Table of contents for Fall 2018 in C10 Builder's Guide

I SWEAR, AFTER EACH issue is complete, I feel like we just closed out the best one so far. I really enjoy producing this magazine because I get to share so many aspects of the scene in each copy that lands in your hands. Just when I think I’ve heard the craziest story involving a C-10, I hear some more. These trucks are some of the coolest vehicles around, and the tales that go along with them are equally special. Combining the trucks and the tales accounts for our never-ending fascination with C-10s. I do find it odd, though, that there are so many stories to tell about just one type of truck (granted, in three styles). You would think that we would run out of material, but the further…

WE’VE ALL GOT HOPES and dreams. Throughout the years, I’ve made quite a few of mine come true, both professionally and otherwise, but one of them eluded me: I wanted to write a book. The idea alone was super intimidating, and even though I started on a few projects throughout the years, nothing ever came to fruition. Until one day, a connection over social media turned into an assignment to write a book about restoring Chevy trucks. Eventually, that became the book I have in my hands right now. But before we talk about my first book, How to Restore Your Chevy Truck 1973-1987, I feel like I should give you a little bit of backstory. A behind-the-scenes look at how this thing happened, from the very first contact to…

“What really drives a guy like Garrett is that he’s a true enthusiast at heart. He and his brother, Spencer, are bona fide car buffs, and they’ve built numerous vehicles throughout the years.” STARTING A BUSINESS IS TOUGH. It’s all about offering a valuable product and making a good impression so that it sells. This is a lesson that Garrett Harmola knows all too well. When he assumed ownership of the now-popular suspension company, Aldan American, success didn’t arrive overnight. Garrett admits that with business ownership comes many long hours, but thanks to his determination, passion and devotion, his company has grown leaps and bounds, with help from many quarters, including this ’71 C-10 Like many of us, Garrett wanted a better life and strived for new opportunities. He went…

PEOPLE BUILD custom trucks for all sorts of reasons. Some want to walk into the garage, flip on the lights and see a bed-equipped work of low-slung custom art. Others want to look cool rolling their local streets as thumbs get tossed in the air by passing motorists. For Ryan Albers of Tulsa, Oklahoma, both reasons would absolutely ring true to his lifelong quest to build a custom truck. The seeds were planted long before he could legally drive. As a kid assembling model cars and reading custom car and truck magazines, the inspiration and influence began when he was still holding onto handle bars rather than a steering wheel. At 17, Ryan purchased a ’75 C-10 long-bed as his first truck and started turning wrenches to keep it running.…

JEFF BREAULT, AN investment advisor out of Kansas, shows that he knows exactly where to spend his time and money through his ’63 Chevrolet C-10. The Chevy truck clearly shows the experience Jeff has behind him, with several vehicles modified and 15 years of skin in the game. Mixing classically clean style with modern performance, it’s impossible not to acknowledge the careful balancing act achieved by his C-10 build. On the exterior, the Chevy still hails from humble factory beginnings with its nearly untouched body and iconic blue paint job, complete with detailing along the side and “Chevrolet” emblazoned across the tailgate. Upgrades are instead seen in smaller additions like the Detroit Steel wheels wrapped in Toyo Proxes. Even these changes clearly fit the build with their clean lines and…

DO YOU REMEMBER TAKING road trips as a kid? You and your siblings, maybe a cousin or two, three or four kids bouncing around in the front seat, backseat, hanging out the window, playing the hand into the wind game, begging to talk on the CB? Well, Eastbound & Down is something like that. The journey is bigger than the destination. Starting last year, a group of friends decided to make an annual road trip to Lone Star Throwdown (LST) in Texas. It’s hardly the plan, but it’s the way these road trips work out, the hours, the days and the experiences become the story. This year was no different. Things started as far as Northern California and Reno, Nevada. Groups from both areas decided to join the adventure, and…

