To attempt restoration/upgrades or just keep as-is

So recently picked up something a little different - a “71 C30 pickup.

Overall - for being 50 years old it’s not in bad shape at all. Surface rust on bed panels and right fender, deeper rust through has developed on the left front cab corner and the wooden bed is of course beyond saving.

Mechanically - it runs fine with a replacement 350 swapped out for the original 402 - but it came with a “spare” 402 as well.

So now the difficult decision - do I sink a few dollars in it, a lot of dollars in it or just enjoy it for what it is and try to control my OCD obsession with perfection.

Thinking of just sending the 402 out for a rebuild and then swapping it in once it’s back as well as replacing the boards in the bed. Might clean up the interior a little - proper vintage look radio with Bluetooth added and an amp speaker upgrade.

My thought is this - value wise - it will always command interest, but it will never be a high value truck. I could do a full resto on this thing and have a 40k truck - but I’d probably be 2x that in labor and parts. Had someone tell me today they’d take it on for restoration - $125 an hour - 59 hour increments (so only paying 50 hours to start) - sounds like payment plan that never ends to me - I say yes, give them 6500 and the truck - 3 months from now I get another invoice for another 50 hours and parts…this repeats 2 or 3 times until I get mad and say where’s the end point. By the time we are done I’ve given someone 20k and have a partially restored truck. Just too many unknowns on a 50 year old vehicle and too much to go wrong in that arrangement I think.

Engine rebuild itself - 3500. Then need to do the swap myself or find someone - either way I think I can safely do it myself eventually or find someone local to do it reasonably quick and economical. Bang for the buck - not a bad return - yea, the 402 isn’t much more HP than what’s in it now probably and given it’s application will never be a real speed demon - but will look better and likely be a tad more reliable.

Interior - again it’s not bad overall. An early 80s radio shack am/fm snd 2 speakers though could easily be improved on - figure 1500 in audio updates should make it sound nice - it will never be a real high performance system - but why would you want that on a 70s truck where your still going to get all that road noise anyway.

The bed - again no huge deal replacing boards - plenty of kits out there. Surface rust to me is just character. The cab corner is a bit concerning - but then I think it’s probably been like this for 20+ years now. Fixing that just feels like I’m setting my self up for a never ending chase - fix the corner - keep going until it’s visible on the outside. Once it’s visible outside then you want to clean up all the rust and repaint - before you know it your best case 20k deep in a body and that’s assuming you don’t find any rust underneath.

Thoughts on my plan - wasting money/better spending it elsewhere ? Or should I just drive it as is until it gives out and then re think. Will never be a daily driver - just something to occasionally pull out of the garage/barn every now and then. Thought about doing radio first and then considering engine - but machine shop has a slot to start soon and my interior guy is booked solidly through August. Guess I can always have the engine rebuilt and then repurpose elsewhere later if I do t want to use it here. 402 is just a slightly bored out 396 - so plenty of applications for that I’d think.

 

I know a lot of folks with your OCD obsession ! Good luck with your project.

 

LMC Truck has lots of parts for classic Chevy trucks

 

The one thing super nice about older GM vehicles, tons of parts available so you can rebuild one to like new condition much easier. Several years ago I restored my grandmoms Pontiac Lemans GT, and I was able to get anything I wanted, small faseners, trim, body panels, new. It was easier to find parts for a 70s GM than it was to find parts for a first gen Tundra.

so you could drive and enjoy it and fix it up sometime later. Good interest in that year and model so selling will never be an issue. You really cant go wrong with that truck as long as the frame and body is not fully rotted.

 

Exactly- go to any car show and your going to find a few hundred of them.

Being OCD itself is not a “problem” - it’s being OCD without the spare time or skill to repair/restore and feeling the need to pay someone to do the work that gets you in trouble.

I mean - certain vehicles it makes sense to perform a concours level restoration on - but a 70s Chevy not owned by Elvis is probably not one of them.

Maybe one day I find myself out of work and with time to work at this - but don’t see that happening in the short term - and even with the space to tackle s long time frame project - it’s just not a good idea for me right now. Why take something drivable and make it inoperable.

Yea - parts availability and the internet is a great thing. Had a ‘70 Nova years ago (mid 90s) sold it having several small things I just couldn’t find from junkyards - just little trim pieces. These days - wide selection of vendors where I could find it and have made that car beautiful. Never should have sold it - think I paid $850 - sold 5 years later for 5000 - probably worth 4x that now. Back then everyone said it would never be valuable because it wasn’t a SS - just a 2 door 307.

 

Next “want” on my list is a T100 or a superbly clean 1st gen Tundra.

They exist - but still a lot of dreamers out there asking 25k+ - I refuse to pay that. Thinking 10k might be a good price - even a little more.

