New Sheet Metal, Bodywork and Paint | 1968 C10 Build Episode 7
Once we had patched up the cab from our ’68 C10 project, it was time to tackle the rest of the sheet metal required to make it an actual truck. If you remember where we started, you may recall that the original truck box had long since flown the coop, and the rest of the sheet metal was bashed and dented. Previous owners had hit everything but the flag man with this poor truck, but that’s to be expected when you only drop $500 on an original shortbed C10. Instead of complaining about it, we grabbed a bunch of fresh C10 sheet metal from the Speedway Motors catalog and got busy making this poor thing look like a truck again. Then, we once again hit up our pals at No Coast Custom and Rod Shop to help us dial the bodywork and finally get some paint on our project.
First up was the box. Your author completed a ’69 shortbed years ago and spent copious amounts of time trying to make the bashed and bent up original box into something usable. Years of hauling fenceposts, gravel, and rogue engine blocks have rendered many an original box into wrecks that often require more work than they’re worth. So, instead of seeking out an original, we grabbed a new steel bed floor, bedsides, front panel, wheelwells, and tailgate from the shelf here at Speedway Motors and spent an enjoyable morning assembling the fresh, clean sheet metal into a gleaming new fleetside short box. Beats the heck out of that rusty mess that I salvaged years ago.
Once we had a box, we needed to make a choice about the front sheet metal. The fenders and doors that came on our truck were not nearly as riddled with rust as many trucks out there, but the aforementioned dents covered just about every inch of sheet metal. Thinking of hours spent with hammers, dollies, and body filler, we opted instead for some fresh replacement panels. In the end, the fenders, grille, and hood were replaced. The original core support was in great shape, as was the cool radio-delete cowl panel (no antenna hole to fill!), so they remain.
Knowing that everything was about to come apart for bodywork, we spent another enjoyable day in the shop test-fitting everything. Not only is this a good practice to be sure that there are no major fitment issues, it also gave us a sneak peek at what the finished truck would look like. This was a big moment, and we were not disappointed. This thing is going to be cool!
On to bodywork. Even though most of the metal is brand new, it still needed some work to get the gaps dialed and the panels straight enough for paint. For more on how we got everything arrow straight, check out our video on how to use body filler.
The video above makes it look like the bodywork happened overnight. It didn’t. Be prepared for this. To make things right and end up with something really nice, no matter how clean and straight the metalwork is, it’s going to take some time. And sanding. Lots and lots of sanding. After many days arriving home covered in dust and looking like a ghost, our truck was finally straight enough for Ben and the No Coast crew to shoot some paint. Like many projects, our final color choice evolved along with the project. Ultimately, we chose a custom mixed satin charcoal metallic under a gleaming gloss white top. Why flat paint? Well, this is not a show truck. From the beginning, we’ve wanted to end up with a respectable driver that wasn’t so nice we were afraid to drive it. The flat allowed us to skip a few hundred hours of bodywork, final finishing, and color sanding. It’s a durable coating that isn’t so nice we need to panic every time we walk past it with a wrench in our hands. Also, it looks plain killer. We love the way flat finishes accentuate the lines of a ’67-’72 truck, especially when paired with a contrasting 2-tone color.
We’re stoked to have pushed our ratty old abandoned C10 this far. Seeing it in paint is an emotional moment and has us remembering fondly (and sometimes painfully) what we started with. It was a lot of work to get here, and now we have a lot more work ahead of us get this thing together for SEMA 2023. Our deadline is about three weeks away as of this writing, and as you can see our truck is still in a zillion pieces. Will we make it? Stay tuned here to see if we pull it off!
