Once we caught word of what was in store for Mark Barbee's '63 C10, we anxiously awaited SEMA '07 for our chance to finally see it in person. All of our hopes were realized when we caught our first glimpse of the True Blue Pearl Chevy: The truck was everything Mark had promised it would be.
The truck you see here was three years in the making, as the build was a frame-off, ground-up overhaul of the 45-year-old truck. Actually, frame-off doesn't really put it into perspective; it's more like frame-gone, as Kevin at Grunion Fabrication in Phoenix, Arizona, kept little of the factory Chevy pieces. The front crossmember and A-arms were the only survivors of the custom chassis build, and even those few bits had to be heavily modified; but the sacrifice had to be made to get the chassis tucked well under the rockers. Mark chose a set of Devino Road Concept Sire wheels to set off the ultra-low stance. Each wheel measures 24x9 and is shod with 275/25R24 Toyo Proxes. Behind each wheel you'll see Baer disc brakes, and if you look behind those you might catch a glimpse of the Firestone `bags that give the '63 its rocker-dragging stance.
No `60s-era straight six would look right under the hood of such a modern-styled ride, so Mark picked a Ramjet 350 to power his truck. The Ramjet is reminiscent of mechanical fuel injection systems that were optional on high-performance Chevy cars beginning in 1957, but the updated electronics keep him cruising without the need for tuning. Mark installed the engine with help from Rick and Mike at Rick's Automotive, where the engine was fitted with Dynomax headers and topped off with Royal Purple fluids. Power from the small-block is channeled through a 700-R4 transmission to a 10-bolt rear axle with 4.11:1 gears, low enough to get the truck up and moving in a hurry.