Projects 1962 C10 - Rust Therapy

After a lot of watching Craigslist and other places, I've finally found my next project. This morning my friend Brian and I took a 3 1/2 hour drive down to La Junta, CO to pick up this 2 owner Colorado farm truck.

Here are the basics:

283 - runs, but smokes.
3OTT - sloppy linkage, seems to be stuck in 3rd at the moment.
6 lug axles
The truck has been parked since 2003.
Everything seems to be virgin untouched stock. No weird radio cutouts, stock interior. I think the rear bumper is an aftermarket mod.
I'm very impressed with how solid the body is.
It looks like the driver door has been creased by opening too far, and there is a dent in the rear passenger quarter panel.



It was dark when I got home tonight, so I'll post more pics tomorrow.

 

Looks like a solid old truck! Best to you in this project!

 

if you open the hood and move the linkage on the column you can get it back in neutral, nice truck!

 

Did you happen to take some time to look around La Junta while you were there? Lots of project material down there.

 

Looks pretty clean! Check the rockers and cab corners. What's the plan?

 

looks like a solid project

 

I saw a bunch of AD and TF donors or future project trucks in fields within 300' of Hwy 50 between Pueblo and La Junta. One guy had 3 AD cabs on a trailer with a full truck beside it. There were a couple COE cabs too at a different place.

We didn't stop because I wanted to beat Denver rush hour, which didn't work out anyway.

 

i would love to get my hands on one of those trucks again, those 62-66

these trucks have problems w/ rust around the bottom of the cab n rockers, around the windscreen, and the hood ...

but from the photo, you got lucky and looks to be a solid start .... =)

 

The cab corners are clean and rust free. When I pulled up the flooring it looks like you can still see factory paint/primer on most of the floor. I saw some evidence of some rodent nests under the seat which I'll clean up soon.

The plan is to do a frame off rebuild of all things mechanical but try to keep as much of the body as close as possible to what it looks like right now. I want a very functional and mechanically reliable preservation of what it is now. It's a 51 year old truck so it should have some scars and grey hair. I'm just doing a hip and knee replacement.

As long as the 283 is salvageable, I will be rebuilding it. Not sure yet what to think about the 3OTT. I love the cool factor, but I'm open to exploring a 5spd since this will be my DD when I'm done and I don't want to be stuck in the slow lane going 60MPH at WOT.

I'm definitely doing 4 wheel disc brake conversion, and a moderate drop is also definitely going to happen.

It's way too early to decide what I'm doing on wheel/tire combos, but I really like the idea of 17" or 18" matte black steelies or Torq-D's with either a tiny whitewall or black on black.

I'm definitely ditching the fuel tank from inside the cab, and the bed will get a full on resto.

We're moving in a couple weeks so I probably won't really get going on this project at full steam until we're settled. I have a shop where I can park it and work on it indoors this winter, so next week I'll drag it over there.

 

As promised, here are some more pics.

 

driver's side floor:


passenger floor:

 

Even the hood is really solid. (Ignore the way the panoramic shot stitched together. It's straight)

 

The bed wood is shot:

But the sheetmetal is straight:

 

Looks like a clean '62. I finished a t-5 swap last year in my '62, real easy and soooo much nicer in town and on the highway. I got a 4" drop with Jeep springs and cranking down the torsion bars. You're lucky to have the 283, nice power plant.

Good luck

 

You're right, it does look like a solid truck. Nice find! Good luck with your build...

 

That don't need much rust therapy - you need a better title to this thread. How about "A face only a Mother could love"......

Had a '64 in the late '70's early '80's - 283 with 4sp - Painted it Chevy orange, put on a push bumper and it was my daily driver and shop truck for the older projects. Good truck, drove the wheels of it. Well my Bro did, when I loaned it to him and a front wheel fell off on Snoqualimie Pass.

 

The thread is called "rust therapy" because that's what my wife calls it when I disappear into the shop. We've had a tough run of it this year medically for both her dad and mine. The time spent getting my hands dirty is cathartic for me.

 

Happy Birthday to my pops yesterday. We didn't think he'd make it this far and we're sure glad to have him with us still.

I have been thinking more about how I should approach the body work on this truck. Once I get the truck into the shop and start working on it, I'll be taking every body panel off for a frame off drive train rebuild. What I want to do is preserve the way it looks now, but I don't want to let it deteriorate while I use it as my DD. I'm not a real big fan of the Fauxtina look. I think that look needs to be earned honestly, so I want to make sure it doesn't look contrived. Everywhere you can't see from the outside is going to be sealed and painted, and I am planning to finish/restore the interior.

If I were to wet sand the body AS IS and shoot a couple of satin clear coats over it, would I wreck the look in the process?

 

Got the brakes working enough to drag over to my shop safely. Gonna spend a couple bucks at the car wash on the way, and then get it into the shop. Can't wait to get it out of my head and start WRENCHIN!

 

How are the cab mounts? A lot of times they start to rot/collapse and that is what puts the column shifter linkage in a bind.

 

You could satin clear it, check out the CLR threads, you need to neutralize the rust before shooting it or your clear won't last long, also look at evaporust. Give 3m imperial hand glaze a try on the old paint, I've brought back some very faded paint using it without taking off paint like a buffing compound will. Consider a grey metal etch primer color matched to you existing paint if you find more rust than anticipated during tear down, you can blend it to your existing paint before clear. You'll catch some shit here if you clear it and/or run 17's, but its your truck build it your way. While you've got it apart, consider cutting in your panel edges and door jambs in new paint, it would make a respray to new color a lot quicker if you change your mind on the patina later on

 

Pickups weren't delivered to dealers with rear bumpers. That bumper is the kind that were commonly installed on trucks at the dealer, it may even have the dealer name and city stamped into the face of it (couldn't tell from the picture). The factory stamped bumper like the front were only installed at the customers request.

 

283john: everything that is made out of rubber and plastic on this truck is very dry and cracked. When I tear the truck down, I'm pretty confident that they will just fall apart.

indyjps: Thanks for the tips. I like the idea of making a respray simpler next time. I'll probably take your advice before I reassemble.

Pasadena: Do you know if the dealers were getting their own bumpers sourced locally, or was this bumper made at a GM factory and then shipped separately? Based on the VIN, this truck was made in the Kansas City plant.

 

Pasadena: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=561195

Mine does not have any dealer info stamped on it but it looks a lot like some of the ones pictured in this thread.

 

I got the truck into the shop last week. Yesterday I had a couple of hours of down time, so I began the strip down process.

Here's a few shots I took while I was working.

Hood off


Front Fenders & Supports off


A front view


My helper, tool fetcher, and conversation partner, Elise, making vroom vroom noises!


Got the rochester off and the water pump before it was time to quit.

 

Looks like some good progress. Keep chipping away at it.

 

Sweet truck! Looks solid!

 

I wasn't really planning to get this far today, but my friend Christopher came over and lent a hand. We yanked the engine and tranny today! Woohoo! Got kind of busy so I didn't take many pics but I'll post what I got.


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Empty engine bay!


A greasy 283


A similarly greasy tranny.




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