1986 Chevy K10 – Anthony D.
The Story of Trucky
The year was 2001, I had finished a restoration project on a 1972 Chevy 4WD pick-up truck that my 11 year old daughter Danielle, named “Blue Moon.” Danielle and I would take Blue Moon to some local cruise nights and to some local car shows. She seemed to enjoy the car shows, looking at all of the really nice old cars and trucks made her happy. Danielle especially liked riding in Blue Moon. The truck was big, loud, and people always watched us as we drove by. I sold Blue Moon in 2002, much to the dismay of Danielle. She was actually angry with me. She told me that she wanted it to drive when she was old enough. I made her an offer, “when you’re old enough to drive and if you still want a truck, we’ll build you one.” That gesture seemed to quiet things down for a bit.
Fast forward four years – I was driving to the store and noticed a 1986 Chevy 4WD short bed pick-up that had just been parked in front of an auto parts store with a brand new FOR SALE sign in the window. I stopped to look it over and noticed that it was all original. The floors were nice, as were the rockers and cab mounts. The frame was not cracked at the steering box either. The cab corners were rotted through, the front fenders were pretty bad too. Still, it was in nice shape, a good foundation for a restoration project. I never made it to the store. I went home and asked Danielle to take a ride with me. We were talking and kidding around when SHE noticed the truck for sale. DAD DAD DAD!!!!!!!!!!! IT’S FOR SALE!!!!!!!!! LOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s when I told her, “I already looked at it, it’s in pretty good shape, but needs to be restored.” We stopped so that she could look at it up close. She actually hugged it. We talked about what would need to be done and how much work would be involved. Danielle didn’t care, she wanted it. I made her another offer. I told her that I would purchase the truck, buy all the parts that we would need, and help her restore it, BUT I went on to explain that if she didn’t work on it, I didn’t work on it. Also that if she lost interest in the project, I would sell it and get my money back. Her eyes lit up, it would appear that we had an accord. We called the phone number on the sign, and within hours, the truck was in my back yard.
Over the course of two years she and I would work on her truck. We dismantled the truck all the way to the frame. We also dismantled everything from the cab. Danielle loved working on her truck. You could tell how much fun she was having by how filthy she got. We sanded and painted the frame, cleaned, rebuilt, and painted the differentials, and installed all new brake hardware. New 2 ½” lifted springs mounted the freshly rebuilt differentials to the frame, (we had a roller!!). Next came the drivetrain. We installed a new 350 crate motor, a serpentine accessory kit, and headers, (it had to have headers). She rebuilt the 700R4 transmission (did I mention I am a transmission rebuilder) and rebuilt the transfer case. While the drivetrain was taking shape, the empty cab and bed were taken to the body shop for some much needed attention. I decided that the fuel tanks in their stock location would be something that I would like to change. I mounted a 20 gallon fuel cell in the spare tire location. I had the body shop move the fuel door to behind the rear tire, problem solved. I also decided to have a full roll bar system fabricated and installed in the cab. Piece by piece, and many hours of assembly later, her truck was beginning to take shape.
We were finally ready to start the engine for the first time. This was a monumental occasion. She turned the key and the truck roared to life. After a few adjustments the engine sounded awesome. The still open headers sounded like thunder when she revved the engine. Danielle physically started to jump up and down with excitement, she couldn’t contain herself, and I was happy for her, to see her hard work come to life. She was, however, a little disappointed when I told her we needed to put mufflers on it. “You mean it can’t stay this loud??”
Over the next few weeks we finished the lighting, stereo, gauges, weather stripping, and glass. We dotted our I’s and crossed our T’s and finally it was first road test time. The truck ran great; she and I drove around our neighborhood for a while. Danielle was so excited; the smile on her face said it all. After a week or so of short trips to the store, and some longer trips to evaluate all the systems on the truck, everything was working perfectly. Danielle began using her “new” truck as her daily driver. She would go to school, work, and out with friends. She would text me when she arrived at her destination to let me know that everything was ok. I would ask her about how it drove, to which she replied “TRUCKY” ran great! The name stuck, from that moment on, whenever we discussed her truck, it was referred to as TRUCKY.
Trucky has attended many car shows since its creation, not as a spectator, but as a competitor. Trucky has won 3 first place trophies over the years. (Not bad for a daily driver built by a 16 year old girl and her father). I have to say that the folks at LMC truck made this dream a reality. There are so many parts from body panels, interior, lighting, electrical, emblems, bumpers, and chassis that came from LMC. The parts fit and functioned perfectly.
Fast forward to the present day, Trucky is still going strong and looking great with over 30,000 miles to its credit. Danielle, now 24 still loves her truck, the time and effort that she invested was time well spent. She still turns heads when she drives by and loves the look on peoples’ faces when she tells them that SHE built it; PRICELESS.
Danielle recently decided to stop using Trucky as a daily driver. She wants to undo some of the things that 5 years of daily use can do to a vehicle. She wants to give Trucky an easier life of car shows and fun cruises. This decision was made possible by the recent acquisition of a 1983 Ford F350 4WD Diesel appropriately named “RUSTULIO.”It’s a good thing to know that LMC TRUCK also sells FORD parts. We’ll be calling soon.
