Decades of Square Bodies

I get asked: “Why restore a dually?” This story starts 40 years ago when I took driver’s training in a 1974 Cheyenne Super single wheel C30, one of the trucks we used to pull big horse trailers. All of you at LMC can probably track my last four truck projects through my orders – a C30 dually about 12 years ago, 1987 K5 Blazer about 9 years ago. This project that started about 18 months ago, and then there’s a 1996 Ford F350 in the mix, too.

I sold the last C30 about 7 years ago. I started looking about 3 years ago and found this, a lifelong Arizona truck, in July, 2018. I bought it sight-unseen on eBay and it was delivered August 9, 2018 in the parking lot of our closed K-Mart by flatbed. I started on it the next day, unbolting everything, marking & bagging all the loose parts. There was no rust to repair, but all vinyl, rubber & fabric was horribly cooked by the Arizona sun. The truck was taken down to the frame with everything media blasted and powder coated or powder primed. The original 454 was treated to a hi-performance rebuild and is now a 496. The original Muncie SM465 was rebuilt and got a Gear Vendors overdrive along with a new Dana clutch-type posi in the original Dana 70.

I appreciate that you and LMC are continually bring new products to the market. Good OEM and NOS parts have gotten more difficult to find, and I’ve generally been pleased with some of you new stuff – the seat back hinges are exact duplicates of original and I was very pleased with the tailgate molding I just purchased.

With the Michigan winter, the truck has only been driven 5 miles, but her maiden voyage was the 2020 Detroit Autorama. Because of headers and the overdrive, she (yes, a she) was entered in the Altered / Restored Class, competing against cars & trucks in a very large class. I was pleased to receive 3rd place in one of the largest hot rod shows in the U.S.