Metal Finished 1967 Chevy C10 Truck

After years of building Toyotas and not seeing a return on his investment, Chris Couto decided to build a classic truck. The wraparound windshield of the '60-63 Chevys always looked cool to him, so the search was on until Chris overheard somebody talking about a '63 big window at a local show. Soon he was on the road to Palmdale, California, with 400 bucks, two trucks, and a trailer. All of which was loaded full as the truck was a total basket case.

Chris is a longtime friend of Cary and the crew at IF Customs in Sylmar, California, so the heap of steel was dropped off there and sorted out until one complete truck was hung together with the best parts. Soon the truck was again taken apart, and Cary, Chris, and the crew were welding up a new frame to which the front clip was mated in a heavily Z'd fashion. The rear is a four-bar with a Watt's link, and the front is a later Chevy crossmember with Belltech spindles and Firestone airbags at all corners. Also on each corner are large-diameter SSBC brakes and 20-inch Boyd Coddington wheels wrapped in Falken tires. Chris decided the truck still was not low enough, so he and Cary cut a few inches off the rockers and then another 3 1/2-inches off the top.

From there Chris actually drove and enjoyed the truck for a bit until he decided he could afford to spend some of his "paint money" at Grant Kustoms. As usual, one thing led to another, ideas bounced back and forth, and soon the two were looking at the wildest '63 ever built. Bob reskinned the entire bottom half of the truck from scratch. He also performed the unibody conversion, built up the front fenders and cowl to mimic the stock hood, then used part of a '67 hood to create the new hood top. The door edges were slanted, the bedrails were raised, and '59 Caddy taillights were housed in pods to accent the rear of the truck.

Under Chris' hood is a warmed-over TPI with just about everything polished, and a full Gibson exhaust system. The interior features a shaved dash with VDO gauges, a polished ididit column with a CPP wheel, and a Suburban seat. Up front a stock grille and bumper add some simplicity to round out the heavy mods and smooth stance. As soon as our dusty shoot at El Mirage Dry Lake bed was finished, Chris hauled the truck back up north for final paint, so hopefully we'll soon be seeing the completed version of this one.