1973 C10 "The Purple Truck"

[mrk5]

mrk5 submitted a new Build:

1973 Chevy C10

This is a mostly original 73 C10. Still has the factory radio. I was super excited to see the hood is still straight and not bent at the hinges. Drives nice and straight down the road. Interior is very quiet. The TH350 shifts nice and crisp.

Needs some basic upkeep. Factory AC needs recharged. The doors drag and the windows are hard to roll up. At least 1 plug wire is pretty shot but the distributor cap looks new. Figure a tuneup is needed either way.

Worst problem is a cracked exhaust manifold. There's also an exhaust leak under the cab area.

The paint is quite peculiar. The guy we bought it from painted it some kind of metallic gray that seems to have a purple tint. The original color is what I would call burnt umber. The inside of the bed, door jams, and engine bay are still that color.

Future plans (aside from fixing stuff listed above): Drop the rear suspension some, but not so far the frame needs notched. Wider and taller wheels/tires to fill out the fender openings. Real stereo but without hacking up the dash. Newer seats, probably buckets. Add shoulder belts.

On the fence plans: Thinking hard about the basic FiTech kit (non timing control). Overdrive transmission but the TH350 is working so well overdrive may wait.

I'm thinking real hard about doing a color change wrap. There's a metallic copper that I think would go better with the bits of original color left.

Ultimately this truck will be for my sons to drive in high school. So they are going to be helping with the work on the truck. I'm hoping they will feel some ownership in it and take better care of it than they would otherwise.

Read more about this build here...

 

[Capt Ron]

Gonna need some pics.
Have you ever had a vehicle wrapped before?

 

[ktmoutfront]

I doubt the boys need overdrive. Should they really drive that fast?

 

[mrk5]

Gonna need some pics.
Have you ever had a vehicle wrapped before?

We've done a few at work. I mostly turn those jobs down because they are labor intensive and we don't really have the manpower for it. I can do one for myself tho.

 

[mrk5]

I doubt the boys need overdrive. Should they really drive that fast?

I was thinking more about fuel mileage. Liam's drive will be 15-20 minutes on paved county roads with 55mph speed limits.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

I was thinking more about fuel mileage. Liam's drive will be 15-20 minutes on paved county roads with 55mph speed limits.

What gears does it have? 3.08’s and OD is almost irrelevant.

 

[LNielson]

Love the grill, cool project to do with the boys.

 

[Justin V]

 

[Bent77]

Someone say bent?

 

[mrk5]

What gears does it have? 3.08’s and OD is almost irrelevant.

I think based on the speed, RPM, and tire size it might have 3.08. I suppose if I really do put taller tires on, it would be even more pointless to have OD.

 

[mrk5]

Someone say bent?

NOT bent

 

[mrk5]

Does anyone know if a 73 will have a return line? Just thinking about what would be entailed in an efi swap.

 

[skunked]

No return on my 74 but it does have a vent line to the charcoal canister.

 

[Bent77]

I’d probably keep the canister and pull another line

 

[78K30]

Adding a return line wouldn’t be too bad, I ran a new supply, return, and vent on my 78 in an evenings with of easy work.

 

[skunked]

I’d probably keep the canister and pull another line

that's what I did.

 

[mrk5]

I had been thinking about doing a frame rail pump but since there's no return I should just do a new sending unit and in-tank pump and just run new lines. There's just 1 tank.

Need to see how low horsepower the basic FiTech will support. I was looking online and the 350 in that truck was factory rated at 155HP. At least he won't be doing any dragracing.

It was kinda funny as we were driving it home. First thing he was talking about doing was putting a stereo with sub woofers in it. I'm thinking about exhaust, tuneup, etc. He did also mention doing bucket seats with a console. Trying to be funny, I asked him if we should put a big LED light bar on it. He said, sure that'd be cool.....

 

[skunked]

the FiTech will be fine on a stock sbc.

 

[mrk5]

Looked in the glovebox and found a bunch more cool stuff. All the original books and paperwork just like the 66 had. Funny because this truck was purchased at the same dealership as the 66.

Also found an invoice for the transmission being rebuilt and a hand written note on the work that had been done.

Based on this paperwork I know for sure the original owner had the truck up until 1999 when the trans was rebuilt. I did find an obit for him passing away in 2013. He was a farmer. The title we got from the seller was issued in 2016 to the guy he bought it from and never re-titled it. I'm really curious now how long ago the original owner sold it because it hasn't been monkeyed with other than the crazy paint job. He passed away in 2013 and I kinda wonder if that's when it was first sold.

I have to say, I'm super excited about finding another unmolested old Chevy pickup. Even if it is the eggplant.

This is the interior:

I also verified the captive nut is in the B-pillar for shoulder belts.

 

[skunked]

did you look under the seat cover? My 74 has a bitchin plaid seat, wish it was in better shape.