1969 C10 Long Stepside

[Adam Christian]

Hi all, this is my first post.

I've been lurking on this site for many many years and have finally decided to share my own project that I "completed" in October of 2020. I feel the need to contribute since I've been utilizing the board's resources after all of this time, haha! I'll set some expectations immediately though: I am no professional and my only goal has ever been to build what I consider to be a decent driver.

Some history:
This was my dad's first truck that he bought used from a local junkyard in the late 80's that really beat on it and just used it to haul parts around the yard. Before that, it belonged to a farmer who had bought it new. The truck originally had a 6 cylinder engine that my father swapped with a 350 he rebuilt himself. He is no mechanic, but is an extremely smart man and very independent. He taught high school physics for years, right up until my sister and I were about to be in high school ourselves, building all sorts of cool projects after school with his students.

Here he is with a classroom built pneumatic spud cannon and the Chevy in the background:


So, when I was 15 (13 years ago), I asked my dad if he would let me have the cool old truck sitting behind our barn. He had driven it around a bit when I was a kid, but it slowly got used less and less and began collecting junk, sitting in various places on the farm until it eventually got parked for years when he bought a newer truck. I thought it was so cool and used to ask him to unlock it so I could climb around inside it and pretend as a kid. He agreed to give it to me, but I had to fix it. He and I moved all of the junk out of the bed, removed the black snakes living in the bench, swept up loads of rodent crap, knocked off all of the wasp and mud dauber nests, and he gave me his old manuals and taught me the basics of wrenching. And so started the journey!

This is the document that was under the bench seat that he saved and a shot of the SPID for those curious:





Here is one of the only shots I can find of the truck in it's original form, from when I was about 17 or 18:



Here is a a more recent shot of the truck in October of 2020 after I finished painting it and before I got the bumpers and mirrors on and the spare tire carrier sorted out:



Details as the truck sits now:
1969 C10 long wheel base, 2wd, 350ci V8, SM465 4-speed manual trans, 3.54 gears, G70 rear leaf spring suspension, turquoise 511 poly paint, long stepside bed with 67 fenders (originally a fleetside with a wood floor), modified '67 8 lug spare tire carrier, oak wood bed floor stained with MinWax's gunstock, added tach and vacuum gauge, Retrosound digital radio, center dash and under bench speakers and all sorts of other odds and ends I'm probably forgetting I've done.

I did the majority of the work on this truck, with some big life hiccups along the way, years long hiatuses, and major breakthroughs. I'll try and post shots of the build in order, but may post some more pictures of how it sits in its current incarnation next.

- Adam