At this point, I can't believe how far this truck has come in such a short period of time. We took a rough looking '64 Chevy longbed with a small back window and created the truck I've always wanted. I was now looking at a big-window shortbed with a GMC front clip. Just about everything we could weld up or shave was now smoothed over, and the truck even had its first coat of PPG primer.
There is still a long way to go, however. Although we finished the rough bodywork, we found that some of it was just that. Rough. We handled most of the problem areas and shot the first few coats of PPG filler primer. Progress screeched to a halt between Chris' and my work schedule and the start of the show season. We did not get another full day in on the truck until we resumed work a few weeks before the truck's planned debut at Paso Robles. We then made a few last minute adjustments. I decided it would be fun to shave the cowl, since that was about the only part left that we hadn't modified. We also opted to weld up the seams in the front fender. The inner doors still had mismatched speaker holes we had to contend with; Totally Polished's Chris Daley came up with a quick fix that would give the lower doors a custom look.
Finally, we sanded and shot primer until the big day came. Chris' neighbor offered up his paint booth and even gave us a hand cleaning and masking the truck. We shot the first coat PPG two-stage base black (DBC9700) and a single-stage base white (Concept DNC900) in the interior and found a few spots that we overlooked. A little spot putty, primer, and sanding later, we laid the final coat of gloss white on the interior and recoated the exterior with the black base. Since a durable black suede was our goal, we used a clear topcoat from PPG that leaves a matte finish. The DCU2060 was originally intended for refinishing Mercedes bumpers, but it fit the bill for our needs perfectly. I was so stoked to see the truck start to resemble Jimmy Smith's rendering that I had my Stockton wheels and Coker tires mounted up while the paint was drying. We bolted them on and torched the springs just to give you guys a glimpse of the finished exterior, which you will be seeing a lot more of next month.