1979 Restoration (Pop Pop)

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A little history of the truck:
I inherited this truck from my Dad (John McGrade) shortly before he passed away from ALS almost 10 years ago. The truck was purchased brand new in ’79 as a gift from his Dad, my grandfather who we called “Pop Pop”.
My father was extremely grateful and very proud of this truck, so proud he hardly ever drove it in fear it would get damaged. I remember my Grandfather yelling at him “Johnny…I bought you a truck so you wouldn’t have to walk to work no more and you’re still walking!!”
To this day the truck only has 52,000 original miles and it totally rust free!!
Over the years my dad would put a little money into it, rims, tires, custom seats, exhaust, ect… a plain looking truck was out of the question for him.
He dreamed one day it would be show worthy. Money was always tight in my family growing up, so unfortunately my Dad never fulfilled all the dreams he had for it before his death. I sat with him many nights listening to all his ideas and dreams he wished for, those were some great memories that I think a lot of you can relate to.
Some of his wishes were Custom paint, bigger wheels, a lower stance, custom interior & of course a big old V8 to take the place of the weeny straight 6 between the fenders.

I told him after he gave it to me that I would someday fulfill all his dreams, as well as put a little of my own spin on it….you couldn’t of wiped that smile off the old man’s face. I’ve always been extremely passionate for Cars and trucks and very meticulous with my things, he knew his Baby was in good hands.

Well the tear down and build up has finally begun, it literally has taken me almost 10 years to save up the loot to do this truck right.
Some of the things I’ve purchased:
-Ride Tech 73-87 C10 Level 2 lowing kit.
-355 forged bottom Crate motor with Eagle Crank, Diamond pistons, Edelbrock heads, Demon Carb, Hooker headers & March Billet Style track pulley system.
-B&M TH350 Transmission W/ 2400 Stall & Lokar 16” shifter
-Wilwood front & rear brake kits w/ Cross Drilled rotors
-Ididit chrome steering column with custom wheel
-20” Boss 338 rims.

All the work is going to be completed by the Bow-Tie shop in Bedford Ma. It's a NCRS Corvette restoration shop who have done lots of work to my '86 Vette. I couldn't have found a better place to trust with Pop-Pop!


I’ll list more odds and ends as I go, but here are the pics so far.

As is waiting for Pick-Up.


All Packed up with loads of goodies.


Leaving, kind of a sad day for me.

Let the tear down begin!


Had the frame sent out to be sand blasted, took a few months but just got it back.


Out of the booth and all painted up.


12 Bolt all painted and polished up, might swap out that rear cover with some bling.


Cab, Bed & Nose all stripped, sanded and epoxy primer applied.
I'm going to have them remove and fix all the old bedliner snaps in the bed, drip rails & visor mounting holes.





I'll take more pics of the motor and other stuff later on. Right now the assembly of the suspesion & brakes are being done...updates to follow.

-Mark