I've told this story before on here, but now I've got some pictures of the finished truck.

My dad gave me this truck 27 years ago when I was a Junior in High School. It was pretty beat up back then, but I loved it! This truck was my only vehicle for 13 years and then I sold it to my brother with the intent of eventually getting it back and fixing it up.
Next time I went home I found out that my brother had sold it to someone and I thought it was gone forever.
Flash forward 11 years. Someone mentioned to my mother that they see my old truck every day. It ends up it had been sitting in a guys driveway for 3 years. It had rusted quite a bit more, but it was definately my old truck.
After telling the owner that it was my old truck and that I was interested in fixing it up, he sold it to me for $500.

I spent the first year getting it drivable. Fixing the engine, pretty basic stuff like rebuilding the carb, new points and distributer, new sparkplugs, the timing was way off, stuff like that, no rebuild.
The windshield, brakes, and shocks had to be replaced before I could license it.

First of all, let me say this is not a totally original restore. Some of the chages I made are:
- The paint is a custom color, not the original. I wanted something a little brighter.
- I went with chrome smoothie wheels instead of the original style hupcaps.
- I didn't do much with the inside of the bed other than replace the worst rusted areas and then I put a rhino coating type of covering on the inside of the bed.

I've thrilled with how it turned out. It was definately worth ever penny I spent and the time I put into it.

All of the pictures are in my garage, but I'm going to add them to this post because I'd like to put them in the order of the restore.

B.C.

 

I wish I'd taken more "before" pictures to show the full transformation. Here's the ones I do have:





Big problems with the floor. When I ripped out the floor covering it was on it's way to being a Flintstones type truck. Some pretty big holes right through the floor.

 

Fixing the floor.



Had to replace the cab corners on both sides:



Starting on the cab:






Don't look at the ugly engine

 

Right fender:


Starting on the bed:

 

The radiator support was totally rusted out on the bottom of both sides. The white paint was from spray can touch ups on the front grill

 

Congratulations, that is a good story and a great pickup.
Vern

 

Doors, Hood, and tailgate:






I bought a tailgate on ebay that didn't have the big rust holes mine had. It still required a lot of work though.

 

Painting the cab:

 

Patching the worst of the bed rust:

 

 

Here's the finished results:











Stuff left to do:
- headliner
- make the engine look a little nicer.
- left side of bumper is still bent down a little.
- some minor electrical problems with the dash.

I drove it to a family event last month in my home town and it was cool how so many people would pull up next to me on the freeway and give me the thumbs up. People commented on it everytime I got gas or anything else. I hadn't really expected that. It was really fun to get the truck to the state I always wanted it in.

That's all for now.

B.C.

 

Wow, talk about putting a great deal of time, $$$$, and effort into getting another classic treasure back on the road. What started out looking like the truck was one step removed from the bone yard came out looking like it just came of the show room floor. Great job!!!.

 

PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRTTTY!!!!! (If yer into the shiny truck thing.)

 

Wow, nice job. hope mine looks that sweet someday.

 

Very nice great job, love the resto stories everyone is different. Color is a good choice.