Why Do I Keep Doing This to Myself?

[jgrote]

Let me first start my introducing myself. I am a very typical middle aged white guy, going through a pretty serious mid life crisis. A couple of years ago, I cashed out a little bit of my retirement and bought a 66 Mustang. I wanted something that would serve as a good driver while continuing to improve it. After a couple of months of owning it, I reminded myself why I've always been a Chevy guy. It was fun, but I felt bad modding it since it was so original. (It was a numbers matching, no rust, all stock car.)

So that's kinda how I got here. I've had several old cars, (most of them were kinda crappy) and most of them were Chevys. And lately, I've really needed a truck many times. I'm tired of borrowing one, so it's time to build one. I'm fully planning on this thing to be totally custom. Nothing is sacred. But I also will need to do several safety upgrades. That is 1 requirement of my wife. I may be the first to have 3 point seat belts in all 3 seats.

I've struck a deal, and now I just have to go and get it. It's 4 hours SW of me. I hope to go out there this Sunday. Now for a couple of pics! When's the last time you saw a bed floor this solid?

[jgrote]

Oh, and I got this cool topper with it! /s

[68bowtie]

Awesome!! I really hope you keep that perfectly sun baked two-tone olive paint with factory paint stripe. Just sayin!

Wow yeah that bed floor is cherry.

[jgrote]

I think I might do something I don't think I've ever seen before. I'm going to polish the paint that's left. I'm not sure how I'm going to hide the new rockers I need to install, but I'll figure that out later.

[68bowtie]

It can be done!! Lots of us have buffed out original paint. Some have even clear coated over it (check out the blue bomb thread in my sig), and some on this forum (like Metaldoc) have masterfully matched original paint on rocker repairs. I’d like to follow along either way, I like this truck.

[Ol Blue K20]

Nice find, I'm subbing to watch and follow along.

[68panelman]

Very nice. Interesting paint combo, special order?, Is the spid intact?
Good luck with it and welcome to the board

[JG358]

LOL thanks for buying it... now I don't have to worry about breaking. Been looking at that add for a while thinking maybe I should go pick it up.

[clay68c10]

That’s a great start! Cool how the color has faded into a silver pine look.
Before you get too crazy with modification, just drive it and see how it does.
The roads should be ok by Sunday, enjoy.

[54blackhornet]

Congratulations on your new adventure. Looks similar to my 71 GMC. Funny how medium olive fades to silver after all these decades. Mine where it sat untouched for over twenty years.

[Joesjunk]

I have talked to that guy several times on that truck but just never pulled the trigger. I wanted the tailgate!

It looks like it will be a good truck. Congratulations

[57taskforce]

I drug a bed home from Colorado Springs that has a floor looks very much like that one about 5 years ago. It’s amazing how there is still trucks around after all these years that can be straight and nice. Looks like you got an excellent starting place.

[jgrote]

It looks like I may be moving up my schedule a little bit. My buddy is only available on Friday, so we're gonna go get it then. He's got a truck that can pull it home if things don't go well. It kinda stinks that the tail gate is gone, but I'll find one. I don't care if that matches. I'm already researching whether I want to convert it to factory coil type or do a 4 link rear. A lot depends on finding parts. I found an entire rolling frame for $500, but I don't really have a place to keep it. First things first; I need to get the truck home.

[Joesjunk]

He had the tailgate to that truck just a few weeks ago??? Here’s a picture of it

[jgrote]

I hope he still does, and I hope it comes with the truck. I guess I'll find out when I get there.

[68panelman]

Ok now I feel dumb, apparently I never new olive green fades to silver, hahaha

[Jrainman]

Originally Posted by 68panelman

Ok now I feel dumb, apparently I never new olive green fades to silver, hahaha

I feel dumber then you , I have been looking at a 1968 GM one year only car color that I want to use for my 68 c10, its called Seafrost green and it is very close to faded olive .

[70cst]

Originally Posted by 68panelman

Ok now I feel dumb, apparently I never new olive green fades to silver, hahaha

Never did I

[68panelman]

I feel better now that I'm not the only one, we may need to start a support thread...

[special-K]

High metallic paint is known for faster fading. When I was having the body works install the Reading low-profile utility body on my Medium Gold Poly '70 CST/300 Custom Camper 157", and truck wasn't there yet, they asked what color I was going with. When I told them the original Gold they made it sound like they thought that was a bad idea, metallic fade faster. Well, 99% of there work is company fleets that don't get washed and waxed like I took care of my sole propriety trucks. Them saying what they did helped because I made sure I kept on top of it and it never faded.

I see repainted Medium Olive Poly mixed wrong all the time. Too much silver, as if they copped the formula from a faded paint job. It's more the tone of Candy Apple Green when right and a really sharp color. Too much Silver washes it out.

[jgrote]

So I attempted to get this truck today, but I failed. I rented a Uhaul truck and car carrier and attempted to drive to the truck. Enough things went wrong that i eventually gave up. I will need to figure out another way to get it out of the mountains. And i need to explain to Uhaul why their truck is broken, and smells like a homeless person. Anybody here drive a wrecker in the colorado mountains?

[68bowtie]

Oh boy

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by jgrote

So I attempted to get this truck today, but I failed. I rented a Uhaul truck and car carrier and attempted to drive to the truck. Enough things went wrong that i eventually gave up. I will need to figure out another way to get it out of the mountains. And i need to explain to Uhaul why their truck is broken, and smells like a homeless person. Anybody here drive a wrecker in the colorado mountains?

Ok......now I'm curious. What happened? U Haul is gonna be mad!!

[jgrote]

I rented a truck and trailer from Uhaul. After all the paperwork, they told me in passing " it's only RWD, so be careful!" The truck is a brand new Chevy 1500. The tires are such crap, it had a hard time getting going in any kind of snow. It was what I had, so I tried to make it work. I headed out of town, and we got a freak wind storm. That shut down the pass I had to go over. I slept for 4 hours on highway 285 last night before giving up and turning around. While sitting for 4 hours with the engine running, The CEL came on. I noticed that it was sort of idling rough the whole time, so I am guessing that had something to do with it. Basically, that thing was a scary setup with nothing on it. It would have been undrivable with the truck on it. It sucks, but you got to know when to say when. It isn't worth wadding up some cars, or worse, over.

[Ol Blue K20]

Whew! I'm glad you knew when to stop. I was picturing something a lot worse.