a brief history

So this is what my dad's truck has looked like for about 10 years, primer gray mixed with rust. I remember when it was parked out between the garage and house on Deer Valley Drive next to the old rusty trailer. It had a wooden bed with a custom built wooden toolbox and a half destroyed scooter in the back. The interior consisted of two blue torn seats and old house carpet. The engine was an old Pontiac 400 which Dad says overheated which led to the trucks early retirement. The transmission was an automatic, but had a long shifter with a crystal looking screw-on top. I spent lots of afternoons pretending to drive the old pickup, and planning how I was going to fix it up when I got older.


Dad and I started our restoration project when I was about 16. We started with the suspension. Most people use the front end clip from a Mustang II, but we talked to a guy who recommended the front end from an AMC Pacer. It's an odd looking car but the crossmember welds perfectly to the old Chevy frame without having to chop the frame. It also adds power rack and pinion steering, coil over suspension, and power disk brakes. The rear end was donated from a lincoln Versai which also has disk brakes.


Next for the engine we decided on the tried and true (and cheap) small block 350. We found one at a junk yard from a 73 Impala for $400 bucks. We were impressed that the engine had started right up at the junk yard, and that has been the case everytime I start it after it sits for a long time. Dad also picked up a Turbo 350 automatic transmission from another junk yard (no idea what it came out of). After a custom built drive shaft we finally had a rolling chassis.




We towed the truck down to a local muffler shop to have the exhaust installed. Naturally, Flowmasters were chosen to give the truck a nice rumble as it cruised down the street. We also installed Flowtech headers for the added performance. The only problem we had was the steering shaft not giving the headers proper clearance. We took care of that with a blow torch and a hammer.

For wheels and tires I went to Discount Tire. I went with chrome American Racing rims and meaty 15 inch Road Huggers. They used to look a lot better than they do now.

So now I've got a driveable truck, not a very pretty or comfortable truck but it is driveable. This Frankenstein approach saved a lot of money but created a lot of compatability issues. Still we were able to make things work and I really enjoyed driving a truck that I had put together with my Dad.

The temporary paint job

As you can see I've never put much work into the outer appearance of the truck. My philosophy has always been "do it right, the first time". Since I've never had the tools or skills to do it right (when it comes to body work and paint) I've never done any of it. I finally decided that I've got to do something about it, at least until I can do it right. Dad recommended a product called POR-15 which can be painted directly over rust. Just what I needed. So I got to work with some help from Nicole and Ethan.



We started by cleaning the surface with Marine Clean and then applied Metal Prep to ensure a good stick.






Now we put our first coat of silver primer.

Here's Ethan and Nicole helping out.
































The silver actually turned out really nice, but with exposure to the sun it doesn't protect the metal from rust so we had to put on a top coat. Here's the first coat of black top coat. I was very nervous while painting the top coat since it had the consistency of tar. Luckily I discovered a paint roller that worked really well instead of a paintbrush.



So, here's where we are at so far. This is after 2 coats of top coat. I still need to do one more coat, and I want to sand it down to take the shine off. I would rather have a nice dull finish.


I'm not in love with black, but I'm glad we've done something to protect the metal from rusting more. I think it looks pretty good from a distance. When you get close you can see all of the spots that need some work. Anyways, this will do for now. Someday I'll be able to soda blast the whole thing and do the body work right.

Gracy's transformation...