Grizz’s 66 Chevy C10 Short Fleetside - BRICKIN’ IT 27/12/21

Short report.


Took the Truck and Grizz-Pod to the Retro Rides Gathering '13 the past weekend.

Left by 09.00 on Friday morning, got there by 14.00 which included about an hours stpping along the way for coffee and relaxing.



First in line at 14.00



At the show, Tim my mate who also drives a '74 Chevy camper truck gave me this rev counter for the truck.



Friday night after BBQ this was the view in the camping field.



On Saturday Tim was off to do some shopping, on his return he did some maintenance, almost disappearing into the engine bay.




I left the show before 2pm on Sunday as I had to detour to pick up a pillar drill I had bought a couple of weeks ago in Buckingham.
I had collected some spare seats for Nicola's MX5 which moved into the teardrop once I collected the drill.



Who said this truck should not work ?



Assembled, cleaned and serviced. Good value at £80.00





I will do a more complete write up with pics when I get time.

In the mean time the truck still pleases me.

Thanks for checking in.

Is that a Delta Rockwell?

Lovely drill for 80 quid! That table is a nice touch too.

I've probably got some spare morse taper adapters, if you ever need any.

Joe

Not much to report back other than the smiles per mile continue to add up to more than the smiles per cost per liter to run this beast.

Weather forecast is rubbish with intermittent rain and possibly storms, not that it should stop me really, there is always something that needs doing.

Have I mentioned that I really do like (that's better than love) my wife Nicola??

This week they started doing some remodeling at her work, clearing out a lot of old equipment and stuff that is no longer fit for purpose.

They had an 8 meter deep skip that was filled with chairs, furniture and much much more.

At some point she went outside and got a bollocking from the judges of the County Court who they share a car park with for firstly having a large skip on site and secondly....... the local jobless alcoholics had removed all the chairs from the skip and taken them down to the "beach" on the River Medway to have a party..... OOOOPPPss?

Well, in pursuit of the chairs some steel cabinets had been dragged out of the skip and set down next to it..... when the chairs were returned and the skip collected, the steel cabinets had not been returned to the skip.

Nicola saw them, and immediately took a couple of pics she texted to me with just one word : "WANT??" Of course I said yes as I still have some old wooden bedroom wardrobes in the garage to replace with steel cabinets. She then got some of the funeral directors and bearers to drag them back indoors for me to collect later.

Did I mention I liked my wife ??

Went to fetch them the next evening at about 7pm with Mickey riding shotgun to help me load them.....

Today I will unload them and empty one more wardrobe and replace it with a steel cabinet.

Garage is getting there.





Last night after work I popped over to my mate Martin who had bought a 1965 LWB Fleetside C10 truck about the same time as we got ours. He works in the "Disability motor vehicle conversion business" Interestingly, he and his wife have two Mazda MX5's as well, so we seem to have a fair amount in common. He had managed to get some brand new loose car mats for my truck and Nicola's MX5 from dealers who remove them prior to conversion to hand control etc. So I popped over to look at what his cars looked like etc.

While chatting about various things including the last weekend towing the Grizz-Pod with the truck I mentioned I was going to remove the small but ineffective round mirrors and replace them with the slightly larger (unattractive to me) rectangular ones. He offered to pick me up a pair of heads when he is in the USA later in the year (so I get to keep my stalks and mountings) as they are only $10.00 each. He also showed me the mirrors that had been on his truck when he got it, I suspect they are moderns, ugly but functional.
Later in our discussions it turned out that his glove box was missing its "liner" so I offered him some 1.2mm ally plate to make one, in the end he suggested that if I made him a new liner, he would trade me for the mirrors if I was interested...... Typically I agreed. He also offered to fit Rivnuts to my door once I have done the paint and repairs as part of the deal.





I will make a mounting plate for the large mirrors, which has a 4 hole mounting plate that will fit the standard 3 screw/nut fitting, and with the Rivnuts in place I will be able to remove the standard mirror when I want to to the Teardrop long distance. The Rivnuts will just mean that I can remove the mirrors without losing the thread in the door.

Martin had these mirrors on his truck when he bought them..... Soon to be mine.




This weekend I want to make two if these smoker cookers from old gas bottles.

My mate Woodsie works in demolition and a lot of the stuff they remove from sites have to go into skips and be "recycled" (read: exported to China and turned into cars)so when I showed him the pics I took at a car show a while ago, he was game for me making us each one as well. Fair trade.
He is off to fetch a new used motorbike for his wife this morning, but my drop in later to drop of the bottles he rescued.

