I bought this ’61 K10 pickup in the early ‘80s from a friend of mine who used it as a hunting truck. He told me that when he bought it, it was one of the very few pickups that was a 4 wheel drive.
Apache was in need of lots of TLC. My father Vern helped out with the new lumber to fix the box floor. I was working on the cab sections and such. A different motor, not to mention lots of other parts, were a necessity. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough for us.
After it was sitting more than 28 years, some outside, I decided to restore Apache. Mainly because my father had passed, and I remembered how much he enjoyed working on it.
Removing part by part, and not destroying them, was very challenging. I wanted to keep as many original parts as possible.
With the help of LMC, I was able to complete all the parts needed to start fitting them. Bead blasting and priming was the next step.
Painting the cab took the most time. After the filling and priming, it took 5 taping and painting steps to complete it. This was my first experience with “Base-Clear” paint.
I did this restoration on my own, but without the help of LMC, none of this would have turned out this well. My wife Trish saw some of your catalogs and said, “This looks cool. I’ll pay for this.” So she became a part of Apache.
Was it worth 3 years or more of my time to complete? Oh, yeah. Most 4x4s have been abused and trashed. Apache will spend no more time on dirt roads or cornfields, but on hard surface roads. His nights will no longer be under trees. A comfortable “teepee” garage will be his home.
I just thought you might want to see what us country boys drive.