"The Smell of Victory" 1972 Cheyenne Super

[kingstrider]

Well I posted about my truck when I bought it a few months ago but figured I'd start a dedicated thread about it here. Not a true ground-up "build" per-se but I figured this would be a good place to document the things done to the truck to make it my own. The interesting thing is that this is not only my first ever Chevrolet, but my first truck as well!

I'll get to the name eventually but I was born in the late 60s so have liked the 67-72 generation trucks since I was a kid when they were relatively new and everywhere you looked. Like anything else made during that time though, I have seen fewer and fewer of them over the years and have been watching prices steadily going up as a result. I always wanted to get one made in my birth year but used to have a neighbor that would let me borrow his 72 long bed for the occasional run to Lowe's and have been hooked on that body style ever since.

Anyway after owning a number of vintage and newer Mustangs over the years, I decided to part with my 2014 GT and buy a vintage swb Chevy truck instead. My wife thought I was crazy to go back to an old vehicle but it was a garage queen and was only driven on nice days so wasn't exactly useful. Besides, I like to tinker in the garage and got tired of replacing new parts with more expensive new parts just to be able to work on it. She was partial to the Mustang only because we found it during an anniversary trip the year before but she couldn't drive it anyway due to the manual transmission.

So with the car gone and space in the garage, I started looking for a replacement. I contacted friends in various states to aid in my search including my old neighbor who recommended that I spend more for a nice truck vs. less for a rusty one. I actually wanted a well optioned 71-72 step side and looked nationwide for several months before I found this fleetside 1972 Cheyenne Super on Craigslist just a couple hours away in a neighboring state:


Looking at the photo I could tell it had newer Blazer wheels and a slightly lowered suspension but the owner told me it was in really good shape and worth a look. Due to weather, it took about a week to make the drive to see it but I was impressed by the overall condition and how little rust the truck had underneath compared to some of the rust buckets I've owned. Like many old vehicles, there were some flaws in regards to originality, but the SPID showed a number of factory options including power steering and brakes, air conditioning, tilt steering wheel as well as a 402 big block.


Unfortunately one of the PO's had swapped the original engine with a "built" 400 small block that was purportedly bored out to a 406. It also had a serpentine setup off a late-model vehicle with some speed shop parts to make it look faster. The air conditioning was of the later orfice type system instead of the usual POV type normally found in this year. It was also missing the compressor and hoses but everything else appeared to be there. The owner told me it had hot start issues due to the headers but that he only used it for cruise-ins so would just prop the hood to show the motor off so it didn't seem bother him. True to word, once the engine got hot, it wouldn't start until it had cooled off for a while.


Looking at the interior, I noticed aftermarket gauges which had been drilled into the original cluster. These included a tach, as well as oil pressure and water temperature gauges. The center A/C louver was missing and someone had installed an aftermarket cassette radio. Otherwise everything else appeared original including the tilt column. The steering wheel was in good shape compared to most trucks I looked at but the horn didn't work and the shifter wasn't very tight. I also found the gas gauge didn't work and that the odometer was stuck.




As for rust, there were a few areas that I knew would require attention. The worst was the truck bed, though much of this was hidden by the plastic bedliner that probably trapped water and caused most of the damage in the first place. Lifting the rear of the liner I figured a patch panel might be sufficient as it appeared confined to the back end by the tailgate. Next was a small section on the driver's side door jamb which appeared to be surface rust only:


Finally were the doors themselves which showed stress cracks and rust around the window frames but were surprisingly nice at the bottoms. I knew that oem replacements can be expensive and that aftermarket parts often have fitment issues but didn't see this as a deal-breaker. Otherwise the truck looked pretty solid from top to bottom.



Moving to the back, I noticed the tailgate had not had the center section painted white to match the truck as well as missing chrome trim. I suspected an aftermarket tailgate but didn't realize until later that the color combo was wrong and that the truck would have originally been all-orange with white on the roof only. The clear coat was peeling in a few places but showed well with the parchment interior. Regardless, Tangier Orange is my favorite color and the truck appeared largely unmolested and a great candidate for future restoration.


I already knew my wife wouldn't like the color but once I drove the truck I knew it was the one so negotiated a price and put a deposit down. As luck would have it, my wife and I were passing through the area the following week for yet another anniversary trip so arranged to pick it up on the way home. She was a little sore about having to follow me home but it ran well and without any complications. The horn didn't work but the exhaust was so loud that a quick rev of the engine was able to get the attention of a couple of motorists along the way. Once home it quickly became known to the family as "The Beast". To this day, I am told there will be no more car/truck/other purchases during anniversary weekends or trips haha.

Because it is a major safety issue, the first thing to do was to fix the horn. Using the search function I quickly found a couple of threads about this and had the horn button working in no time. Unfortunately I found one of the horns didn't work so bought a used replacement from another member (thanks specialtyretail!). With one working horn I figured that was good enough to take a road trip and set out the next weekend to get a new mattress for my son. Again this is my first truck but I was already hooked on the utility and knew from this point forward that I would always own one:


Once I got home, my wife was up in arms about how bad the garage and the adjacent room, the library, smelled after I left. The conversation went as follows:
Wife: "You have to do something about that truck!"
Me: "Why, what's wrong with it?"
Wife: "It smells. It stunk up the garage and the library when I went to the grocery. Why does it smell like that?"
Me: "Because it doesn't have catalytic converters. That's the way these old cars usually smell."
Wife: "Well, what are you going to do about it?"
Me: "Absolutely nothing, that is the smell of victory!"

Haha I guess you had to be there but the reference is from a funny kid's animated movie called "Sherman and Mr. Peabody". Since then, the truck has become known as Victory, or Victor for short. Funny since all my other classic cars always had women's names, go figure. Well again this is a thread about stuff I have done and will do to the truck over the time so enjoy.