"Lucky Lucy" 69 CST SWB

[jacobriley]

Hey Everybody,

I am a long time reader and first time poster here, I always have been a fan of the builds threads, and I want to thank everybody for the wealth of knowledge they are willing to share. I feel like I have learned A LOT from what I have read in other peoples build threads and I feel they have really helped me get some direction for starting this project.

Back in May I finally bought my project truck that I have been wanting for the last 10 years in the form of a 1969 CST SWB Truck that I dubbed Lucy (we'll get to the "Lucky" part in a minute).

I live in Phoenix, AZ and the truck out by Los Angeles, CA but it looked to be in pretty good shape, the guy says he's a mechanic who works at SoCal Speed Shop and he's telling me its the PERFECT truck to restore, heck the ad even said "The undercarriage shows no signs of abuse or collision".

I don't have a truck or a trailer so I had to have my buddy come with me (he's got a truck) and rent a car trailer from UHAUL. After getting off work at 1pm me and my buddy headed out to Cali and got there around 7pm.... right when it was getting dark and I didn't bring a flash light (Mistake #1).

When I got there and was looking over the truck there were a few more issues with the truck than the guy originally had told me but this was a 69 CST, factory Air, Power steering, power breaks with 5 lug conversion and front discs, very little rust (that I have found so far anyways) and I drove 6 fricken hours and hauled my buddy and a trailer the whole way.

I ponied up and handed over the cash... and he hands me a title that was in the previous owners name with his name filled into the "New Owner" block on the title. By this time it was 7pm and I had at least a 7 or 8 hour drive back to PHX. He said if there were any issues we would take care of them, no problem. So I said whatever and left (Mistake #2)

After getting home that night I hardly slept at all, I was just so excited. The next morning I went out and was checking out my truck and what did i find?!?!?!

A HUGE CRACK IN THE FRAME!

Not only was there one crack but there was another crack starting to form on the exact opposite side of the frame and somebody tried to do a bad patch job weld (didn't even plate it or anything) on both cracks and spray painted over it.

LUCKILY this is my dream truck so that wasn't enough to deter me....

Now its September and I finally got the paperwork taken care of last week and she's legally in my name.... so its time to start the work!

I have already found a donor frame to start with. This weekend I am going to be tearing down the donor frame and take the wire-wheel to it and give it some fresh paint.

I plan on going with mostly stock-ish options, don't think I'll lower it, if I do anything I will just even out the ride so it sits level. You can take a look at the 3rd picture to see a Photoshop mockup of what I'm going for.

Yes thats the paint scheme off of the mid 80's chevy trucks..... I had a 4x4 Silverado back in the day with that paint scheme and I loved it and I thought the 69 CST would look good in red.

Anybody have an extra set of AC Mount brackets for sale at a decent price? PM me!

Pics attached.

[jacobriley]

And can anybody tell me the differences between the 67-71 front ends and 72 and up?

How can I tell if my front end has had upgraded spindles / axles / disc brakes or if it has been swapped out from a later model truck?

I can get pictures of the front-end tomorrow!