My 1988 Chevy Silverado C1500 Stepside. Where Do I start off? Well My dad Bought this truck for $1000 back in 1990. He had his own construction company with a few other trucks for his employees and he made this one his personal truck. Well when my mom got pregnant with me around 1993, my dad let her drive it because it sat up higher and was a lot easier for her to get in and out of with her being pregnant. After I was born he turned it into a full on work truck for his business and had an employee drive it for a couple years. Well that employee didn’t take real good care of her during the time he had it. Later on the Employee ended up quitting from my dads company and gave the truck back to my dad, this was around the year 2003-2004 and at that time my dad had 2 other trucks. So for awhile he would just leave one truck at the job with his trailer and drive another one. Later on the construction business started going under because there where no people building any homes or businesses so he ended up closing his business and he parked this truck in our backyard and he went to school to become a over the road truck driver. This was around 2006 I believe.

I was Just getting ready to start high school When my dad went to truck driving school. Fast Forward to the year 2009-2010. I was a junior in high school and I got accepted to go to one of the local automotive schools here where I live, And once I got home from school that day (I remember it like it was yesterday) I had called my dad because he was over the road driving truck. So once he picked up and we caught up on how things where going, I told him that I got accepted to go to automotive school. His exact words at that point where “Well I guess it time to pull that old truck out of the back yard and you can start fixing it so you have something to drive, because I’m not going to be like all the other parents out there and go buy you a new car or truck. If you want to drive fix it, I’ll buy all the parts you need but you need to fix it if you want to drive”.

I was 16 and I had always loved that truck since I was little, I just thought it was so cool looking. So when he told me that I was ecstatic I couldn’t contain myself, I wanted to start working on it right then and there but he told me to wait till he got home from over the road. So I waited and waited and he finally came home. We started working on it and figuring out was wrong. It had just been sitting for many years without being started or ran so the whole fuel system needed to be redone.

We finally got the ol’ girl to fire up and she ran perfect, purred like a kitten. I didn’t even have my license yet. The day we got it started he handed me the keys and said here ya go its yours now, but on one condition I want to see you actually making it look better and putting in effort to make it nice again. So that exactly what I did. I got my license a little while after that and she was my daily driver back and forth to school. I drove her to my high school graduation ceremony.

Unfortunately 6 months after I graduated on January 16th, 2012 my dad was killed in a car accident. I was 18 years old when that happened. After that I was in a bad place for awhile. About a year later I finally got my head in the right place and got a job. That’s when I could really start fixing her up. At that time it was just rustoleam rattle can primer black. Nothing special it was just a driver. A few years later I bought some paint and supplies then I started taking her all apart and I started watching YouTube videos on how to paint a truck. I went to Harbor Freight tools and bought one of those portable garage tent things and set it up in my backyard and that’s where I painted my truck. In my backyard, in the dirt, inside a cheap tent. Painted her a nice shiny black pearl. Once you get up on the truck you can really see all the black pearl that’s in the paint. But for my first time painting with a air gun, it did not turn out bad at all I was super proud of myself. I also wet sanded and buffed the hole thing by myself to make her really shine. It was about a 2 month job everyday after work and on the weekends I was out there working on her. She Came out perfect for my first time.

I have upgraded some stuff under the hood also. She has an Edelbrock performer series intake manifold with a 2inch throttle body spacer, brute force cold air intake, throttle body is also upgraded I machined down all the lips and restrictions the stock throttle body has to allow more airflow, also has the throttle body pod spacer gasket with a 15 psi fuel pressure spring in there. I have Hooker competition long tube headers with true dual exhaust with 2 Magnaflow race series mufflers that’s I have tucked up underneath so you cant see it. I have Upgraded the whole front end with parts from lmc truck. Brand new all chrome stock style grille with new quad clear headlights and led parklights and taillights and the light bar that goes between the tailgate and bumper. New front all chrome bumper with lower valence. New Headliner from lmc with the 4 speakers in it. Kicker comp 10 inch sub tucked behind the seats, single din radio with flip out screen that has navigation and dvd palyer. Just completed the bucket seat conversion. The Truck had a bench seat stock and I wanted buckets so I went the junkyard and pulled 2 front captains chairs out of a 90s model suburban along with the center console. Purchased new carpet along with it because I figured I’m going to have the whole interior apart anyway might as well put new carpet in while I’m there. I’m sure there are a few things I’m forgetting.

She’s Not perfect by any means but she is my baby and I will have her till the day I die. It’s the only thing I have left of my dad. Here are some pictures. I wish there where more places to upload pictures I have a lot I would like to share and get on the cover of lmc truck.