Miss Fire 1972 Chevy K10

It’s no secret that we love truck restoration projects, so when it was time to find the perfect project truck, we knew exactly where to look… Right in our own research department’s warehouse. With several great classics from Chevy, GMC, Ford, and Dodge, this 1972 Chevy K10 was an easy choice. Partly because we love the truck itself, but also because of what appeared to be an interesting history.

Since this wasn’t going to be your typical all-stock restoration, we teamed up with the TV series Chop Cut Rebuild and a local customization shop Kultured Customs. This ended up being one of our favorite projects, and although the K10 may look mostly stock, it’s been nicely enhanced with a custom interior, bed floor, 20″ Rally Style Aluminum Wheels, and a nice dose of raw power thanks to a Chevy LT1 sourced from a Corvette Stingray running through a 4L70E 4-speed transmission.

Why did we choose this particular K10? Well, she seemed to have a bit more history than most trucks since there was a stray bullet hole in the passenger side rear B pillar that went from the inside out. We have no idea how it got there, but we’re pretty sure there’s a good story there, so it was going to stay as part of the restoration. We held a naming contest to allow one of our customers to give it a name, and that’s how she became known as Miss Fire.

Thanks to a lot of hard work and creative know-now, this is how Miss Fire looked at the end of the project. Scroll down to see all the steps that were taken to get her this way.

Part 1: The Beginning

Our 1972 Chevy K10 heads off for a full frame-off restoration. Since this was originally a Texas truck, there’s very little rust, but a there was a lot of red dirt throughout the truck, and the bullet hole in the cab tells us that this one has a lot of history to it.

Part 2: Tear Down

The teardown process began in our LMC Truck research facility and was completed at Kultured Customs. The Chop Cut Rebuild team was there the entire time to document the process, and they also ended a few helping hands.

Part 3: Tweety Bird Yellow

After a visit to the sand blaster, the cab was brought back to Kultured Customs where Nate and the guys quickly covered the cab with primer — very yellow primer. We used LMC Truck patch panels on both rocker panels and the cab corners to make sure the condition of the cab would be as good as new.

Part 4: New Bed Assembly

The new bed was mocked up with replacement steel bedsides and new oak wood floor from LMC Truck before everything would make its way to the painting process.

Part 5: The Rear Differential & The “Rear-Rear” Differential

We replaced all the seals in both the front and rear differentials and added Positraction to the rear differential with Warn locking hubs up front.

Part 6: Brakes

Going into this project, there was not a disc brake conversion kit for four-wheel drive K-series vehicles, so our friends at Classic Performance Products (CPP) used our project K10 to develop a disc brake kit.

Part 7: Suspension

With KYB Gas-a-Just shocks and new suspension components and hardware throughout, our K10 project is going to have a perfectly controlled ride.

Part 8: Steering

With the mechanicals of our K10 starting to really come together, and big changes on the way in regard to the powertrain, this was the time to install a new steering box to ensure we could control the truck once we get it on the road.

Part 9: Primed

Getting closer to paint time, so the cab, bed panels, tailgate, hood, and doors were primered and ready for body work.

Part 10: Miss Fire

We love getting our friends and customers involved in our projects, so we decided to have a naming contest for the K10. With tens of thousands of entries, it was a great success with tons of great suggestions. Thanks to a great idea based on the bullet hole in our cab, the winning name for our 1972 Chevy K10 was Miss Fire.

Part 11: Sanding

With the primer all set and painting scheduled next, the guys at Kultured Customs meticulously block sanded everything.

Part 12: Paint

As you can see, Miss Fire’s paint turned out incredibly well. The color was exactly what we wanted, and the depth and clarity were even better than expected.

Part 13: Wood Bed

Miss Fire is getting a brand new Oak wood bed. The crew at Kultured Custom Restorations branded our LMC Truck logo right into the oak bed, so the wood looks like an old shipping crate… only much nicer.

Part 14: Bed Mockup

With all the body parts painted and ready, the bed cross sills, front bed panel, bed wood, bedsides, and wheel wells had to get mocked up to check for spacing. Everything was set and looking good, so it’s on to the last phase of putting all the body back together in the next step.

Part 15: Cab & Doors On

We’re close to the final step, so now the cab and doors get fitted with nothing but our new power plant to finish everything off.

Part 16: LT1

The only thing missing from our Miss Fire project truck is power. That was fixed with the installation of a Chevy Performance LT1 engine, the perfect finishing touch for our 1972 Chevy K10.

Part 17: Final Product

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