I only have pictures of an old truck my dad owned and then passed on to me on my 16th birthday. As you can see, the truck is currently in pieces. When I first got the truck, my dad helped me put in a small block 283 and a 4 spd T-10 so I could give it a little more attitude.
I drove it for a few years, but being a teenager, those years were rough on the truck. I did my best to maintain it, but it accumulated a few dings and dents and eventually experienced some major engine trouble. By this time I was married, had a house, and other vehicles to drive, so the old truck was parked in my garage.
While the truck sat in the garage, my father and I made plans to do a complete restoration – some needed parts were acquired, but other things in life seemed to fill our time and kept us from getting serious about working on the old truck.
After my father passed, I lost all interest in getting the truck restored. It sat for a few more years before I began to think about restoring it. Actually, it was my son who got me motivated to do something with the old truck. He kept asking if I was going to anything with it. If I wasn’t, then he would. Then it hit me – instead of being a project for my dad and me, it would now be a project for my son and me. With a renewed purpose and commitment, my son and I began the project. We initially thought about an original restoration, but since the original engine and transmission were long gone, we decided on a restification – an old looking truck with plenty of muscle and modern amenities.
As you can see, we discovered lots of rust, lots of dents, and lots other issues during the build. We currently have an assortment of old parts lying around the garage and many new parts still in boxes. This build is taking twice as much work and costing twice as much as we initially envisioned. Because this build went beyond our expertise, we also enlisted the help of a local restoration shop to keep us on the right track. However, as with most of the projects on this site, this project is a labor of love – a true second generation father and son bonding project.
To get back to the original topic of this post, I’m still trying to finalize the tire size and rear end ratio of this build, so here’s another question for those of you who have completed projects. What’s the widest tire I can run on the rear without tubbing or fender modifications? I was thinking about running 295 /45R /20s. As I mentioned, I’m looking for the old school muscle car look – wider in the back with a slight rake.
OBTW – doing this build with my son has helped us bond, but it has also led to a lot of spirited discussions and compromises. For example, he wanted a slammed truck on 22s. I said I’d go with 20s if it would sit like a muscle car. Color choice is also a good discussion, but its all part of the process. I can certainly live with these minor disagreements if it means staying close to my son (and in honor of my late father).
What the truck looked like after pulling it out of the garage.
Behind the cab rust.
New panal installed.
Rear view of the cab with new lower panels installed.