New Project 71 K10 Stepside; couple of questions

[Zacules]

Hi, all!

Just picked up this 71 stepside for me and my oldest son to fix up this winter.



















The plan is to return it cosmetically back to stock, or close to it. A previous owner cut out the dash and doors for a stereo, and the seat, column, mirrors, AC and rear bumper are long gone.

Other than that it's a great driver. Bran new motor, even.

It's been a while, but I've owned about 5 67-72 4x4's, most notably a couple of GMC Jimmys that I was quite fond of.

Anyway, to my first questions so I can start gathering up parts:

It was not a highly optioned interior, (It has the flat metal door panels) can I assume it was the smooth bench seat and rubber floor mats? I'd like it if it were the scrolled seats or buckets with a console, but if it didn't come that way I might keep it stock. Probably depends on what I find. The Parchment color might make it tricky.

The dash pad is a kind of maybe olive green or dark grey (it's hard to tell), as are the defroster vents. Would this be stock? The top of the dash itself is painted, too, but there is the red color underneath making me think the olive was added at a later time. And would the column and steering wheel match the dash pad? Any pics you might be able to share with me of what a plain parchment trim looks like would be very helpful. My search fu seems to be weak.

What exterior mirrors would have come on this? There's more holes in the doors that there should be, but maybe it had the small chrome rectangular ones?

The vertical trim of the wing window is all oxidized. Would this have been painted black?

Thanks in advance for any help. I live in a pretty small town and I don't get to see too many examples of different configurations.. And if you know of any donor trucks in the Central Rockies that I should know about please let me know.
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[SS Tim]

Welcome to the board and from the looks of it you have a nice project to work with. The truck badges as a Custom which in '71 was the base interior. The only real way to rell how it was built is to have the SPID decoded. It is as you may know on the inside of the glove box. If it is not there then its your choice. Even then we can give you the colors and paint codes for a correct appearing truck. Might want to pick up a '71 brochure from a board vendor or eBay to start with. But not too far down the road the owners manual plus an assembly manual along with factory sevice and overhaul manuals will help a great deal. Reprints of all of these are affordable and available.

[SS Tim]

Sorry, meant to put these pictures in as well of '71 Custom trim level interiors. Funny thing is the SPID picture didn't show until after I posted. The 514 Light Red and Parchment is a very sharp combo well worth keeping.

[Zacules]

Thanks, Tim.

From the brochure it looks like it would have had the painted front bumper. Which makes sense because the chrome one that's on there isn't bolted up completely. I'll have to draw the line there and not go back to a painted one. Or hubcaps for that matter.

I still don't know what color the dash pad and steering wheel were supposed to be. They look Olive to me but in searching I've seen only that Saddle color, which I'm pretty sure it's not. It's all very faded, though.

Glad to see it would have the small chrome mirrors. I'm pretty excited to have found this truck.

[70cst]

Hey Zacules...

to the forums and from Ohio.

on purchaing a looking .

There are a lot of great people on these forums and they will be able to answer many of your questions.

[SS Tim]

Actually the white bumper and caps go very well with the red/parchment combo. Trying to do a lot tonight with the dogs and maybe run them around midnight, but here is some more for you. The interior primary color is an off white vinyl seat cover. The door panels are painted white and the armrests match. The dash forward of the trim pad is a flat sandalwood color. The column and A/C balls are a semi gloss sandalwood. The dash pad is sandalwood as well. Sandalwood is a dark ivory/tan color that is hard to describe but there are a couple of '71 pictures of a higher trim level in parchment. The A50 buckets shown were and avaiable option at your trim level if that is something that intersts you.
The interior paint codes below are Ditzer for the parchment and sandalewood colors.

[Zacules]

Huge help there, Tim. Thanks! That sandalwood is definitely the color. I can see it coming together now in my head. I'll have time to think about it but I may want to go with a more modern seat with shoulder belts. Tough call, but I have kids and the oldest one might be driving it some day.

Thanks for all the help!

[SS Tim]

Last two, Here is a picture of a very low mileage original '71 6-cyl. Custom trim level, two-tone truck. Might want to note the grill blackout that was '71 only. The other is a '71 K20 brush truck with a factory acessory grille guard.

[Zacules]

Yeah, mine has black around the headlight bezels, but not on the outer grill. Looks to be like that from the factory, too. Have to take a closer look in the sunlight.

Those trucks are sweet! I'd love to have a fire truck like that!

[SS Tim]

Originally Posted by Zacules

Huge help there, Tim. Thanks! That sandalwood is definitely the color. I can see it coming together now in my head. I'll have time to think about it but I may want to go with a more modern seat with shoulder belts. Tough call, but I have kids and the oldest one might be driving it some day.

Thanks for all the help!

Glad to help, I am very much a "numbers guy" here.
Like I said there are seat options. If you a putting in a sock seat make sure it is the uplevel /optional "full foam" seat, much better. Also buckets/console would have been available and would look great with the red in parchment. As far as seatbelts there were optional shoulder harness that your truck has plugged holes for. It was a two belt and buckle set up with seperate lap and shoulder belts. However aftermarket suppliers now offer a true three-point replacement harness.

[SS Tim]

Originally Posted by Zacules

Yeah, mine has black around the headlight bezels, but not on the outer grill. Looks to be like that from the factory, too. Have to take a closer look in the sunlight.

Those trucks are sweet! I'd love to have a fire truck like that!

The grill shell may very well have been changed somewhere along the way. Here is a paste up to help.

If you like how the fire truck looks, then make a slide in water tank set up with some storage bins and a gas pressure washer. Instant mobile detail/wash truck. Gold leaf logos... people would remeber you! :-)