1982 Chevy S10 – Jacob H.

My name is Jake Hazlett. In 2017, I purchased this basketcase of an 1982 S10 Durango with a clean title for $500. To my knowledge, it was the first year Chevrolet made S10’s. My initial intentions were to simply replace the blown engine and possibly the transmission just for a daily driver. Upon second look at it, lets face it, several bears and radio songs later, I decided that wasn’t just going to be all, my wallet said no, but I said yes. Being a fairly decent climate in South Carolina, I thought why not just restore it. During the initial teardown of every part, nut and bolt, like many men who can relate, I suffered a bitter divorce. Of course the truck suffered an act of arson too, wasn’t much left of the rear end and tires. That did not stop me from pressing on with the restoration, it instead strengthened my will power to keep going on it, take my mind off of daily stress! Once fully disassembled, the entire truck spent the next three and a half years in a storage unit. Got the wild bug again, pulled it out, started back up on it.
The frame modifications were completed in 2020 to fit the 396 SBC, TH400 transmission and aftermarket 9-inch rear end. I constructed a 4 link suspension, which allowed the gas tank to stay in the original position and placed disc brakes all around. The hard part was getting the exhaust manifolds to simply fit without burning anything. So bad luck, cab modifications had to happen. Piece by piece and as funding provided, it started to come together. With the motivational support of my family and friends, a BIG THANKS to ya’ll! A very BIG Special Thanks to my daughter Emerie, she helped out a lot even choosing the color. I could not have finished this truck without your help!
Figured a nice set of 17″ smoothie rims with moon caps would be a good fit for it. Between the cab, fenders and bed, they had some rust spots and needed body work. Wrapped up all that, then came the hardest part, choosing the right color. There was only three choices a proud patriot and Disabled Veteran could choose, Red, White and Blue! The exterior got the blue and white, the interior has the red on the bucket seats along with the seatbelts. The dash was fully custom aluminum with a roll cage built in all made by me including the subframe. Funny thing is, the many late nights I spent under the truck wrenching with sweat dripping, I still managed to have the never ending supervision of neighborhood cats watch in curiosity. So, as of August 2024, this magnificent machine made its maiden voyage back on the road! Being a bit of a sleeper, it only has 500hp and 512tq under the hood, a rubber laying monster along with the addition of a train horn. Instead of calling it the Phoenix after I did the initial burnout, which was just beautiful, I call it the Busty Mistress, for obvious reasons.
A big thanks to LMC Truck for suppling many parts for this build which are hard to find nowadays, now please take a look at the finished product, not bad guys! Keep those truck parts coming! Hope to see ya’ll on the road one day, most likely it will be at a gas station. The fuel economy modification will be the next addition to this truck.
Enjoy Ya’ll,
Jacob Hazlett