Progress on '66 Chevy K10 lwb fleetside truck

[LILRED66]

We spent a good part of the day and evening at the shop working on the '66 Chevy K10. We installed the freshly upholstered factory bench seat, sprayed the inside of the bedsides with the factory specified undercoating, installed the antennae, installed the body badges, installed the Custom Cab sails and a number of other items, that don't add to much to the appearance but required to finish the build.

We are planning to install the red oak bed wood kit next week, as well as finish the wet sanding and buffing, required in a few spots and install the body molding, along with the front and rear bumpers and the factory license plate bracket, also lots of little, menial items, in order to button it up.

[LILRED66]

Here are a few more photos for your viewing pleasure.

[62 short step]

Originally Posted by LILRED66

It seems like I always do it better for a customer than I do for my own projects.

Thats usually the way it works!! But its good for business.

[LILRED66]

Originally Posted by 62 short step

Thats usually the way it works!! But its good for business.

Yeah...that's for sure. I push my builds aside, in order to get my friends/customers builds done. Kinda like the plumber with the toilet that won't flush!

[PrerunnerRob]

That is a beautiful truck! Great job on the fit and finish of the truck. Were these trucks always a different color on the interior then the exterior?

[joe231]

Tony, if you don't mind....how much cash do you have in the resto?

[suicide 63]

TONY , I seen a real nice red 4-5-6 chevy on 435nb missouri side saturday mornig about 10 o'clock,just curious if it was one of your trucks.

[jonzcustomshop]

how did you do the 4wd stickers, are they repro?

[RWilliams]

It looks like you guys are close to wrapping up the project. Everything looks great.

I wanted to ask you a couple of more questions on my '65 project. Its a '65 work truck. I beleive that it was probably the most basic truck you could purchase at the time; one sun visor, no cigarette lighter, even has only one outside mirror, short bed / step side, 230 - 3 speed on the column.

The truck has about 50,000 original miles, and I am building it back to its original specifications.

The fire wall is painted the same colour as the interior, which from what I understand was done on trucks produced at the Atlanta, GA Assembly Line. Have you seen this painted in this fashion before?

Also, on your restoration, on the backside of the hood, is this the same as the vehicle colour, or is it painted a semi-gloss ( flat ) black?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[62 short step]

Originally Posted by jonzcustomshop

how did you do the 4wd stickers, are they repro?

LMC and a couple other places have them repro.

[Woogeroo]

man, that sure is pretty.

-W

[LILRED66]

Originally Posted by PrerunnerRob

That is a beautiful truck! Great job on the fit and finish of the truck. Were these trucks always a different color on the interior then the exterior?

Rob:

I appreciate your nice comments. The interior color of the 4-5-6 Chevy trucks was the fawn or dark fawn or a combination of dark fawn on the dash and fawn on the balance of the interior. I collect literature on the 4-5-6 Chevy Trucks and every reference to interior colors, specifies the fawn and dark fawn, however I did see a notation of a maroon color, but I am not able to locate that reference.

[LILRED66]

Originally Posted by joe231

Tony, if you don't mind....how much cash do you have in the resto?

We figured there will be approximately $14K-$15K, all in, including the cost of the truck several years ago for $1,200.00. Based on the level of finish, I believe the truck will appraise for over $25K, but we will see.

[LILRED66]

Originally Posted by suicide 63

TONY , I seen a real nice red 4-5-6 chevy on 435nb missouri side saturday mornig about 10 o'clock,just curious if it was one of your trucks.

I drive my red, '66 Chevy K10 lwb fleet daily and I was on the MO side on Saturday, so it could have been me.

[LILRED66]

Originally Posted by jonzcustomshop

how did you do the 4wd stickers, are they repro?

The 4x4 and lockout stickers are a good, quality reproduction. I bought the lockout sticker from LMC Trucks and the 4x4 sticker from Classic Parts.

[LILRED66]

Originally Posted by RWilliams

It looks like you guys are close to wrapping up the project. Everything looks great.

I wanted to ask you a couple of more questions on my '65 project. Its a '65 work truck. I beleive that it was probably the most basic truck you could purchase at the time; one sun visor, no cigarette lighter, even has only one outside mirror, short bed / step side, 230 - 3 speed on the column.

The truck has about 50,000 original miles, and I am building it back to its original specifications.

The fire wall is painted the same colour as the interior, which from what I understand was done on trucks produced at the Atlanta, GA Assembly Line. Have you seen this painted in this fashion before?