TODAY IN 2018, IF YOU WANT TO buy a 1967-72 Chevrolet short-bed pickup, be prepared to spend upwards of $5,000 for one that might be missing a title, has mammoth rust and is probably absent a whole bunch of parts. If you’ve got $10k to burn, you’re probably more in the ballpark; those C-10s are in a lot better shape, and even though they might need a paint job, they likely have an engine. Oh, and the earlier you go—’67 and ’68 in particular—the pricier they are. “It may have taken him a little longer than 12 years to get it done, but in the end, he’s got a truck that’s not only super clean, it’s worth a ton more money. And to think, it only cost him $500.” Well…

SOURCES Brothers Trucks 800.977.2767 Brotherstrucks.com Tre 5 Customs 602.284.2466 Tre5customs.com FINDING A PERFECTLY PRESERVED TRUCK at a decent price is pretty rare these days. If you pick up a project, chances are that it will need some love in several areas. Recently we featured a ’79 Chevy C-10 that Tre 5 Customs made over. All other segments were worked on, including getting the engine running and looking better; lowering the stance; improving the handling, performance and stopping capabilities; sealing the cab with all new glass and weather stripping; and completely reviving the interior. The last thing on our to-do list was to give the exterior a full-body makeover. The truck arrived missing a ton of trim parts and both bumpers, so replacing the tired-looking parts and adding some new pieces…

THE DAILY STRESSES OF WORK and other responsibilities can certainly take their toll on our lives. Without any distractions to balance things out, things can get pretty darn boring, even depressing. Thankfully for truck folks, finding distraction is not all that difficult. Kevin Stickel of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, grew up with C/K trucks in his family, and in fact, he first learned to drive in a C-10. Knowing them inside and out before he ever owned one, Kevin knew that one day he’d have one for himself and has even built a following on Instagram as @digitalc10, where he posts tons of wild C-10 renderings that he has created. Kevin decided that he wanted a father/son project to keep daily stress at bay. He found a ’69 C-10 that was…

TODAY’S BUILDERS demand a lot for their trucks, and this goes especially for the power segment. Getting performance has been more attainable in the last few years and has increased our expectations. There is a huge selection of crate engines on the market, and stout salvaged versions are plentiful. With great power comes the question of sticking it to the ground, since your truck is only as good as its weakest link. For most that point is the rearend. Fortunately, C-10s have decent versions that can be modified to suit modern demands. Chances are your truck has a 12-bolt rearend, but if not, it’s fairly easy to get your hands on one. Not only are they common, but they can also be pretty solid when built correctly. In fact, they…

“My dad and I lowered it to look like other similar models that I had seen driving around town and in all those old truck and lowrider car magazines I was reading at the time. This gave me the bug for lowered cars and trucks, and it has since progressed from there.”—Tim Parish IN EVERY TOWN THERE’S A KID WHO thinks of nothing other than one day driving his very own dream truck. It takes over everything during those impressionable early years, from begging parents for truck toys to doodling sketches on every piece of blank paper that comes our way. Once this motor mania settles in, the flame tends to stay ignited for the long haul. The owner of this humble, patina-clad C-10, Tim Parish, can certainly attest to…

IN A PREVIOUS ISSUE, I WALKED YOU through a Cummins swap on this ’69 Suburban (C10G, spring 2018, “Swap it or Leave It,” pg. 68), and this time around I’ve dropped the suspension. I like the look of a ’bagged truck/SUV, but I’m getting older and prefer the dependability of a static-dropped vehicle for daily driving. This family-fun truck needs to get down the road, haul a trailer, and sometimes I need to travel out of state, which is why I chose a complete static suspension from Performance Online (POL). The Cummins-swapped Suburban was in need of a more modern suspension to navigate city streets. The suspension was stock, and nothing had been replaced since it was new in 1969. If you think removing old stock suspension will only take…

THE LAST WEEKEND OF February is highly anticipated by almost every serious truck enthusiast in the scene. Coming from near and far, builders of all types of trucks and vehicles have begun to use Lone Star Throwdown (LST) as the place to debut their newest builds or revamps of builds that have already shown. It’s the new standard that all hotels within a 30-minute drive of the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Conroe, Texas, sell out nearly a year in advance. The best advice we can give you is when you check out during your current stay, you might as well book for next year because you won’t want to miss out once you’ve experienced LST. The best part of the show is that it gets more exciting and fun with…