See the full build: the full 1970 C10 build
The C10 is the two-wheel-drive half-ton Chevy pickup, and it's one of the best platforms there is for a truck you actually drive. Our 1970 C10 Stepside is the clearest picture of how we build one: Chevy maroon, a 525-horsepower LS3, a QA1 four-link with RideTech rear components, bronze Boze wheels, a wood bed, and a black interior kept simple on purpose. The customer wanted show and go and got both.
We work on all three classic generations: the 1960–1966 trucks, the 1967–1972 "Action Line" trucks that most people picture when they hear C10, and the 1973–1987 square-bodies. Short beds, long beds, Fleetsides and Stepsides. If you have the four-wheel-drive version, that's a K10 and it gets its own page. We're a family shop in Pelham, Alabama, south of Birmingham, and we take in trucks from anywhere in the lower 48.
New to how a build goes? Start with how it works. Just want the drivetrain? See engine swaps.
The right color, the right trim, a small-block gone through so it runs the way it did new. Rust repaired in metal, bed wood replaced, gaps set before paint. A truck that looks like it rolled off the lot and drives like a well-kept one.
The body stays stock. Underneath: fuel injection or an LS, an overdrive automatic, disc brakes, a dropped stance if you want it, and air conditioning that works in August. A truck you use.
What our '70 is. LS3 connect-and-cruise, QA1 four-link with RideTech rear components, upgraded rear end, custom wheels, relocated fuel tank, custom wood bed, Vintage Air, Dakota Digital gauges, and a bay finished clean enough to reflect the engine.
Every build is billed on time and materials. The parts on our '70 are that owner's choices, not a package. Yours gets scoped around your truck, your budget, and how you'll drive it.
Rebuild the original six or small-block, or swap in LS, LSX, or LT power with the fuel system, harness, and cooling to run it. GM's connect-and-cruise packages, which is what's in our '70, pair the engine, controller, and harness from the factory. Overdrive automatic or manual, and a rear end that can take it.
A C10 is a great candidate for a lowered stance: four-link rear, coilovers, drop spindles, sway bars. Our '70 runs a QA1 four-link with RideTech rear components and QA1 coilovers. Disc brakes at all four corners when the power calls for it.
These trucks rust in the cab corners, rockers, floors, and the bottoms of the fenders and doors, and square-bodies add the bed cross-sills. Metal first, then paint. Wood beds stained to a color the owner picks, which is a phase we like handing to the customer. Relocated fuel tanks, custom gas-cap covers, hidden cut-off switches: the details that make a truck theirs.
Bench or buckets, stock pattern or custom, stitched in-house. Dakota Digital gauges, a custom wheel, Vintage Air. Our '70 kept its bench and left the door steel bare, because the owner wanted it honest and simple. Yours gets whatever the truck is for.
C is two-wheel drive, K is four-wheel drive. A C10 sits lower, is simpler underneath, and is the better truck to lower and drive on the street. A K10 has a transfer case and front axle to deal with, takes a lift and big tires better, and shares its bones with the K5 Blazer. Same cab, same bed, different truck underneath. The K10 page covers the four-wheel-drive side.
Short beds are what most people want and what most resto-mods are built on. Long beds cost less to buy and, done right, carry more presence than people expect; our '73 F-100 is an eight-foot bed for exactly that reason. We'll build either. We won't shorten a frame unless you ask and understand what it involves.
A full build typically runs 12 to 18 months once it starts; an LS swap on its own is typically 30 to 45 days in the shop. Condition, scope, and parts move those, and you'll get a window once your truck is scoped. Details on how it works.
Yes. We take in trucks from anywhere in the lower 48, and the build runs the same way with weekly photo updates. The nationwide restoration page covers transport and what to expect.