My father and I have always been motor-heads and he has taught me everything I know about vehicles. He and I built a 1969 Chevelle a couple years back. In 2012 I turned 14 years old and that’s when my father started talking to me about what vehicle I wanted to drive when I turned 16. Naturally, I started looking online as soon as he said that- this was my chance to find exactly what I wanted. My father was also sure to tell me that if I wanted to build something we could do that, too.

I would look daily for hours online to find my dream vehicle and it came down to three different trucks. Two of the trucks were a 1979 and a 1978 and the other was a 2000. When I told my father that I had decided on the 1978 he was very shocked but also very excited. I found the 1978 Chevy K10 in Ohio so my father and I took a day and went and looked at it.

When we arrived saw that the truck wasn’t in that good of shape and it needed a lot of work, which was expected because I wanted to build my first vehicle. At the end of the day, we ended up bringing the truck home. From that day forward, we spent countless hours in the garage working on that truck. I would come straight home from school and go right to the garage. First, we tore the whole thing down to the bare frame, then the work began. We sanded down the frame and applied POR 15 to it, replaced every bushing and every nut and bolt.

Next came the axles and the drive-train. We completely removed the axles out from under the frame and also sanded them down and put POR 15 on them. Once that was done we started working on the motor. At first we were going to keep the original 350 s.b.c and just freshen it up, but a good deal on a 400 s.b.c came up and we couldn’t pass it up. My father and I got all the components for the new motor and he and I assembled it.

Once the motor was in, we started working on the body. Applying paint stripper and stripping all the paint by hand and reapplying primer for days on end. Finally, the truck was ready for paint. It took a lot of thinking for me but I decided on a crisp white, and to this day I love the color. The truck then got painted by a local friend. Wow ,did it look fresh and clean! I then worked on the interior, sanding down and repainting. The ole girl got some new wheels and tires and from that point I just kept putting little touches on the truck that I dreamed of.

The process took about 3 years and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. Not only that, but the time spent with my father is something I’ll cherish forever. LMC Truck helped me a great deal by providing the parts and accessories in a timely manner. Thank you to my father and LMC Truck.