck, he got it running and was riding around with no doors or hood on it, it was reassembled as a condition of my $200 purchase in 2005, doors and hood are back on, the rear body is 100% useless, i will save the tailgate and bolt it to my garage wall, i drank a lot of beer sitting on that tailgate

[sniperpix]

The frame needs a sandblast and powdercoat treatment, but 1st the swing / trailing arms need replacing, they have serious rot on them, i am told the frame is solid and just needs cleaning

[sniperpix]

the truck gets picked up tomorrow, i am excited, but i also found out that restoring the short bed stepside with all new parts is like $2500 just for the body and thats not counting the floor

[GREASEMONKEY72]

yea they get pricey sometimes

but that is one hell of a story and i cant wait to see some progress pictures of the restoration

[Yukon Jack]

Great story. The truck looks pretty solid but that frame is a bit rough. Hopefully it will clean up good.

[sniperpix]

he got the truck but the guy at the junk yard bent the "rear cross supports" hauling it around with his tractor, now the rear frame needs work and might be screwed up

anyone know a good junk yard in the eastern PA or west jersey area where i can get a 2nd truck to harvest things from?

radiator

trailing arms

driver door

rear cross supports

and maybe some other stuff

[rwgregory]

Welcome from another So.Cal. member. I'm in Chula Vista, What part of San Diego are you in??

[sniperpix]

San Marcos, near escondido and vista

[Rollie396]

WOW!!That's one of the best stories I've read on this board.A truck that you've chased that hard deserves a name other than "the truck" though.Looking forward to seeing the progress.

[sniperpix]

yeah it should have a name, how aout "money pit" ?


located a possible doner truck with a stepside rear box so i might be very lucky

I emailed several college, high school, and old hunting friends from PA and put out a "bounty" on a truck like mine, got an email from a freind whose remembered my truck and knows where a similar truck sits in a old mans yard, he is a old timer who goes to FLA every winter and is not back yet.

[jaros44sr]

I think I have a rear cross member you can have, somehow I ordered 2. I think it is the most forward one near the cab. I had to get one for a pick up and modify it for my Jimmy. LMK J.

Are you needing frame cross members or pickup bed crosssmembers??

[sniperpix]

I am interested, email me

my LMC catalog also came today.

[PanelDeland]

sniperpix,the LMC catalog is a great assembly manual.It has tons of good photo's of how things go together.But when you get ready to buy parts you should price them thru the BB vendors before ordering.You may be pleasantly surprised.
BTW cool story keep us posted.

[sniperpix]

thanks for that tip, i always shop around for everything i buy, I wish i was in PA for this restore, would be fun i am sure, I am confident my friend will do a good job on it, we grew up together. He knows a ton about cars and trucks. He owns like 4 i think and his mom and dad combined own another 5 or 6. They are car crazy.

Anyone know the rules on registering a pieced together truck? I want to keep this existing VIN as being the truck that is owned by me but in the end its going to be mainly the frame, axles, hood, fenders, and glass from my truck. The 350 engine is coming from elsewhere and the rear box from another truck and the frame repair from assorted trucks or new products. The cab will be a combo on mine, another truck and new stuff.

In the end the truck may only be 33% from this vin #

How is that regulated? Or does the government not even care on these old trucks?

[jaros44sr]

Originally Posted by sniperpix

I am interested, email me

my LMC catalog also came today.

Do you need demensions, so we are talking the same pc.?

That catalog is habit forming....

[sniperpix]

what piece do you have? Can you match it to something in the LMC catalog? My friend has this same catalog and i just spoke to him, he said if you look on page 36 for Spare Tire Mounting you can see the 2 bent pieces in the background.

The piece closest to the rear bumper is what i need, the junkyard owner wrapped a chain around it to pull the truck and bent the hell out of it and this snapped the smaller piece behind it, the smaller piece is nothing to worry about because it would be removed to insert a fuel cell gas tank later on anyways.

I guess i only need the piece closest to the rear bumper

[jaros44sr]

No I don't have a LMC cat., but from what you describe, it sounds like a frame crossmember. I have a forward ( closest to the cab) bed crossmember...

I doubt that he could have wrapped a chain around this pc.

[Orange]

Originally Posted by sniperpix

yeah it should have a name, how aout "money pit" ?


located a possible doner truck with a stepside rear box so i might be very lucky

I emailed several college, high school, and old hunting friends from PA and put out a "bounty" on a truck like mine, got an email from a freind whose remembered my truck and knows where a similar truck sits in a old mans yard, he is a old timer who goes to FLA every winter and is not back yet.

Everyone has a money pit...

"Inheritance Pay"

Just think - when you are done, everyone will wish they were in your will.

DLB

[sniperpix]

for this bent piece, can a "new" piece be created from a piece of steel? Can't he just cut something to fit and weld it into place?

[jaros44sr]

Originally Posted by sniperpix

for this bent piece, can a "new" piece be created from a piece of steel? Can't he just cut something to fit and weld it into place?

Anything is possible, just depends on if you want it original or you can live with what he fabricates....