This is what I will be aiming at.



This was just after the smoker/cooker was loaded.

You always seem to be in the right place at the right time!!

Not much done today, but still a result that had me chuckling, as I did something new again, making it up as I went.

Which is something I always like to do.

My mate Martin who is doing up a 1965 C10 needed a glove box inner, as his original had long since rotted away, being made from paper mache, or something similar.

I had volunteered to make him a new one from ally plate or thin sheet metal in exchange for the side mirrors he had removed from his truck a few months ago.

Started by rummaging around the garage till I found a good base to work with. The back of an old steel filing cabinet (I think that's what it was) that was probably around 1mm thick.

Next up, empty out my glove box to see what I am working with.



Removed it by unscrewing 5 screws.



Laid out the steel plate, carefully copied all the reference points on the made glove box, then connected the dots with a red marker and also shaded in the areas that needed cutting away.



One Angle grinder, a 2mm blade and three minutes later we have this, still needed working back with a hand file to smooth off the edges.



At this point I went up to the house to make a coffee, and then walked back to behind the garage where we grow our vegetables, and where I planted a Conference pear and Star King apple tree two years ago.

Last year each tree presented me with two fruits, this year the pear has retained about 15 pears and the apple tree has about 25 apples which range in size from what you see in my hand, to some a bit bigger still. These apples are pleasantly sweet from the smallest to the largest, which pleases me immensely. So I ate a few apples, feeling very smug, then came back in to carry on with the box.




Back in the garage the next session of rummaging started, to find the right bits of wood to use to bend the plate to shape.



Once all the sides were folded, it stayed in shape without any encouragement. I WAS SURPRISED.



I then quickly clamped, and tack welded the tabs rather than rivet them as mine has been done.



Ground back, the last job was to give it a coat of primer, mostly as rust preventative. Martin can paint the outside if he wants. I know he wants to carpet the inside with thin automotive carpet.




I then hoped onto the bike and rode the 15 miles to Martins to deliver and collect......

Got there, and he had removed the heavy agricultural bumper from the truck and had just finished welding in a new rear roll pan, which looks great.




After a chat and him sparaying some red oxide primer over the new roll pan, we lifted and refitted the tailgate, which I have to say fits nicely. Still needs some fine tuning.



Last thing once we had stood back, enjoyed it, and gotten the approval of his wife, Amanda, was for me to grab my well earned mirrors and come home, as I still had some jobs to do at home as well.



And that is where today with the truck ended.

Off to Essex tomorrow.

AMERICAN AND CUSTOM CAR SHOW
Sunday 8th September 2013 10am - 4pm
MUSEUM OF POWER, Hatfield Road, Langford CM9 6QA
Displays of classic American cars from 1930s to 1990s, Custom cars and Hotrods. Live music and family entertainment, stalls, hotdogs and donuts. Museum entry included to see the giant pumping engine in steam and other working exhibits. Ride on the miniature steam railway (fare £1.00)
Cost: Adult £6.00, Senior £5.00, Children under 12 free
More details: 01621 843183

Nice work as usual Grizz!

After work today I went down to the garage to check something out that has bugged me for a while.

The truck has some white plastic panels along the bottoms of the doors, and when I bought it, my suspicion was that they were covering holes. Presumably speaker holes. But you could not feel it, as the plastic is quite thick.




Ideally I would be happy with intact all steel door panels, but hey..... if the holes are there..... make lemonade.

Et Voila !!!!



Test fitted the 6 X 9 200 Watt speakers I had hidden for a rainy day and even the mounting holes correspond.

I also have an amp in the garage that I gave to a friend a few years ago, along with a 12 inch Sub, which should drive the pair of 4 ways quite adequately.



Of course there are also a pair of speakers mounted in the "B-Pillars" behind my head, but I will be leaving them alone. Along with the 400 Watt speakers in the doors, it will be way more noise than I need.



Over the weekend I have a few bits to do, including going to see a guy about airbrush painting a skull.

I may pop over to Martins, as he is in the electronics game and I want to fit a beeper inside the cab to my indicator, so that I can remember to switch them off after I go around a corner.
He also has rubber grommets which he uses in his daily job, or removes from customers cars, so maybe fit some when fitting the speakers in the doors.