1980 Chevy Silverado – Riley E.

Some trucks are just vehicles. Others become part of your life story. My 1980 Chevy Silverado is one of those trucks.

I was 15 years old, growing up in Sheridan, Wyoming, when my Stepdad or later termed “Bonus Dad”, Blaine surprised me with it. Becoming only the second owner of that pickup felt like winning the lottery for a teenage boy in Wyoming. Suddenly I had my own truck and the freedom that came with it.

My Bonus Dad had always loved old vehicles, and some of my earliest memories are driving the backroads of northern Wyoming looking for old cars with him, or of him working on vehicles in the shop late into the evening—tools out, the hood up, or even patiently rebuilding car parts. He showed me that vehicles weren’t just transportation. They were something you cared for, maintained, and learned from. That Silverado quickly became the place where he passed those lessons down to me.

My first week with my driver’s license, I ran out of gas. I didn’t realize the fuel gauge didn’t work, and I hadn’t switched the dual tanks. He showed up and it was a quick lesson in paying attention to the quirks of an old truck & tracking mileage—but it was just the beginning of the journey.

Throughout high school, that Silverado carried me and my friends all over the Bighorn Mountains. We’d load dirt bikes into the bed or tossed lawn chairs and camping gear in the back and head up Red Grade Road outside of Sheridan. Weekends meant camping, riding, fishing and exploring the mountains.

When I left for the University of Wyoming in Laramie, the truck came with me. That four-wheel-drive became my lifeline across the long Wyoming highways between Sheridan and Laramie. My Bonus Dad had already taught me the basics—how to change oil, rotate tires, and fix small problems. Those lessons mattered when winter storms rolled across the Medicine Bow range.

I’ll never forget driving home after Thanksgiving one year, when the snow was blowing so hard you could barely see the next delineator post on the highway. But that old Silverado never let me down.

While I was in college, I sometimes parked the truck outside an old fishing shop in Sheridan owned by the daughter of the original owner. She and her sisters had driven the truck through high school before we bought it. Every time she saw it she would ask, “Riley, are you ever going to sell that truck back to us?”

My answer never changed.

“No. I’m keeping it. My boys are going to drive that truck someday.”

After college I commissioned into the U.S. Army, and for a while the truck sat back home. Later my stepdad helped me bring it to Kansas when I was stationed there. Years passed, and eventually I moved to East Texas. Between Wyoming road salt and Texas humidity, rust began creeping into the fender wells, rocker panels, cab corners, and even the floorboards.

Then a friend stepped in.

Jonathan of Killion’s Collision and High Fence Customs offered to help bring the truck back to life. In 2024—more than forty years after it rolled off the lot in Sheridan—the Silverado finally received the restoration it deserved.

We kept the original exterior colors but refreshed the interior and brought the truck back with what was nearly a full frame-off restoration. Over the years the engine had already been upgraded to a 383 stroker, and Blaine had swapped the gears from 3.07s to 3.73s—probably his way of slowing down a teenage driver.

Today the truck turns heads again everywhere it goes.

My boys—now 11, 8, and 5—love riding in it just as much as I did when I first got behind the wheel. That truck has taken me hunting, skiing, camping, and across countless Wyoming highways and dirt roads. It carried me through high school, college, my Army career, and even helped me move—once towing a car from Kansas back to Wyoming at about eight miles per gallon.

But what makes this truck special isn’t just the restoration.

It’s the memories.

Thanks to the help of my friend Jonathan and many parts from LMC Truck, this Silverado is ready for another generation. Now I get to teach my boys the same lessons my Bonus Dad taught me—how to drive a stick, maintain a vehicle, troubleshoot problems, and take pride in fixing things yourself.

And if everything goes right, someday one of them will be driving it too.

*This restoration is in honor my Bonus Dad, Vietnam Veteran, Blaine Murphy. I love you and thank you for all the life lessons and the memories this ol’ truck has given me and will continue to give my boys.

Riley Emter
Lieutenant Colonel, Armor
United States Army