Time and patience are the necessary elements for the creation of a masterpiece. To remedy a classic truck's usual starvation of attention over time, a potential show truck owner of an aged vehicle must put in an immense amount of time and patience. As is the case with the '63 Chevy gracing these pages, time and patience are what prevailed from start to finish.
Vince Falvo of Tujunga, California, started his truck build by doing a truck un-build. Every panel, all the suspension, and the drivetrain were removed, disassembled, cleaned, and set aside. With the bare frame and suspension components cleaned and prepped, Vince had everything metal powdercoated a rich gloss-black, making the chassis and its components even better than originally equipped from the factory assembly line. When the time came to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, Classic Performance Products supplied everything necessary to complete the work. Vince copped for all new poly bushings, ball joints, tie rods, front and rear lowering coils, and dropped disc brake spindles from the manufacturer. With the truck frame in a more recognizable state, Vince continued with his tedious work and bolted KYB shocks into place. Cleaned stock brake lines were placed where they originated, and the chassis was rollable with the addition of 17x8-inch Eagle Alloys 211 wheels,encased in 245/45R17 front and 255/45R17 rear Dayton Daytona tires.
At that point, Vince had himself a nice easy package to roll around the garage, and he made the necessary preparations for a powerplant and transmission. Chosen to power this clean classic is a no-slouch ZZ4 crate motor and a TransGo-equipped Turbo 350 slush box. Before placing the small-block into the Chevy's engine mounts, an Edelbrock intake topped with a Holley carb was laid on; before the flamed billet valve covers were installed with matching breathers, a chromed one-wire alternator was bolted up, and polished billet V-groove pulleys were made at home. Once the engine was in tight, Hooker Comp headers, finished in bright ceramic, were mated to a polished stainless 2.5-inch dual exhaust system and routed out of the back of the truck. Making the cylinders go boom is an electronic HEI distributor, feeding the platinum spark plugs by way of Taylor 8mm plug wires.
Exterior prep and bodywork was one of the few pieces of the puzzle handled by an outside professional. Don Capps smoothed and massaged the all-steel skin, brining it back to its original luster and beyond. Pushing the bodywork into eye-catching mode required Don to shave the mirrors, emblems, tailgate chains, and all other nonessential holes from the removed trim. Covering the renewed real-steel exterior is a healthy supply of PPG Pearl Orange. Clean-cut and getting closer to the finish line, the '63 Chevy was treated to a fresh face and tail, in the form of a new grille and headlight bezels up top, a re-chromed factory bumper down low, and a new '72 Chevy truck bumper out back.
Vince, of course, spends the majority of his pleasure time behind the steering wheel, so the interior of this old hauler is a neat and clean hot rod arrangement. Seating consists of a forward-tilting Glide seat slathered in Fawn leather. The once-ugly floor is now home to tan wool carpeting and a custom-built, leather-encompassed center console from Ron Magnus. Custom Auto Interiors handled all the stitchwork. Steering the rig is a Colorado Custom leather-wrapped billet steering wheel hooked to an ididit billet steering column. White-face Auto Meter gauges sit nicely against the polished billet dash cluster insert and keep track of whatever safety needs the engine has. For aural satisfaction, an in-dash Kenwood single-DIN CD player resides in the center console and feeds musical signals to a Kicker amp mounted under the Glide seat. Filling in the rest of the under-seat storage are two Kicker subs in Ron Magnus-built boxes. Boston Acoustic mid separates mounted in the kick panels fill in the rest of the sound range.
Since completing his masterpiece, Vince's once-old hauler has garnered much attention and was sent home from a few shows with First Place trophies filling the bed. The Chevy has been resurrected and sees daily duties for pleasure instead of work like it once was designed to do. Time and patience are essential to the creation of a masterpiece. Vince has made his vision true to life and did it all from start to finish.