So I'm about two years off-on (mostly off) into the build. I bought the truck thinking I'd just get it running and enjoy it. I just CANNOT leave well enough alone. Rather than run you all through 2 years of pictures, maybe a background story is in order and I'll spice the pictures in as needed? It was born a 352/3spd and some flavor of red. Story goes, guy was in the middle of working on it and passed away suddenly.....24 years ago. I got it literally out of the field and brought it home. I don't have any "before" pictures, but you folks all know what they look like anyway.

Before I begin the story, let me say a huge thank you to my father in law who's been helping every step of the way with this project. There's been many times when I was stuck on something or wasn't ready to proceed when he pushed me forward or worked through the problem with me. You'll see him throughout the pictures because been around the shop so much for this.

First order of business was a complete tear down and sandblast of the frame. I painted it with Eastwood rust convertor and 2 coats of Rustoleum gloss black. I've good luck in the past with that recipe.

Frame all cleaned up

The motor was completely locked up and was in the worst shape I've seen a motor....but it was a 1968 390. I guess someone had swapped out the gutless wonder a long time back. So off to the machine shop that went. WAY more money than I'd admit to the misses later and she's now a 431 CI 550 HP big block...erm....toy. A buddy of mine from work built a nice C6 for it. I threw a complete disc brake conversion with power booster in as well. It's also got a locker now because I'm guessing the only thing it will consume faster than gasoline will be tires.

As it currently sits in the truck:

Because yes it needed it!

I just really like the line layout...

 

So now onto the part that I make no claim to....body work and paint. If you're expecting a show-quality museum piece, just leave now This is the first vehicle I've painted and done body work on. But the only way to learn is by doing...and I'll share the results.

The cab corners were pooched...and thanks to COVID, none to be had. I also spent several days patching the floor and cab mounts. Pictures of those didn't turn out very good due to lighting, so enjoy the cab corners from hell.



Forgive the terrible welds....I'm used to working on MUCH thicker steel


Made the executive decision to shave the mirrors from the doors and fenders were equally rough. But they cleaned up nice I think.





To be continued...

 

The bed was pretty rough in the front from sitting. Almost the entire floor was rotted out. I wish I'd found a source for good patch panels, but I was forced to use the generic ones. I think it came out OK. This was never going to be a show truck, but it's at least solid enough for now. There were also a bunch of holes in the bed rails from who knows what that all got patched. It seemed like the previous person had driven nails into the those holes and bondo-ed the nails in??? I'd never seen that one before. Finally took the bed and stood it up to paint the inside and under-side completely.






At some point the truck must have been rear-ended. The bumper had been driven deep into the bed corners.

Yeah....that's how they do it on TV!

SOOO many pin-holes. I'd have to literally replace the entire bed to get rid of all of them.

 

After two coats of epoxy primer and 2 coats of high build, I wet sanded to 400 grit and applied glazing to the fenders, hood, and bed. I had to of course prime those again to burry the glazing, but it did produce a really smooth primer. So I just put the glazing on first for the cab and doors to save a step. The re-primed parts were 400 grit wet sanded again before color was applied.





I did end up buying a new tailgate, the old one was trashed.





It originally had a dash pad, but I'm thinking about going without.

 

So now for what I'm sure folks are scrolling for...
The color is called Glazier Blue Metallic. It's from the Restoration line that TCP sells. I honestly don't know much about automotive paints, but I'd say for a novice it laid down really well. There was NO fish eye and very little orange peel (which could largely be blamed on me). I joked when I opened the first can that I wasn't worthy of such materials. I started with 1000 grit wet sanding for the color, but that seemed a little too aggressive. So we switched to 2000 and that seemed to flatten it out pretty well. There's still a few spots that aren't great, but at least it's painted.






I did sand out that run and repaint it. I was playing around with technique and the paint got away from me.

 

Looks real good. I don't know that color by name but it reminds me of 78 or 79 trans am blue. It was a limited time color that was beautiful. I had a friend spray it on my Karmann Ghia back in 79.

 

I don't think it's supposed to be anything in particular. I just liked the way it looked in the samples

 

Should look great! Can't wait to see it after it's back together.

 

Coming along nicely.

 

Two coats of clear later. I got it a little high on air pressure at first, so it orange pealed more than I'd like. I fixed the issue by the time I got to the doors so they laid out much better. Oh well, just more sanding. After wet sanding to 3000 grit and buffing/polishing they all looked pretty good to me. As I said, first vehicle I've painted. I know it's not perfect, but I can't spend any more time on it.

 

Decided on white bed liner to go with the white bumpers/grill. I think it turned out pretty good.

 

And to finally get up to date, here's a few pictures from the reassembly process...time to make it run!

 

you did a real nice job on that '66. it's got a real nice look. you shouold be proud.
doing your own body work ....you're a braver man than i've been so far. i'm just afraid of ruining something if i did my own. but, i guess everyone has to start somewhere.
i noticed the lines on the roof of your truck. i didn't remember seeing those on my '66. i had to run out to double check if mine had them.

 

Thanks The roof and bed lines were full off Bondo and crap from the previous 50 years. I had to clean them out with a die grinder. I thought they cleaned up nice.

 

​​​​​​What brand was the white bed liner? It looks great! I'd like to use white for mine.