73-87chevytrucks.com
General Site Info => General Discussion => Topic started by: 78 Chevyrado on June 14, 2026, 08:41:05 pm
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On 6-25-2026 I'll have had my 78 C20 for 20 years. Grandad special ordered it new. You older guys remember me because I posted all my restoration stuff on here while I was doing it. Unfortunately my big build thread got wrecked when photobucket went to pay only. Oh well. Photobucket broke half of the internet.
Well I'm gonna make this a likely long thread. As I get time I'm going to post a pictorial history of my truck, both before I had it until today. I'm gonna upload a lot of old pics that are likely gone from my build thread. All this is my celebration of having my C20 for 20 years. I'll never have another truck unless something should happen to this one. I have it just like I want it. I don't need anything more.
So first set of pics is first day I had it in 2006 vs i think 5 years later... Enjoy yall!
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More of first day vs 5 years later
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Build Sheet and such. On the build sheet the Engine is a TDS. no one knows what that is, even the experts. any clue guys? been trying to find that out for 20 years. Also the original Cruise control instruction card that hung on the turn signal lever when new.
I do still have the dealer Emblem for Jerry Brown Chevrolet that came on the tailgate.
It IS a Scottsdale. When I restored it you couldn't get Scottsdale Emblems so easy but Silverado's were readily available, especially with a 20 on them so I went with Silverado. It Is a Z62 Scottsdale truck though.
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Oldest pics I have of the truck.
1st is Grandmother and my sister on a road trip in 1981. Not sure where. I was 1 then...lol
2nd is a Trip Grandad to Wyoming in 1982 to go hunting and such for a month. He had this framed in his mancave room. His truck with the camper (no trailer) is at the far top right. Grandad only used the camper shell and didn't take the airstream unless grandmother came with him.
3nd is Grandmother and Grandad Visiting Sanborn IA in 1983. Grandad usually had that camper shell on it with the airstream. the airstream is parked at the campsite so they're driving around in the truck.
4rd is me in 1986. 5 years old in IA the airstream with the old truck in the background
5th is my Grandmother, Nell in IA in 1986
6th is me and my sister by the Pocahontas statue in Sioux City, IA in 1986. Truck with camper and airstream in background.
On the Iowa trip when I was 5 me and mom and my sister made the trip in the back of the truck in the beds in there.
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These pics are the first day I had the truck on 6-25-2006 when I unburied it and got it out of its garage grave. It'd been sitting about 12 years. only had 76k on it.
1st pic is it in its resting place...lol
rest are when I drug it it out, aired up the tires and got it running again. surprisingly I just pumped a bunch of r-134a into the ac system and it worked for another 3-4 years. :o
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2005 or so, before I got it out the farm cat had some kittens that lived under and in the engine bay of the truck... ;D
Kittens all got rehomed to places like SC, PA, OH and MS. I was told by my aunt dang near every one of em lived 18 years.
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My Desk in 2008. Finally found some Scottsdale 20 badges well after I committed to the Silverados. eh. You can see everything there is truck stuff! I was well into it all! ;D
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2010 Using the truck to build grandad's wheelchair ramp.
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2010, Daily Driver Stuff. Saw the DeLorean!!! ;D ;D ;D
Can't drive and take photos. you can see me floating into the other lane while taking pics. don't do this!
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Thanks for the reminder. I loved your restoration build. Thanks for sharing. I hope to continue on my 2 builds with write ups. Life gets in the way and even though I built my dream shop it is so packed I can't work on either at the moment very easily.
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Thanks for sharing! ;)
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Thanks for the reminder. I loved your restoration build. Thanks for sharing. I hope to continue on my 2 builds with write ups. Life gets in the way and even though I built my dream shop it is so packed I can't work on either at the moment very easily.
Dang that was a long time ago. I guess Chris's site has stood the test of time. Best Chevy truck site on the web.
Life has a way of getting in the way. I've had 3 cars since I got the truck, one crashed, ones my fav daily driver ever and one is my new project. But the old truck just carrys on. Only been towed twice in 48 years. not a bad record. one for a frozen brake caliper and one for the fuel lines rotted so bad the engine was sucking air.
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Thanks for sharing! ;)
I'm gonna add more stuff later, stay tuned. Gonna give yall a good history of where me and my truck been all these years!
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2008 Got wrecked. If it hadn't have gotten wrecked I'd have kept it like it was but added the things I added to it anyway.
I was turning left and a woman ran the redlight and hit me hard. for a second i saw nothing but blue sky out the passenger side window... :D almost rolled over.
First two pics are phone pics the rest are with my actual camera.. thats how old this is...
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8-2008 Front end rebuild. The crash bent the lower control arm on the rh side and even wrecked the steering box.
New parts. All MOOG back when MOOG was the best!
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8-2008 lift kit. Lifted the truck while rebuilding the front end by installing 454 front coil springs (I have a small block) and adding 1.5" lift blocks in the rear. Had to get a new steering box because the hit was hard enough it wrecked that too. Far int he future but now it has 275/70R18 tires on it that fit with no scrubbing.
