The Build Of My Brothers 77 4×4 Chevy

John and Kim’s 1977 Chevy 4×4 was bought new. The truck was ordered from Perry Chevrolet, by my brother, Russell Nichols. He passed away in 2011 from alcoholism. He lost his driving rights, and the truck had set down by the old farm house for over 20 years. It hadn’t been started or moved, it was the only new four wheel drive he had owned. It was in really bad shape. He always said don’t let anybody else have it. I took care of him until he died. The neighbor help me drag it to my home on the same farm where I had built my house. I talked to a friend of mine who restores cars, but I couldn’t afford him, plus I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it. I told Kim I needed a sign from above, and I got that sign in a few weeks. January 2012 I talked to Tony Pope to see if we could just get it running, do all you can mechanically, then we will bring it to my shop, get it running, and shoot it in primer. I really wasn’t satisfied with that, had very little money, so bought new bumpers from LMC Truck to help the looks of it. Then I was diagnosed with Leukemia, they said I wouldn’t live, had maybe a two percent chances to live, had 7 blood transfusions that night, died four times while I was there, I kept thinking I’m going to die and not get it done. But after months at Stuart Cancer, they got it in remission, I was down to 99 pounds. Tony said when you get out, you come to my shop every night and every weekend and we will get it done, but your going to do it, suits you suits me. I started back on it 2013. Before I started on it I found all the papers to the truck, build sheet, the original order papers and the original title. Having the build sheet told us it all. The truck was ordered with the K5 Blazer interior, one of very few, Dana tsar end, the only Black truck with two tone blue interior, which included buckets, console, wood grain, carpet, and headliner. For his 30 Birthday I made the square tube grill, push bar, and the roll bar and hood trim, High Line Plating was able to save them. Then 2014 my cancer came back, thought it was over, it was bad, my temp shot to 106 degrees, went into a coma but I pulled through, nobody here had lived here beyond 105. We started back, ordered thousands of dollars of parts from LMC Truck, I wanted to honor my brother with his name on tailgate, I never ordered a part that didn’t fit. None of this would have been possible without these people, Tony Pope, Eric Pope, Dan Hargis and myself. They helped me days, nights, and weekends for over 4 years, all the time asking for nothing. How do you say thanks for that? Cannot forget Kim who was at home on computer, plus she was home suffering from injuries from bike wreck. This was a magical it got done and we lived through. Your company is special, not just for parts, your staff took time to listen to me when they didn’t really have to, cause I hadn’t ever done anything like this, they never steered me wrong, never treated me like I was dumb. 90 percent came from you guys, you made the dream possible. My brother and I bought parts from LMC for as long as I can remember. When you started putting customer’s trucks on your catalog, it was a dream of his to one day have his there. I know he would be proud of his truck, it was put back just like he had it, all the trouble was worth it, though it was long. So thank you for listening to my story, I have lived to be able to drive and show his truck. Again wouldn’t have been possible without your complete company, what an absolutely fabulous bunch.