In these days of retro designs, what was out of style is in again, and certain generations of trucks are coming back to dominate the custom truck scene. One of these body styles that seems to have taken off in recent years is Chevy's '73-'87 square-body.
Rich Childers of Chesapeake, Virginia, owns one clean example in this '75 C10 longbed. It is something he decided to build because there aren't too many built, square-bodied longbeds out there, and he wanted to do something to catch an enthusiast's eye. Rich started out by dropping the old Detroit iron a total of 10 inches with a mix of Belltech spindles, a bridge notch, an AIM four-link with Panhard rearend and Firestone 'bags. Toxic shocks smooth out the bumps, and the C10 rolls on 18x7-inch Colorado Custom front wheels, wrapped by modest Michelin P225/45R18 rubber, and rear Colorado Custom 20x9.5s with fat Dunlop P295/40R20 meats.
Under the hood sits a massaged 355ci V-8, which was built by Richard Midyette of Chesapeake, Virginia. With ported DART heads, new internals, which boost compression to 9.0:1, and the Comp Cam camshaft, the engine stirs with a nice lope which is only somewhat discernable under the whine from the Pro Charger blower pumping out 10 pounds of power-enhancing boost. Feeding the monster is a Holley 650-cfm carb, which gets it juice from a 15-gallon fuel cell that is set in the bed. The burly V-8 barks through JBA headers and Flowmaster 2.5-inch exhaust. An output of 512 pavement-pulverizing ponies flow through a TPI 700-R4 transmission with Corvette internals, a 2,500-stall converter, and on through a 12-bolt rearend with posi-traction assist. The 3.42 Richmond gears make sure that the truck makes the most use out of its 500 lb-ft of torque.
Since the powertrain was squared away, Rich went to work on smoothing the body lines. Starting with shaving off unnecessary protrusions, he removed the stake pockets, fuel-filler door, and emblems. The tailgate was filled, and the bumpers were brought in closer to the body. A billet grille adds a dash of custom elegance. The installation of a Gaylord's lid was the final step before Harry Hennis of Chesapeake, Virginia, shot the PPG Blue Pearl basecoat. Next, a tasteful application of PPG Orange Pearl flames were added, highlighted with PPG Emerald Green pinstripes.