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Lift Kit Part 2
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Lift Kit part 3
The splash shields for the disc brakes were so nice i just cleaned them and they still had the galvanizing visible. now you know how they looked factory.
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Thanks for the reminder. I loved your restoration build. Thanks for sharing. I hope to continue on my 2 builds with write ups. Life gets in the way and even though I built my dream shop it is so packed I can't work on either at the moment very easily.
Dang that was a long time ago. I guess Chris's site has stood the test of time. Best Chevy truck site on the web.
Life has a way of getting in the way. I've had 3 cars since I got the truck, one crashed, ones my fav daily driver ever and one is my new project. But the old truck just carrys on. Only been towed twice in 48 years. not a bad record. one for a frozen brake caliper and one for the fuel lines rotted so bad the engine was sucking air.
After I got my 85, I found this site in 2004. Someday I will get around to finishing my frame on restoration. Meanwhile it is sitting out of the elements and last time I checked, no foul odors from varmints. First picture is the day I brought it home. The second was in 2010 after an encounter from a deer. I started collecting parts and soon after I took it out of commision. Someday I will make a post but it will not hold a candle to yours.
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Thanks for the reminder. I loved your restoration build. Thanks for sharing. I hope to continue on my 2 builds with write ups. Life gets in the way and even though I built my dream shop it is so packed I can't work on either at the moment very easily.
Dang that was a long time ago. I guess Chris's site has stood the test of time. Best Chevy truck site on the web.
Life has a way of getting in the way. I've had 3 cars since I got the truck, one crashed, ones my fav daily driver ever and one is my new project. But the old truck just carrys on. Only been towed twice in 48 years. not a bad record. one for a frozen brake caliper and one for the fuel lines rotted so bad the engine was sucking air.
After I got my 85, I found this site in 2004. Someday I will get around to finishing my frame on restoration. Meanwhile it is sitting out of the elements and last time I checked, no foul odors from varmints. First picture is the day I brought it home. The second was in 2010 after an encounter from a deer. I started collecting parts and soon after I took it out of commision. Someday I will make a post but it will not hold a candle to yours.
Thank you! You'll get it done. You'll have lots of candles just like mine one of these days. I had an edge on mine. I was out of work for 3 or 4 months back then and had the freetime to do all of it at once. that's a rare thing. I'll never get to do that again. That's why my camaro is taking so long to finish. The truck just works. Havent had to do a lot to it in all this time. My big problem now is i have to raise the bed to replace the rubber hoses to the fuel tank. They rotted through after 20 years and are sucking air.
Camaro needs just a water pump. I've had the parts for two years but haven't had the time to fix it yet. maybe this year I'll get it done...lol I hope so. I miss driving my fun car. I also have a rebuilt 3.73 rear end to swap in it to replace the 2.73 worn out rear and an aluminum driveshaft as well as a full UMI stage 1 suspension for it. I have everything but life keeps getting in the way.
My Daily Driver 2018 Impala Premier keeps me going while I play with the old car and truck.
We'll all get everything done one day.
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Weird thing I never noticed before.
I got the truck on 6-25-2006
I got my Camaro on 6-25-2016
That's weird as can be. never noticed that until yesterday.
Truck pic is first day I got it out of grandad's garage.
Camaro Pic is it in Florida when I went down there to go get it and bring it back to GA.
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Old Truck video from way back then
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eVsD9ph3rk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eVsD9ph3rk)
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2008 or so... New Thrush Welded muffler
Truck always started like this cold whether it was 20 degrees or 100.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAi-Yw7ZQoM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAi-Yw7ZQoM)
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2015 Playing with the gopro for the first time. All I can say is Look how straight Scott got my truck at the body shop!!!
Camera mounted in two different positions. Now ya know how good a job Scott did for me. Dang he got that old truck straight!!!!
I don't know if this is allowed but...
Brown & Brown PRO Custom Paint & Body Shop at 44 Midland Ct, Winder, GA 30680 Painted my truck in 2007 and made it this gloriously smooth on a longbed!! Ask for Scott! Best Part about Scott was the entire time I wanted all these expensive lil upgrades and stuff and he did his best to save me money and shoot down my grand ideas about paint n body that I didn't need. He was the real one!
I know some of you remember when this was a new thing. Well photobucket ruined it for me and everyone else when they broke the internet that one time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_ziWjC4MK8&t=18s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_ziWjC4MK8&t=18s)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ5mVrgsMS8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ5mVrgsMS8)
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buy the expensive fuel pump and be done with it. Don;t be afraid to buy "racecar" parts if they're more reliable. I have a lot of so called "racecar" parts on my bone stock 1978 350. you get what you pay for.
There is swearing in the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-HWAccynrA&t=1s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-HWAccynrA&t=1s)
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Recent Rambling on front accessories info i figured out the hard way. Sometimes the "racecar stuff" Is what you need no matter how stock your engine is.
There is swearing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnQho4m91Z0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnQho4m91Z0)
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Been sitting for about a year. Rubber lines on top of the tanks went bad, sucking air. Got it outside with a boat tank while i work on the tractor. need to have my impala inside. tired of getting in a hot car to go to work every day..
Dirty truck comes outside finally pics