Yes - they have potential to grow in value and properly maintained unlikely to drop in value. At the same time it always feels like the low level stuff sees a more significant increase than the cream of the crop. For example - 10 years ago a beautiful square body would set you back 10-12k a a rough example maybe 1500-2500 max.

Now that same top of the mark example - 30k maybe 35k - those rust buckets are minimum 10k. I mean a triple is nice - but when you could have bought 10 rough examples for the same price and made 8-10x your money if you had space to store them. All comes back to those cheap parts and people with more interest in restoring than buying restored.

I get the pride in showing off skills - but sometimes it’s nice to just own something and let others admire it.

Honestly - for restorations I think I’d prefer to take on a tractor over a truck myself. Just a lot simpler and easier access to things/more mechanically simple. One day I’m sure I’ll get the itch to take on a vehicle or 2 though.

 

Post some pics!!

 

Some shots from the seller I purchased from including bed and the worst of the body - the cab corner.

Debating about it last night - maybe it is worth sending off to have some restoration work done - not horrible shape and got a decent enough canvass to work with. IF we could keep it contained - might be able to make this look quite nice pretty reasonably.

Still - not sure. As is it’s not exactly horrible - and once you start down that rabbit hole of body work - it’s hard to stop. Painting everything and getting a 50 year old truck ready to be painted gets time consuming fast and when that time is $$.

Fix the body or just toss a new floor in it and update the interior a bit. Tough call for me.

 

That is badass..
Good luck with whatever you decide...

 

Wow...not bad at all. Definitely worth looking into.

 

I would vote for something like this. Drop it a little, nice wheels and tires and maybe a junkyard 5.3
I would upgrade all the brakes and suspension and just have a really cool daily driver that would turn a lot of heads.

 

A lot of work to replicate something with that patina and wear.

Agree with addressing the brakes/mechanical side though - nice thing is this era of the Custom Sport already started adding “comforts” like disc brakes, power steering and such - much more useable as daily drivers.

Still torn - but looking at it again - I’m really thinking it might be worth sending out to be worked on. I’m just not one of those people who feel classics should look showroom fresh always - but it’s also kind of past the point of just letting it go and not addressing some of that rust.

Addressing it now should be simple and would save alot of work a few years down the road. The more I look at it - I can actually see repairs should be minor and cost effective and just repainting. Might as well do it now and let it age a bit - give it 30 years and it will gain that work look again without the cancer.

 

So speaking as someone who has a restored square body, I say leave it as is body wise and put money into the drivetrain and suspension wheels and tires. If you plan on driving it its going to get nicked and it will drive you insane. Mine is ls swapped 6.0 with a cam and 4l65e with a posi. I drive the he'll out of mine and the nicks and rock chips drive crazy. Wish I had some kind of original patina so I wouldn't have to worry about it


You could have the metal work done to repair the rot and just clear the metalwork. I have a buddy with a resto shop that did that on his suburban called goldibox

the back driver quarter is where he repaired the rot and just showcased it. Paint is original just sealed iirc

 

Full info on his burb here https://www.streettrucksmag.com/cold-box-1978-c10-suburban/

 

Personally, I’d stabilize and seal anything that was grossly in need of it, replace the bed boards, put in the stereo and look at any “gotta have” handling or safety updates and then drive it. I personally feel like things like that should show some character and evidence of their history. To me, “showroom finish” is only really cool on something like a barn find or a rig that was bought by some old lady brand new and driven exactly 12 miles every Saturday to her Bridge Club meetings and stored in the garage sort of things

 

That looks mighty good!!! I bought what I could afford 38 Chevy, OCD dictated blow it apart, a lot of time and money later, it's in parts, waiting for me to get back on it. If I had that, I'd run as is, replace wood if needed, maybe slam it, seal or rub the rust, and go!

 

Thanks for advice everyone.

Kinda the thought process here protect to keep it from getting worse - clean up a bit and run it as is.

Will never be my daily driver - just another toy taking up space in the barns I pull out every now and then. Still - as it sits it’s not bad - just like to get the bed replaced and change it back to an original engine - use it as a weekend driver.

Really wanted a ‘76 - but this was just too nice to pass on at the deal made. Someday I’ll probably seek out a fully restored ‘76 - but this will keep me for now.

Funny I was out yesterday at a shop and they had a ‘71 C10 nicely done - wanted 25 for it. For a moment got me thinking - owe 35 on my 21 Pro - could easily sell that and cover my payoff and buy the 71 - then I came to my senses. Stuff like this is nice - but the practicality for use in public parking lots for example is just non existent. Constantly worrying about someone opening a door into it - always drawing attention. Better to keep a modern daily driver and not have anything old that’s “too pretty”.

That said - I’ll post updates as I get it in and address some of the simpler things. No need to go crazy - just a little at a time as time and money allows - plus might be more enjoyable doing it myself.