Goin to see Ol' Red

Well I'm goin to check on the progress on Ol' Red tomorrow. She is currently in Anna right now. I talked to the Dr. tonight(the guy that is doin the work for me tonight and so far progress wise we have the frame striped, sand blasted, primered and ready for paint. Im keepin the original rear end because from what I learned with the original gears and the motor and tranny I am putting in the truck will grab pretty good(or as some have said.......rip the damn tires off of it)! After the frame is done all the new parts will be installed, plus the motor, tranny, gas tank relocation, etc......then the body work begins! I would have it ready to drive tomorrow is time allowed but as everyone knows these things take time and the guy that is taking care of it for me knows my whole story and he is doing it right and exactly like I want it so for now I have to wait! Will post picks of the frame after this weekend!

The transformation begins!!

As you may can tell this blog is all about the restoration of my 1969 Chevrolet C10 otherwise known as "Ol' Red". However, the project/restoration is dedicated to my PawPaw.....J.O. "Sammy" Maxwell. My PawPaw left the truck for me when he passed away in 1999, but my thoughts and dreams about this truck go back to when I was a little boy. Some of my earliest memories as I was growing up are of me and PawPaw going to the tractor pulls in Whitewright, or the rodeo in Bonham, just riding around and our fishing escapades where I earned my nickname "shitass" because I was catching all the fish and he was catching all the turtles! :) I learned how to drive on Ol' Red and more importantly I learned how to drive a vehicle with a column shift(although it took me numerous times of locking the gears up), no power steering and no power brakes! For many years I have thought out every detail in my mind about what I would do to the truck, but it wasn't till recently that I have been able to start the project. Up till now I have kept the truck running with a transmission here, a new steering column here, and getting stranded many a time because the column linkage was so worn out Ol' Red just didn't like to shift out of 3rd gear! The restoration is well on its way as you will be able to tell from the pics. I originally was going to just drop a 350 in the truck and try to drive it for a couple more years as is. Well, one thing led to another and now I have a 383 stroker(which is complete and I have a video also posted of it) that will be the new heart of Ol' Red and the frame should be completely done with the motor and tranny bolted up by the first part of November. Keep checking back because I will be posting updates periodically!