46 Chevy pickup quickie

dhutton01

Backyard Hack
I sold this pickup to a good friend and did a quick patina build for him. He’s an 80 year old ex Air Force pilot and he wanted it in a hurry so he could get on the road and enjoy it. 3.5 months and roughly 500 hours later it sits on an S10 frame with all new suspension, steering, C5 Corvette brakes, 8.5” 10 bolt with 3.73 gears. The frame mod kit was from Code 504. LT engine and 8 speed automatic out of an Escalade. The wheels are off a Caprice PPV. We used them because the leadtime for the artillery wheels he wanted was 16 weeks. Vintage Air and power windows. Newport Engineering wipers. Dakota Digital gauges connected to the ECM. E-Stopp electric e-brake. The crank out windshield is fully functional as is the cowl vent. Custom 2.5” stainless exhaust with LT4 stainless tri-y exhaust manifolds. Electric exhaust cutouts. Spal brushless fans with PWM control. I laid the radiator back Corvette style to clear the S10 steering box. Completely rewired with American Autowire Highway 15 harness. Hidden stereo with powered subwoofer under the seat. The frame was blasted and 3 coats of SPI epoxy applied. The only rust through was in the right side cowl behind the fender. It was cut out and patch panels installed. I found some chalk red paint that matched the color under the fender. These trucks don’t have double wall cab corners so they don’t rust out. The undersides of the cab, fenders, running boards and bed sides etc were blasted, epoxied and bedliner applied. I know bedliner is frowned on here but all my customers request it since it is the norm in protouring style builds. 14 coats SPI Euro clear on the oak bed. Someone applied an unknown coating to the exterior that I was unable to remove so I could not apply matte clear like I usually do. I think it is Penetrol and will apply another coat before it leaves. The dash, door panels etc were treated to SPI matte clear. He’s taking it to an upholstery shop to have the seat, kick panels, headliner etc covered in brown leather. New custom carpet too. The seat is a third row seat out of a Caravan :)

Extensive sound deadener and insulation was used and the cab is suprisingly quiet. The ride is smooth and it handles well as I found the large front sway bar and rear sway bar from an S10 Extreme pickup. Bilstein shocks were also installed. It is fairly quick too with 420 hp and 450 ft lbs torque. :)

Still a few things to finish up. Horn button, front end alignment etc. I’ll try to get a few better pics with the fresh coat of penetrol.
B74C7EB7-5AB0-4D04-9471-311EEF1675AD.jpeg
22188C8A-DF27-4B37-9415-D7D5EC3D2B01.jpeg
A691C49E-2375-4C20-8044-B264CB235923.jpeg
19F2CCDB-B821-47BC-A7AE-A2AEDE422549.jpeg
E18FA9EC-0C2C-437D-9DAA-363845909969.jpeg
5DDC401F-B944-41C5-97E4-613F6AC9E212.jpeg
01401393-04DA-46A2-8882-72AD28CEAB37.jpeg
1D371897-5477-44BE-B4D3-84FAF9989EBD.jpeg
F8EF3AA9-7A40-4351-9E14-4EB75E102B04.jpeg


Don
 
Very nice!
I'm not a big fan of the patina look but in this case it makes perfect sense and saved a huge chunk of time.
One thing nice about that original patina is nothing is hidden, the condition of the body (good) is right there to see.
Looks like it was a red body with black fenders at one time.
That wood bed is awesome.
 
I agree, Don't like the overuse & over popularity of patina and fauxtina, But I do like a nice example with some solid workmanship. The LT engine along with other drivetrain upgrades along with the nicer than average wood bed set this one apart from the p.o.s. crowd that I don't care for.
Them S-10 frames are pretty useful. Many people around here seem to use them religiously for older projects.

Might not be gloss black, but this is the usual level of workmanship we expect from Don.
 
I am also not a fan of fake patina but genuine original patina like this truck is priceless imho. I sold it to him on the condition he would not paint it and that I get first chance if he decides to sell it.

Don
 
Excellent work, did he want that engine, or were you brave enough to suggest that it would fit?
The engine was my suggestion. He has two Nomads that are small block Chevy powered and I convinced him a modern EFI engine was the way to go. I think he now agrees. The car runs incredibly well and outperforms his Nomads by a wide margin. Fuel economy is also excellent compared to his Nomads.

He also let me build the suspension the way I thought was best. He was amazed at how nicely it rides and handles compared to his Nomads that he specified the suspension, steering and brakes on. I’ve been building these protouring and restomod styled cars for over 15 years and I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t.

Don
 
This is by far the coolest truck of that era I have ever seen. Really well done from top to bottom.
 
Back
Top