Words and Photos: Clint Powell
What challenges are left when your catalog of work consists of saving and restoring over 50 Corvettes, Chevelles, Cameros, and other muscle cars? For Grant Wilcox, this question came with the realization that in all of the time he'd been building and restoring classic vehicles, he had never done a truck of any kind. Having some free time and an itch to save another piece of American Iron, Grant knew that there was no better time than the present to tackle one.
Grant's love of cars came from his father, who in 1966 purchased a brand new Chateau Slate Gray 1966 Chevelle Super Sport. That's all it took to hook Grant. When he got old enough to drive, he sought out and found a similar '66 Chevelle. Over the course of 35 years, he progressed on to own and restore many more Chevelles, Corvettes, and Cameros. With the preference for Chevrolet, a C10 seemed like the truck to start his build with.
As the story goes, Grant was out for a morning drive going for coffee when he spotted the back side of a C10 sticking out of a dilapidated garage. He was greeted at the door by a man with a broken leg. After a conversation about the rusty brown retired farm truck, Grant left that afternoon with title in hand, having given the man with the broken leg $1100 to help make his day better.
And so this new adventure began. In just 5 months, the C10 went from beast to beauty. It was a complete frame-off restoration. After stripping the truck down and media blasting everything, the transformation begins. All rusted metal was removed and new was formed and put in its place. All components were epoxy-primered, followed up with a base coat, clear coat application inside and out. Complete instrumentation restoration was performed. OEM rubber floor covering was installed. The stock bench seat was upholstered in two-tone to compliment the exterior, and all of the glass was replaced as well.
To make the C10 safe and reliable, power steering and power disc brakes were needed to help control the SBC 350 with a turbo 350 automatic, a mild cam and an Edelbrock 650. A dual exhaust was installed to jettison the spent gasses. A stock Chevrolet positronic rear end was converted to 5 bolt wheel pattern. For comfort, a Classic Air air conditioner with over-sized radiator was installed to help handle the Kansas summer days of 100+.
The '65 just has that classic stance, based on an original theme: Chevrolet's Workhouse of 1965. Grant does admit that the hardest part of the build was the suspension upgrades to get the ride and stance just right. Many options are available, but matching up those options with the build were through trial and error.
Grant gives credit to his good friend and partner Gary Seim, along with his beautiful wife Chrys, who provided both hands-on and morale support through out the build. Also special thanks to his wonderful daughter. Without their continued patience, support and expertise none of his projects would have come out winners. And this C10 has picked up several awards this year.
So what's next ? Currently in the planning stages are a 1930 Model A Highboy and a 66 Chevelle SS Resto-mod.
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