What would you do?

[KevinD]

I have a 1976 Chevy truck that was my dad's work truck. I grew up driving this truck, and bought it from him after I got out of the Air Force. I drove it daily up until 2002 or so when I bought my Ram. I'm debating on what to do with it. Gonna try the poll thing, but never done a poll, so we'll see how it works out.

[Dr. Girlfriend]

I don't know anything about cars or trucks but if I had something like that from my dad I would try to restore it so I could keep it forever.

[KevinD]

To be honest, the cab is so rusty, it may not be worth trying to repair. May be easier to put a better cab on, but then the VIN would change (I guess, dunno, never did that) and I don't want the VIN to be different. Would like to keep the orig cab.

[Noilly Pratt]

Do you have a need for a truck? If so, you don't want to over-restore it - you want it useable. I know what it's like to have sentimental value on a car...I wish I had the car that my dad handed down to me, a '74 Malibu.


Put a different cab on in the restore? like a newer one with leather seats, all new instruments etc etc...I think it'd change the character of the vehicle...it wouldn't be a '76 then to me, because that's where you're going to be sitting and remembering where you took it, and where your dad drove it.

I would be inclined to do the Resto/Mod thing...have it look fairly stock on the outside -- maybe make it "Day 2" with better wheels and tires, put dynamat on the floor to make it quieter than stock, a hidden stereo in the glove box and maybe put in an LS1 engine just for fun. If you get them stock they're lots of fun, anyway!

Knowing how enthused you are about vehicles, you'll probably have lots of fun scouring over brochures saying "Oooh - I can put in a factory tach" or some such...

I remember being in a car show and being beside a fairly nondescript Chevy sedan, and an old codger comes up the owner and says "I had one just like it, it does my heart good to see one as I remember it", and the owner and I listen of stories the guy told of what he did and didn't do with the car. Afterwards, the owner turns to me and says "that's why I have this car...so many people do that, and I love it - it's like giving a gift to me, and also giving a gift to other people, too." Made me want to restore a car right then and there! :)

[KevinD]

I have no need for the truck to be a daily driver again, and if I do start on it, it's gonna be a project that takes a few years to complete. LSX engine is already gonna happen. Id like to have a standard trans though. The most time would be repairing all the rust, then prep for paint. Being as I have no real set budget yet, (other than a start of $4,000) as of right now it's all theoretic.

[Noilly Pratt]

I know with a car, as long as you retain the cowl that has the VIN on it, that's all you need...I remember a build in Hot Rod magazine where they retained the cowl of a '57 Chevy to maintain it's vintage status, but every other part was done NOS just to see if they could.

But with a pickup, it's all 1 piece, isn't it? I guess a talk with the Department of Motor Vehicles in TX is in order. $4K sound do-able...an LSX though would eat up about half of that budget, wouldn't it?

[KevinD]

Yeah, I'm starting to try and find out what my options are. If I could put another cab on and change the vin, that would be the easiest thing, but I dunno yet. The $4000 would be just a starting point. That wouldn't even cover all the body work needed at this point (with me doing the work)

[Pony]

You could call whatever your state agency is that handles VIN tags and such and see what you need to do to transfer the tag to the new vehicle.

Proof of ownership of both the cab and truck and they should do it for you. that way it remains numbers matching.

[KevinD]

Pony, I've sent an email to the DMV asking what all I'd have to do. Waiting on a reply. Real "numbers matching" is a not possible, as the orig engine/trans were taken to the junkyard about 10 years ago, but yes, I'd like to keep the orig. VIN.

[Godfather]

I'm a young guy so I say restore it, but with a new cab. This is going to be your baby that you'll drive around for a long long time I'm certain. Why not make it kinda luxurious on the interior?

That having been said... I'm not too up to date on car culture. I don't know how much that detracts from how cool other collectors think it is. I just think a fully restored exterior with a modern interior is the sickest thing you can do.

[KevinD]

As of now, won't be doing too much modernizing on the interior. The truck never had Air Cond, and not looking likely for me to put it on for a part time cruiser. I will be putting in better seats though, and probably staying with the orig door panels and dash. I'm trying to find someone that makes a reproduction of the original stripes. There's a pic of what the truck looked like new on post 13 here:

http://tehbasement.com/showthread.php?74-Your-first-and-your-present-Auto...


If I do pull the trigger, my plan is to have it totally back to stock on the exterior (other than some nice rims, maybe 17's) and close to stock on the interior (hidden stereo) and beastly motor/trans. Where I live, I don't have to worry about emissions too much on this old of a truck. I want a new LSX style motor with a cam big enough to vibrate the whole truck at idle:evil:

[Pony]

I voted Resto/Mod. Make it cool and sharp looking, something that you can pass down to your kids one day. Bottom line is, you can replace 90% of the truck and it will still be your "dads truck". All the memories will still be there even if you customize it and it looks nothing like it was when you were growing up.

[KevinD]

My overall gut feeling for it is to resto mod. Pretty much like I described in post #11. I honestly don't know if I'm up to the sheer amount of work to be done. Gonna have to buy a lot of different tool for this level of project. Hahaha

[Yt Trash]

Didn't want to hijack your thread, I uploaded some pics of my 84 GMC in the Hot Rods Thread. That particular body style is my favorite GM truck. I would definitely go the Resto Mod way!

[KevinD]

As an update (sorta) 4 weeks later, and no word at all from the DMV here in Texas. I've scoured the forums, and it's pretty certain that I CAN'T Just move the VIN to a newer cab.
Here's a few pics of the truck in it's current condition. The cab rust is all somewhat easily repairable, except the cowl. No one that I've found makes repair panels for that, so if I did repair it, would be from cutting out from donor cab. To clarify on the engine, I wouldn't actually go with an LS1, but a 6.0 LG9/4 iron block. I can pick one up at the local scrap yards for less that $500 (no electronics)

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq223/kmdracer/DSC03929-1.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq223/kmdracer/DSC03930.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq223/kmdracer/DSC03937.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq223/kmdracer/DSC03926-1.jpg

[KevinD]

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq223/kmdracer/DSC03933.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq223/kmdracer/DSC03939.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq223/kmdracer/DSC03940.jpg


This is the one that really has me worried:
http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq223/kmdracer/DSC03941.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq223/kmdracer/DSC03925.jpg

[Yt Trash]

Personally I wouldn't try to repair it. I'd find a donor cab. I don't understand why you can't just put a cab on it? When you buy a cab or major parts from a junkyard, ie a front clip or a bed for a truck or even a cab, you can get a bill of sale for said part. Hold on to it for records and just swap the vin tag. Down the line if you get harrassed you'll have proof that you purchased the part legally from a reputable yard. At the body shop where I work we've replaced complete beds and front clips with the old vin on the firewall, which at the time it was mandated by the insurance company. So if it's legal for us to do it, I can't see why a consumer can't do it.

[Yt Trash]

Double post.

[Tank]

yowza! thats some rot on that truck!!!

like YT said above, and i'm no expert on it either, but i dont see why swapping vins onto a new cab would cause problems? i've seen those pimp my ride/overhaulin shows and im sure once or twice they have swapped out cabs/sections of the cars so they too would have to have the VIN replaced :-k


on a plus side, the tyres look as if their good for a few thousand miles :mrgreen:

[Yt Trash]

It's a foregone conclusion but parking it under trees didn't help. It accelerated the rusting process IMHO. A car cover could have helped a little.