'63 Long Fleet "Big Orange"

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Greetings from sunny So Cal! Here's my truck and my story...

I grew up on a quiet street in San Diego. The street was quiet but one of my neighbors wasn't. Scott was his name, a nice "kid" in college who had three 64-66 trucks. I was 13 or 14 at the time, my dad had just passed away, and I spent most days in his garage learning everything from shoddy body work to engine building. Scott not only taught me the old car ropes, but encouraged me to figure things out on my own, ask questions, and if the question had an obvious answer he would encourage me to figure it out on my own.

When it came time to start driving, convenience won and I drove the family Honda Accord. I found a group of friends in the "tuner" crowd and enjoyed modifying imports. Fast forward 10 years, a 2000 Civic SI (still love that car), and a marriage. The beloved Civic was stolen while on my honeymoon and I made out like a bandit with insurance. I now had cash burning a hole in my pocket and a father-in-law (FIL) who collects old cars. I spent Christmas vacation of 07-08 building/installing a monster motor in my FIL's '57 Bel Air and the bug bit me. After a couple months of searching and craigslisting, I landed on an orange '63 LWB C20 (not really a C20 anymore) in Orange County. Being twice removed from the guy that did all the work, all I had to go on was a binder FULL of receipts and brochures. It was like the history of the truck unfolded in front of me. I paid $4500 and drove it home.

Come May '08, my FIL flew out to San Diego and we replaced just about every user-replaceable rubber component on the truck. Every hose, gasket, fluid, etc. was replaced. I've done a couple other projects here and there. I added power steering, replaced all the a-arm cross shafts, ball joints and tie rod ends, and changed from C20 body mounts to C10 body mounts.

So here's my truck "Big Orange" (appropriately named by my grandmother) at the CPP Cruise and Shop Tour in 2011. I'm going to try to document additional work here. I hope someone gets some enjoyment out of this.

DS