The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - New member, big plans and a crazy project

Hello fellow C10 lovers...New member here and eager to jump in, learn from all of you and share what I've done and where I'm going.

I'm building my "forever" shop truck, and while my build might not be for everyone, I hope you all will appreciate the goals and the effort.

Simply put, I'm building the Mother of all Restomods...base is a 1972 C20 long bed, but in reality all that remains from the donor is the cab, bed and other sheet metal, exterior trim and dash. It all rides on a 2020 Cadillac Escalade ESV chassis and driverrain with a direct injection 6.2l L86 engine, 10 speed automatic and all wheel drive. The build brings with it the complete 2020 control system to include ABS and traction control and of course, a fuel tank under the truck and not in the cab!

The entire doner truck has been blown apart, media blasted and all rust repaired...needed a full new roof skin, rockers and cab corners. Doors and cowl had minor rust holes that were repaired. Floor was amazingly clean. It's all steel now..no rot, no filler...should outlast me!

The biggest modification needed was to match up the wheel bases. The C20 bed was sectioned and the wheel wells moved 4 inches rearward...that was more complicated than anticipated. The cab has been mounted on a custom structure and we are currently finishing up mounting the front clip and inner fenders.

I'm now starting on the interior. Using the stock gauge bezel but plan to use the escalade steering column and column mounted controls... we'll see how that goes. Still trying to figure out how to mount the new required control. Interor will have bucket seats and center console/jump seat from a 2018 Silverado.

I've posted a few photos from the journey so far...Long way to go...but I'm well on my way. Let me know what you think..

Cheers,
Paul