I guess to begin this story, I should start at the beginning. My first truck was a 68 Chevy swb that my grandfather owned since new. Before I was old enough to drive, my dad, brother, and I rebuilt the truck, so all 4 of us kids could drive it through high school. Being the last of the 4 kids, it needed to be redone by the time I was driving it, but I still loved it. In a moment of stupidity, I sold my truck while stationed in Hawaii in the Army, in order to buy a Mazda RX-7. I’ve been looking to find my grandfather’s old truck since then, but I needed an old truck to get my fix until I find it.
Well, on to my 70, keep in mind that this is a “driving resto-mod,” meaning I had to do all of the modifications in a weekend, so I could drive it to work the next week.
I originally purchased the truck for $900 in October of 2001. It was a running and driving truck with a 307/TH350 combo in it. I got it home and found out that one of the tires would go flat within about an hour, so I put some new tires on it and did some “home-made” lowering. Here’s a few pics of the day that I got it, and one after the ghetto lowering.
Well, the original drivetrain didn’t last too long after I started driving it a lot, so out it came and in went a goodwrench 350, Bowtie Overdrives 700-R4, and of course a Vintage Air sure-fit system. The engine was topped off with an Edelbrock Performer intake with matching 600 cfm carb, and lit up with a stock HEI with a Pertronix Flame-Thrower kit installed.
After riding to St. Francisville to visit my folks, my wife told me to order what ever I needed to get the truck riding better. So, before she could change her mind, I ordered a 4.5/6 drop from Early Classic with the 6-lug disc brake conversion. I also added power brakes and steering to make it a little more driver-friendly on the road. Of course, while I was in there I might as well rebuild the front-end, install poly bushings in the rear trailing arms, and a set of stainless brake lines, right?
The original wheels didn’t clear the calipers, so on a Sat. afternoon I sent my wife to town to buy the cheapest 15” wheels she could find so I could drive it to work Mon. morning, hence the ugly white wagon wheels.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist throwing in a pic of the future generation of hot rodding, my nephew.
I also swapped in a set of 2000 Silverado seats with the fold-down center seat. Seats make it ride better, right? After driving it like this for a few years, I feel that if you are 6’ or taller, it makes it kind of cramped in the cab. Hopefully I’ll find a late 80’s/early 90’s Chevy bench to put in there.
After having everything lowered I decided to swap the 2 piece driveshaft for a 1 piece that I ordered from Denny’s Driveshafts in New York. I found out about them from the Copperhead build on Trucks! I got a 3” driveshaft and found out that with the rear-end centered in the truck, the driveshaft gets quite close to the trailing arm crossmember, it has never touched though, so I guess it’s alright. With a 3” steel tube and the 1350 U-joints, I don’t think I’ll ever make enough power to break it.
I ended up swapping out the hood and grille to a 68 model just because I like that front-end better, and it’ll make it look like my grandfather’s truck. I didn’t have any 68 fenders for it at first, so I left the 70 fenders on there. I threw these pics in because it always seems like people are asking if you can leave the 69-72 fenders on and swap the grill and hood off of a 67-68. It sort-of lines up, but I won’t leave it like that.
I drove it like this for quite a while until I couldn’t take the rake anymore. The difference in tire sizes front to rear were so drastic (26” & 29” tall), that the rake was just too much for me. In order to fix it, I ordered a CPP bolt-in c-notch and made a set of 2” lowering blocks out of some 2x2 square tubing. It actually rides quite nice like this.
That was Dec. 2005, I just drove it doing minor repairs until Sept. 2006 when I changed out the fleetside bed for a stepside bed that I got off of Tommy in Milton. Some of you know him from the 67-72 board as “55454.” These pics are right after I swapped beds, and the truck hasn’t been touched since then, except to drive it. I just realized that I didn’t do anything to my truck during 2007!
With the way my job works, don’t expect a lot of updates on this one. I also have a 70 2wd Blazer that I’m itching to get started on. We finally got a 3rd vehicle so that I can take it off of the road to do some work to it. I think I’m going to do the body work on this one and get it all in one color, even if it’s just primer, “hopefully” before the 67-72 board meet. After that I’ll focus on getting it painted before Crusin’ the Coast this year. After that I might sell this in order to finance building a shop, so I can build up the Blazer. Don’t hold your breath on that one, I tend to change my mind a lot.
Uhm, Brandi... oh BRANDI..... Can Steven have some paint and some wheels Please???? 
It would make his truck alot more valuable, and you know that his Pop Pop would have wanted it that way.
