GMC Under Construction Page 4

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Body In Primer

These first two pictures are probably my favorites of the truck even though at this point it is still in primer (maybe it will be again someday). The year was 1995 and of course the pictures were taken at Bonneville Speedweek. The light with the clouds was just super. The truck looks a lot straighter than it was at this point. I still had about 500 hours of work fixing bondo cracks and doing things over again that I didn't like, such as switching to bear claw latches, before it was ready for the final base coat/clear coat.

The light in this picture is something I would like to capture now that the truck is painted, but probably never will. I have had more than one person comment that they couldn't believe that I take the truck out on the salt. I really haven't had any problems due to the salt and it has been out three different years and each time for about 5 to 6 days. Bonneville racing is quite an experience to either witness or participate in. You should at least go one time and don't blame me if you keep going back.

This picture and the next one was taken a couple of miles from my house in Blanding, with the Blue Mountains of southeast Utah in the background. The tilt goes nice and far forwards for easy access to the engine yet it doesn't hit the ground in the front. You can also see how the tailgate is part of the rear bed cover, which makes the back open like a car trunk. Ever seen this done before? Rod and Custom ran this picture in their magazine a couple years ago.

In the picture above and the one to the left you get an idea of what it looks like with the tilt front end up and the bed covers up. I haven't seen another truck use bed covers like the ones I designed here and they really work nice. There are rain gutters around the inside perimeter of the bed that have drains running down behind the fenders. The back cover also has a rain channel attached to it's front side to channel water off to the side channels inside the bed. Everything stays dry going down the road in a downpour.

I filled the dash all in and made a console from steel and plywood down the center for the parking brake (center mounted behind the shifter), B&M Mega Shifter, radio and heater controls. I'll get some pictures up later of this all upholstered. The seats are out of ??. I got them from a neighbor and someone thought they were late 60's Camero. If you know I would like to know so e-mail me. You can also see the V-Butted windshield in this view. The steering wheel and column are out of the '73 donor Camero.

I made up an instrument panel from some 16 gauge steel. The surround is 1/8 X 1 inch steel strap on end. Pretty low buck. It comes out from the front. The gauges in the cluster are AutoMeter and are: speedo, gas, volts, engine temp, trans temp, vacuum, and oil pressure. There is also a dash mounted tach. I used Radio Shack LED's for the high beams, turn signals, oil pressure light, and a light that comes on when the convertor is locked in 4th (700R4 transmission).

Under construction Page Five