1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"

[londoncalling]

1970 Chevrolet Suburban

Background:
About 2 years ago I started looking for a late 60’s or early 70’s Suburban with a number of specific options as an around town cruiser and beach wagon; something fun for the family. The key criteria were the amount of rust, any accidents and ultimately price.

I finally settled on a truck that was advertised as rust free, accident free, four speed, four wheel drive with 63,000 miles on the original small block 350 and still in its original red-orange paint with a liftgate. The two owner truck was first sold in December 1969 and serviced its entire life at the same dealership that sold the car. All the paperwork came with the truck.

The plan:
A complete frame off restoration with a few upgrades along the way, the most significant upgrade will be replacing the carburetted 350 with the E-Rod 5.3L (available in early April).

Taking cues from Hart_Rod’s project, there will be some sheet metal reworking to get things looking just right, and the interior needs to be customized so that I can have fold flat seats on the passenger side (both front and rear). The seats must be able to fold completely flat, have head rests and look the part for a 1970 truck. Oddly, this is proving to be the most difficult part of the project to date. But I think four subtlety modified 1969 Camaro bucket seats (with headrests) will meet my needs.

Other upgrades will include Vintage Air, Retro Sound radio and speakers, replacement floor in the cargo bed with integrated tie down points, and Classic Instruments 7 gauge instrument cluster. I’m also changing the color to a 1968 Camaro color called Tripoli Turquoise (http://www.69pace.com/paint1968tripoliturquoise.htm) and adding roof marker lights.