Ol’ School Restoration

I purchased this truck from a friend of mine in Jacksonville, Florida back in 2012. When I bought her, she was a complete and unmodified truck with the original engine, 3 speed transmission, and drum brakes. I always told myself I was going to keep her original because it was so clean and drove so good.

In January of 2014, I was t-boned on my Harley Davidson, and after several operations, and months of healing, I was finally able to walk again. After learning how to walk, I found that I could not drive the truck with the 3-speed manual because I could not move my leg from the gas to the brake pedal. I knew I would never get rid of her so I decided it was time to put a automatic transmission and small block in it.

With the help of my wife Kelly and several friends, I pulled out the inline 6 and tranny, and installed a small block 383 and turbo 400 transmission. I drove the truck for several years like this and totally loved driving her.

In November of 2018, my buddy, Gary Bannister of Lakefield, Minnesota, contacted me and said he wanted to come down for the winter to get out of the cold. So, Thanksgiving weekend, he shut down his shop in Minnesota and came down to help me restore my truck. We stripped it down, sandblasted the frame and all the parts. Sealed, painted, and cleared the frame, and then started the reassembly process. The truck took us 8 months to complete, working on it every day, and every night to get it perfect.