1979 C10 Bonanza

[irk_miller]

New member here.  Thought I'd start with a post about my ride:

After a few years of negotiations, I was able to get a family square body from my old man.  It's been in the family since my great uncle bought it off the Matt Gay Chev-Olds lot in Sylvania, GA in 1979. 



The exterior is hardly touched, except for removing the camper shell.  The focus has been on getting the mechanical sorted.  Stock, the truck came with a 305.  I switched that motor out for a rebuilt 1987 350 with aluminum heads, a torquier cam, aluminum intake and a Holly quadrajet.  Still has factory air (which makes the breather a little complicated) and a new aluminum rad.  In high school, and through my years in the Navy, I drove a 1978 Chevy van.  Years ago, we took the TH350 out of that van, rebuilt it, and installed it here.  The motor has about 5k mile, while the tranny has about 25k.  It's hard to tell since the speedo is 15mph off.  I ordered parts to hopefully make that fix. 

Still has original paperwork...





Intentions are to build a mild custom after getting all of the mechanical sorted.  Next up is rebuilding the suspension. 

[RAD77C10]

Nice ride!

[LTZ C20]

Welcome from California. Nice truck. I noticed you have a few, somewhat rare or irregular options for the truck. The a/c & tilt column are somewhat common but the cruise control & intermittent wipers are a bit on the irregular side. Usually pre-80s trucks don't have these options, especially all of them on one truck! Usually they only have 1 or 2 of these options. Not to mention a cargo lamp, inside hood release & clock too! Congrats! Do all of these features work?

[Irish_Alley]

welcome from maryland

[irk_miller]

Welcome from California. Nice truck. I noticed you have a few, somewhat rare or irregular options for the truck. The a/c & tilt column are somewhat common but the cruise control & intermittent wipers are a bit on the irregular side. Usually pre-80s trucks don't have these options, especially all of them on one truck! Usually they only have 1 or 2 of these options. Not to mention a cargo lamp, inside hood release & clock too! Congrats! Do all of these features work?

Everything works.  Even the floor mats are in and in good shape.  Every now and then, the wipers will make one pass, but I think that is an adjustment in the knob.  The cruise is currently not hooked up, but my dad ensures me it works.  I also need to figure out how to hook up the downshifter on the carb.  Right now it's not, so I have to manually drop into 2nd if I need to pass.  I'm still trying to sort out the whole Bonanza thing.  Best I can find it was an end of the year dealer option package, except this truck was bought in May of 1979.  The white wagon wheels are the "styled wheels" listed.  Personally, I've never seen those rims as stock rims on a truck.  I have the beauty rings and the center caps to go with them. 

[LTZ C20]

Welcome from California. Nice truck. I noticed you have a few, somewhat rare or irregular options for the truck. The a/c & tilt column are somewhat common but the cruise control & intermittent wipers are a bit on the irregular side. Usually pre-80s trucks don't have these options, especially all of them on one truck! Usually they only have 1 or 2 of these options. Not to mention a cargo lamp, inside hood release & clock too! Congrats! Do all of these features work?

Everything works.  Even the floor mats are in and in good shape.  Every now and then, the wipers will make one pass, but I think that is an adjustment in the knob.  The cruise is currently not hooked up, but my dad ensures me it works.  I also need to figure out how to hook up the downshifter on the carb.  Right now it's not, so I have to manually drop into 2nd if I need to pass.  I'm still trying to sort out the whole Bonanza thing.  Best I can find it was an end of the year dealer option package, except this truck was bought in May of 1979.  The white wagon wheels are the "styled wheels" listed.  Personally, I've never seen those rims as stock rims on a truck.  I have the beauty rings and the center caps to go with them.

Very cool. There are plenty of sources on here to adress all of your concerns.

[Jason S]

Nice!  Welcome from Kansas!

[blazer74]

Really cool survivor.


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[irk_miller]

Appreciate the words, fellas. 

Some new exhaust installed. 



The cat was deleted years ago and the pipe run straight to a Flowmaster muffler.  For some reason, my old man only ran one pipe out of the back of a dual exhaust muffler.  He plugged the driver's side outlet.  We unplugged the outlet and built a proper dual exhaust.  Eventually, I'd like to switch over to performance headers.   

Suspension is next for real.  Maintenance stuff (like the rear differential, brake lines, etc) too. 

[irk_miller]

I guess my pics are disappearing from the internet.  Still working on this beast a little at a time.  A buddy sold me a set of Torq Thrust rims he took from his short bed for $200.  They're 16" rear and 15" front.  I'm running a 2" drop in the rear. 


I got all new window rubber in place and I'm about to attempt to mod a set of leather mid row Suburban seats.
 It won't be an easy swap.  I'll essentially have to cut the stock mount to drop them at least 4 inches, separate the sliders, reframe the base and utilize both the Suburban and C10 sliders.  It may not work, but for $25 a set it's worth some effort to try.