1977 Chevy K10 – Luke L.

The story begins 30 years ago when a 15 year-old boy was starting to look for his first vehicle. Being on a farm there was only one choice; it had to be a truck, and in my family, a GM is preferred. After talking with my parents about letting me get a truck, and the convincing argument of a corrupt lawyer, I got the ok from them. The search was on and with great excitement, I looked for the perfect vehicle that was in my price range.
One day while driving through my small town past one of the few local car dealerships, I noticed sitting on the back side of his shop–a beautiful orange truck. So, I stopped in and was talking to the shop owner, who is now a very good friend, about this beautiful 1977 Chevy Bonanza, in what turned out to be my favorite color: orange. I returned home with great enthusiasm and planned my case for my parents on why this would be the best first vehicle for me, along with my argument for why this was a good deal even if it had a blown motor, for which the dealer had one that would come with the deal that just needed to be installed. The most important thing with it needing an engine put in was that it was in my price range. That evening at the dinner table, I started in with my case on why I should be able to buy the truck, and to my surprise the parents were not that tough of a case to crack (later realizing that they wanted me to get a vehicle so I would quit driving theirs and they no longer had to drive me around). So begins my love of the square fender GM trucks.
Taking my hard-earned farm work cash to the dealership, dropping it on the counter, and signing the papers, the truck was all mine, just needing to have an engine installed. My next step was to go talk to my uncle and see what kind of deal I could make to help me put in the engine since he is a mechanic. He was the logical choice. After working the deal with him, he agreed to help me as long as I would screw down the roof of his grain bin. All I needed was to get the truck to my grandpa’s shop. So, the next day my dad and my uncle pulled the truck from that small town to my grandpa’s house which is about ten miles.
The problem now is I had to wait a week before I could start the engine swap because my uncle had plans for the weekend that we brought the truck to him. What a long week. The following Friday, after getting dropped off by the school bus, I rode my bike the two miles down the road to get started on the engine swap. With my grandpa’s help we got the truck in the shop and I dove into the world of engine swaps, having no idea what way to go because my uncle was not off of work yet. But with grandpa’s guidance we removed the hood and started unbolting the obvious bits and pieces, and, with my uncle’s help and a long weekend of working underneath the truck, the Sunday came and the moment I was waiting on. Time to start the truck. I drove this amazing truck all through high school, a few trips to college and I never regretted my purchase.
Fast forward a few years, I graduate from college with a teaching degree in Education and Industrial arts. A few years have flown by teaching, and I still have my old truck sitting around waiting for something good to happen to it. I decided that this truck will be a class project and we will do a frame off restoration, so the greatest shop project had begun. I have always wanted to do this to the truck, so I started saving some parts over the previous 15 years and because I have always liked the 80’s body style just a little bit better, I decided the transformation will begin. The students and I retrofitted a 12 valve Cummins engine with a 400 turbo transmission.
The body and paint work were done by the neighboring high school in their auto body class.

This is where the great story of my truck takes a little bit of a sad turn. The neighboring auto body teacher was a man whom I could write pages and pages about for all of the great things he did in and out of the classroom. Not knowing that when I picked up my truck from his shop after he and his students painted it, could I have guessed that this would be the last vehicle he would paint. He finished my truck in March and at that time his cancer was in remission, but as the next school year started in September, he found that he could not teach anymore because his battle had returned and he needed to focus on winning it. Sadly, later that fall cancer won, and claimed this great man. Taking away a person who was truly loved by so many and could never be replaced.
Along with the neighboring high school losing its auto teacher, the world of wheels will be missing out on his students’ pedal car that was painted and donated to an auction for charity. He also had an auction at the school that helped fund their program. The program needed supplies, and with the cost of the supplies, the budget ran a little short but with the help of the annual auction and his connection to industry, the supply needs were always met. His will be big shoes to fill, and great experiences students will miss out on.
Thank you, Chris Paxton, for all that you have done for me and for everyone on whose lives you made such a tremendous impact. You are so missed.
Over the few years and dozens of different students who helped me work, from welding on the frame, to doing some small bodywork, to the automotive students freshening up the engine and adapting the Chevy transmission to the Cummins engine, to the AutoCAD students making the custom valve cover and front custom grill guard, this truck has become the definition of a class project, and not just for my classes but for many other classes that were allowed to show off their newly learned skills.