By John Machaqueiro – Images by the Author
When you have a fulltime job during the week chances are you don’t bring any aspect of it home with you. For Fabian Musuraca that doesn’t seem to apply. He explains, “I run a collision shop during the day, and I have a big garage at home that I restore old cars for other people as a hobby.” He has several projects under his belt for others, but when it came to something that he was interested in, he gravitated toward a truck and he was very specific in what he was looking for—it had to be either a 1967 or 1968 Chevy C10. “This was a dream of mine,” he explains. “The ’67 short window I liked, but I didn’t have any luck finding a good one.” He further adds, “I looked at probably over 150 trucks before I found this ’68. I ended up finding it online on Craigslist back in the fall of 2015.” When he set out to look at it, he was convinced that it was going to be just like the others even though it was advertised as having a lot of work done to it. It was a father and son project that had lost most of its steam because the son wanted to use the money to move on and start a family, so the father was perfectly OK with the truck being sold. “I saw a lot of potential in it, but it came to me half bolted together,” he states. “A big selling point for me was that the roof wasn’t rusted out and, overall, it looked like I could make things work. I knew the paint scheme that I wanted, but I didn’t know the colors. I wanted it to be different, to pop and stand out. The plan was to have something modern with a Pro Touring feel and all the modern technology.” One thing that didn’t factor into his equation was the 396 big-block and four-speed that powered it.
Being in the automotive repair industry, Fabian knows the business side to get the best bang for the buck, so he did a fair amount of research and a cost analysis before cracking open the wallet. First up was the frame. The choice came down to doing upgrades to the stock frame versus buying something turnkey. Option two won in the form of a Roadster Shop SPEC Series chassis with several of their extras added. Included in the purchase was their stainless brake line package, standard power steering rack, front sway bar, front and rear single-adjustable Strange Engineering coilovers, custom stainless gas tank, a Ford 9-inch centersection with 3.43:1 gears, and Wilwood hardware at all four corners. Up front it wears 13-inch rotors with six-piston calipers, while the rear is fitted with 12-inch rotors and four-piston calipers. It was also set up for an LS and 6L80 transmission. One thing he didn’t opt for was a finish; his goal was to paint it with a color of his choice, which ended up being a custom-mixed shade of red.
When the frame was ordered, the decision to go with a modern mill was already set in stone. Waiting in the wings was a 2013 LS3 from a donor Camaro SS that was given a full rebuild. He leaned on his good friend Jim Hart to do all the machine work and assembly. On the bottom end the OEM configuration was partially left stock with the forged crank and I-beam connecting rods, while compression was bumped with a set of 11.25:1 forged aluminum JE Pistons and a Brian Tooley Racing LS3 Stage 2 Camshaft. On the top end, the aluminum LS3 heads were given a full rebuild, and induction was also kept stock with an LS3 intake. Sitting behind all that was the 6L80E that was also from the donor car. It too was given a full refresh that included the addition of a Circle D Specialties 3,200 stall speed converter. Exhaust plumbing started up front with a set of Speed Engineering headers mated to 2.5-inch custom stainless steel pipes running back to a pair of Black Widow mufflers.
The other facet to this project that required a substantial amount of work was the body. Fabian explains, “The bed was replaced, but it was just bolted together and sitting on the frame, and the Auto Metal Direct cowl hood was also installed.” By the time he was done, new fenders, doors, cab floor, and a header panel had also been fitted. Working with fresh steel was a plus, and custom touches like a smooth firewall cleaned things up underhood.
As the body reached the primer stage, the paint scheme was mapped out, however, the colors were still undefined. It was at this point that the decision-making process received input from a second pair of eyes. Fabian’s wife, Michelle, had different ideas on the color. Originally, she felt the truck should have been painted red; she wanted some red on the truck. They came to the understanding that she could pick the top color and the interior, which was destined to be the red she was after. Using BASF’s Diamont basecoat/clearcoat finishes, he mixed up a batch of custom black with a layer of Ultraviolet Pearl for the top, with the lower section also a custom mix that he describes as Iodine. Added to that paint combo was custom airbrushing laid down by his longtime friend Peter “Gunn” Cangemi of all the emblems to keep the body as smooth as possible and to have something that was different. After the paint was buttoned up, flush-mounted glass from Fesler USA, along with a pair of smooth bumpers and a new bed floor from the Smokey Road Rod Shop, were installed. The final exterior box to check was the wheel-and-tire combo. The Pro Touring vibe required the right visual choice, so Fabian’s selection came down to a set of Rocket Racing Attack series wheels (18×10 front, 20×12 rear) that he fitted with Nitto NT555 G2 radials (265/35ZR18 front, 315/35ZR20 rear).
The last hurdle was the interior. By the time he was ready to move forward, the pandemic was in full bloom and getting material for the truck was a real problem that forced everything to come to a halt. He eventually sent the C10 to JMB Upholstery in Canandaigua, New York, for the interior’s completion. The request from his better half was a sea of red, so the donor Chevy Tahoe seats were cut and modified and then wrapped in red vinyl, as was the custom console, while a synthetic leather flooring with a wood texture that mimics the wooden bed was laid down. Upgraded hardware included an Ididit steering column, Dakota Digital gauges, Vintage Air, and a retro-styled Bluetooth radio. The exterior paint scheme was also continued inside with some pinstriping mixed in.
For Fabian this truck became a six-year time sink that consumed many evenings and weekends; it took longer than expected—it’s a situation that can potentially strain a marriage—but as he points out, “My wife has always been supportive of what I wanted to do and 100 percent there. I feel as though I built this truck for her; for me, it’s her truck and she loves it. I didn’t think it would be out this year, but we want to start enjoying it.”
Check out this story in our digital edition here.
