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With the warmer weather lately I've really had the itch to get behind the wheel of something other than the "mighty mighty Town Car".
So I pulled the '76 Chevy C10 out today, it's been a couple years since I've had it on the road.
This truck is pretty special to me because my Great-Grandpa bought it new from Denooyer Chevrolet. He unexpectedly passed away just a couple years later. My Great-Grandma kept the truck around even though she never used it. Eventually my Uncle would end up with it, but again seldom drove it, it only has 27,000 miles on it today. It was basically kept on the family farm just in case someone needed to haul something. When we sold the farm I made it point to let my Uncle know I was interested in keeping the truck, we came to an agreement of it's value and I brought the truck home.
Within the first year of owning it I started putting together a plan to restore it. (Even though it hardly got driven much, it also seldom ever got washed & waxed. So the paint was pretty faded by the time I got it.) It didn't need much, but some of the basic things needed to be replaced or restored. So after taking it apart and dropping it off for paint, I ordered all new trim, did away with the ugly rear step bumper, bought a set of Corvette style ralley wheels, and got a new headliner. Once I had it back from the body shop I started the process of putting it back together, adding the new parts, and slightly detailing the engine bay. (I wanted it to be alittle cleaner then it was, but also didn't want to lose some of the originality.) One thing I purposely didn't replace were the outside mirrors, even though they are slightly pitted, there's something to be said for being able to reach out the window and adjust the very same mirror my Great-Grandpa did. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, it's not 100% perfect, but definately has huge sentimental value.
So I pulled the '76 Chevy C10 out today, it's been a couple years since I've had it on the road.
This truck is pretty special to me because my Great-Grandpa bought it new from Denooyer Chevrolet. He unexpectedly passed away just a couple years later. My Great-Grandma kept the truck around even though she never used it. Eventually my Uncle would end up with it, but again seldom drove it, it only has 27,000 miles on it today. It was basically kept on the family farm just in case someone needed to haul something. When we sold the farm I made it point to let my Uncle know I was interested in keeping the truck, we came to an agreement of it's value and I brought the truck home.
Within the first year of owning it I started putting together a plan to restore it. (Even though it hardly got driven much, it also seldom ever got washed & waxed. So the paint was pretty faded by the time I got it.) It didn't need much, but some of the basic things needed to be replaced or restored. So after taking it apart and dropping it off for paint, I ordered all new trim, did away with the ugly rear step bumper, bought a set of Corvette style ralley wheels, and got a new headliner. Once I had it back from the body shop I started the process of putting it back together, adding the new parts, and slightly detailing the engine bay. (I wanted it to be alittle cleaner then it was, but also didn't want to lose some of the originality.) One thing I purposely didn't replace were the outside mirrors, even though they are slightly pitted, there's something to be said for being able to reach out the window and adjust the very same mirror my Great-Grandpa did. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, it's not 100% perfect, but definately has huge sentimental value.
Glad you got to save this one - I still want to restore one someday.
357ci LT1, cammed, stalled, and driven.
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