Kevin Clark, of Saugus, CA, has had a very meaningful lifelong dream. Call it a “bucket list” item if you will, but he has always had the desire to restore a classic pickup. Growing up around custom cars and trucks, Kevin has spent the last 40 years immersed in the automotive lifestyle, and now that he’s living the retired life, he figured now was the perfect opportunity to put his next big accomplishment into motion.
Finding the Project
Kevin spent over a year searching high and low for the perfect project truck before he locked in on a pretty clean ’66 C10 located in San Diego—just under 200 miles south of his front door. While this all sounds like the perfect beginning to a meaningful project, do keep in mind that in working with these kinds of projects, given their age and everything—it’s still best to expect the unexpected. While making a trek back home in the truck, the brakes gave out on the freeway off ramp and fortunately Kevin came out unscathed during this hair-raising event
Classy Chassis
With the truck in his possession, Kevin began planning on how to make his dreams a reality. Since he had owned a number of lowered rides in the past, he was determined to do the same with this C10. Since the factory frame was solid enough to build on, a set of CPP upper control arms and 3-inch drop spindles were good enough to get the front end down with static components, while a rear C-notch and Firestone ‘bags all around were used to bring the entire truck down even lower.
Looking the Part
Allowing the truck to make an even stronger first impression, Kevin reached out to Chimera Motors in Huntington Beach, CA to handle the remaining bodywork, as well as cook up a unique paint color that’s not often seen on trucks. The Chimera crew did go on to make some more additions to the exterior in the way of LMC Truck bumpers, door handles, new glass, as well as a hickory plank bed floor kit from BedWood.
New Shoes
As you may notice, this truck has a very classic look to it with some modern upgrades. These days, larger than stock wheels are all the rage and Kevin was able to keep the old school style and make it modern with a set of 20x8 and 20x9-inch Detroit Steel wheels. The rollers were then covered in a set of 245/40R20 and 275/35R20 Nitto NT555 G2 tires that were customized with white walls. The tread pattern on these tires adds a bit of modernism too and improved traction with large tread blocks.
Beast Mode
As things progressed, Kevin was still in need of a good engine transplant, and he was able to get his hands on a solid 2013 Chevy L96. LS3 heads were added to the mill, and a healthy number of performance parts were ordered up to extract as much power from it as possible. The final tally of ponies is right about the 400 mark, which was more than enough to put a big grin on Kevin’s face. The engine bay was also smoothed out and painted to match the exterior for a clean look to complement the rest of the truck perfectly.
Making it Plush
Next, Jose Sanchez at Deluxe Interiors in El Monte, CA was hired to clean up the interior while utilizing the factory dash and bench seat. Keeping up with the ultra clean and classic appearance that had worked so well for the truck so far, the seat was rebuilt and restructured before being stitched together using plush leather hide with Rambler upholstery inserts. Since Kevin is quite fond of good music, a full audio system was also wired-up courtesy of Custom Dimensions, also located in El Monte.
Dreams Do Come True
Even though Kevin had plans to be more hands-on with the build up of his classic Chevy, he couldn’t be happier with the end results. It would be an understatement to say that this truck is a keeper for Kevin. He’s been dreaming of someday designing and creating a classic yet updated hauler, and he fully appreciates that the time is finally upon him.