Also, on your restoration, on the backside of the hood, is this the same as the vehicle colour, or is it painted a semi-gloss ( flat ) black?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Thanks for the inquiry and the nice compliments. The highest production numbers were the lwb fleetside trucks, followed by the lwb stepside trucks and the swb stepside trucks and the swb fleetside trucks, so you have a more rare version, due to yours being a swb step.

In the sixties, trucks were very utilitarian and used primarily for work, versus pleasure, therefore lwb fleetside beds had more hauling volume capacity and were more desireable. Although many of the factory/dealer options were relatively cheap, compared to today's standards, a $30.00 dealer option was 1.5% of the total cost of the truck of approximately 1,700-2,100, so finding a well-optioned 4-5-6 Chevy Truck is a worthy purchase.

According to factory/dealer literature I have, the entire exterior of the cab, including the firewall was painted the body color. If you have an unmolested survivor, the paint code will be hand-written in wax pencil, and visible on the firewall, adjacent to the brake master cylinder. I have a few with the hand-written paint code still very visible and ledgible.

The underside of the hood is painted a semi-gloss/matte black/underhood black, the same as the inner fenders, radiator support and the backside of the grille support.

There are a number of good books, with prime examples of 4-5-6 Chevy trucks, in pristine condition, clearly identifying the factory paint breaks. If you are restoring a 4-5-6 Chevy Truck back to original, I suggest you purchase the Encyclopedia of Chevy Trucks, I believe it is titled, and it will be a wealth of knowledge for you during the restoration process.

Thanks again for the kind words and keep us posted on your progress. I hope this information is helpful for your during the process.

[LILRED66]

Originally Posted by Woogeroo

man, that sure is pretty.

-W

Thanks Woog...I appreciate you following the thread and the nice comments.

[jchav62]

That thing is looking awesome! Love the details...jc

[joe231]

Originally Posted by LILRED66

Lee and I figured there will be approximately $14K-$15K, all in, including the cost of the truck several years ago or $1,200.00. Based on the level of finish, I believe the truck will appraise for over $25K, but we will see.

sweet, good investment, imho

[LILRED66]

Originally Posted by jchav62

That thing is looking awesome! Love the details...jc

Hey Hoser...thanks for the nice comments. We are making a concerted effort to dial-in the details for a good, quality build. After an 8-10 work session, it is tempting sometimes to install a fastener, that no one will see, without doing the proper prep and painting, but we just stay with it.

Thanks again for the compliment.

[LILRED66]

We made a bit more progress this evening. We installed the factory tach wiring harness, bed cross sills, new heater core, hood hinge springs, hooked up the HEI, added oil, power steering fluid, anti-freeze and fired up the 327. It is running down tubes with no mufflers or tailpipes, since we haven't made it to the exhaust shop. Man that thing sounds devine.

The red oak bed wood will be picked up tomorrow and installed in the next few days. I also put all of my body molding clips in the parts tumbler, to clean and ready them for paint, so we can install the body molding. We hope to have the remainder of the front clip, including the front fenders, grille support, grille and hood installed by the weekend.

[TimE]

Originally Posted by LILRED66

According to factory/dealer literature I have, the entire exterior of the cab, including the firewall was painted the body color. If you have an unmolested survivor, the paint code will be hand-written in wax pencil, and visible on the firewall, adjacent to the brake master cylinder. I have a few with the hand-written paint code still very visible and ledgible.

My Dad has a 65 that appears to be all original paint and the firewall on it is the same fawn color as the interior. I intend to check the wax pencil marking because I did notice a number on the center of the firewall but didn't pay enough attention to recall what it is. Would this be the number you are referring to?
Back on topic-That is some more very nice progress on the truck. You guys are doing an awesome job on the rebuild. I hope once I get started on mine it will turn out half as nice.

[LILRED66]

We started on the bed wood install this evening. Man what a difference getting the wood in the bed, makes on the overall perception of the build...more photos to follow.

[hewlett2002000]

that is absolutely beautiful!! yall are doing a great job. keep us posted..
thanks for the pics.
John

[Joey~AP]

Allsome job on your truck, hand!




Lookin at the wood in your bed, reminded of a trick that an ol man told me.

He painted the wood the same color of his truck. After it dried, he sanded the paint off, and clear coated it with some type of clear stain.

The grain retained the color of his truck.

Looked pretty sweet!