THE SPEEDWAY MOTORS 1968 C10 Build: Rust Repair, Bodywork, and Paint

By Joe McCollough – Images by Jessica Coleman & Andy Chaves

If you’ve been following along with our ’68 C10 project, you’ve seen us checking all the fun stuff off our to-do list. Blast, paint, and reassemble a chassis with cool stuff to lower the truck? Check. Build up a junkyard 5.3 with a cam swap and valvetrain components to make 430 hp on the dyno? Check. Now for the part we’ve been putting off: that rotten, dented, yellow spray-bombed cab and sheetmetal. Fortunately, we found everything we needed on the shelf at Speedway Motors to replace the mangled original parts with fresh, new sheetmetal. Then, with all the cutting, welding, and grinding complete, we hit up our friends at No Coast Custom and Rod Shop to help us get things lined up, straightened out, and painted in time for the 2023 SEMA Show.

02 Removal of rusty floor pan from 1968 Chevrolet C10 during restoration — While we’ve certainly seen worse, the original floor was going to need some work to replace the cab mount brackets and other areas that were thin or rusted through.

To get us started, Ben Vaneperen and the crew at No Coast helped us get the cab mounted on a rolling cart that would make it easy to move around the shop and allow us access to the floor, rockers, and cab corners. We elected to install a full floor that was complete from rocker to rocker, cab back to toeboard, and already had all the supports attached underneath. This may seem like a drastic move, but we can tell you that it made a huge difference in the quality of the finished product and the time it took to get there.

03 Primed and restored cab of a 1968 Chevrolet C10 post metalwork preparation — With the cab all braced up and the floor cut out, the cab was blasted and immediately coated with epoxy primer to protect it.

Knowing that the old floor was going to be removed, our first step was to brace the cab with square tubing to keep everything square while the surgery was underway. This step is very important to avoid huge alignment issues when everything starts going back together. Bracing in place, we got to work removing the old floor with a cutoff wheel, plasma cutter, and Sawzall. After one long night the floor was out, and Vaneperen’s shop was covered with 50 years’ accumulation of dirt, rust, and mice nests. From there it was off to the blaster then back to No Coast for a coat of epoxy primer to protect the bare metal. Finally, after a little wrestling to get the new floor into position and tacked in place, we found ourselves sitting on solid ground in our cab for the first time.

04 Close up of welded body panel during the restoration process of a 1968 Chevrolet C10 — The lower door pillars are hidden but are often found to be rusty when the rocker panels are removed. We patched ours with replacement pieces with PNs 92636278 (LH) and 92636279 (RH) before moving onto the rockers.

We spent some time building small pieces to replace rotten sections of the toeboard before fully welding the new floor in place. With that major milestone complete, we were ready to cut out our bracing and move on. Our next move would be to tackle the other area that’s famous for being rotten in these trucks: rockers and cab corners. But before we could start fitting the new metal, we needed to hang the doors to ensure we were attaching the new panels in the right place.

05 New cab floor pan installed in 1968 Chevrolet C10 restoration project — The Complete Floor Pan (PN 92637400) saved us a ton of time patching and repairing the original floor.

With the doors in place and aligned we chose to hit the rockers first. Our reproduction pieces fit with minimal tweaking and some hammer and dolly work. They were then held in place with Clecos but left loose while we fit the cab corners. Vaneperen showed us a neat trick to hold the new cab corner panels in place. Instead of just cutting a straight line and trying to clamp the replacement piece in place, Vaneperen instead created little tabs that can be held on with Clecos while positioning and tacking. The tabs are then zipped off with the cutoff wheel for final finishing. Pretty slick plus it saved the usual wrestling match with Vise-Grips and other clamps trying to hold the new metal.

06 Welding in progress underneath the 1968 Chevrolet C10 cab during restoration — Holes were punched in the rear flange on the floor in preparation for rosette welding to the cab’s back panel.

Our cab was really starting to shape up. The cab corners and rockers were fully welded and we cleaned up some small areas of rust on the firewall. We were starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel after fearing that the cutting and welding would never end, but what about the rest of the sheetmetal? If you recall, the original box for this truck had long since vanished and the original front fenders and hood were pretty mangled. We once again hit the shelves at Speedway Motors for new fenders, a hood, and everything we would need to assemble a new box.

07 1968 Chevrolet C10 cab and door panel installation metalwork and body shaping — With the new floor in place, we were ready to move onto the cab corners and rockers. But first we hung the doors so we were sure to get the new metal positioned properly.

After the long struggle to solidify the cab, it was a nice change of pace for us to spend a morning in the shop assembling a Fleetside short box from all-new components. We chose a steel bed floor, ’68-72 bedsides, new front panel, and a smooth tailgate. In just a few hours we were looking at a solid new box ready to bolt up. No cutting, welding, grinding, or straightening out 50 years’ worth of use and abuse.

08 Manual hammering and shaping during the cab restoration of a 1968 Chevrolet C10 — Replacement sheetmetal will always take a little maneuvering in order to fit properly. Our rockers were no exception, but a little hammer and dolly work allowed them to drop right into place.

At this point, the chassis had been put together in our shop while the cab was being straightened out across town at No Coast. Before we started fine-tuning the bodywork, we figured we’d better do a quick mock-up to make sure there were no interference issues. If we’re being honest, we really just wanted an excuse to put it all together to get a glimpse of the finished product.

09 Sheet metal repair on lower cab corner of 1968 Chevrolet C10 in progress — Here’s a neat trick for holding patch panels in place. The small tabs allow Clecos to hold the panel for fitting and welding, then get carefully removed with a cutoff wheel once a few tacks are in place. This is especially handy in places where clamping is difficult.

Fortunately, everything fit just as it should. We also verified that the Speedway Motors steering column, brake booster, and master cylinder were going to work as intended. With a few more boxes checked, we took a few minutes to step back and take a look at our mostly complete C10 for the first time. There was still a long way to go but seeing a preview of the lowered and straightened hot rod pickup that we’d been daydreaming about for so long got us revved up to push across the finish line. We had committed to having the finished truck in the Speedway Motors booth at the 2023 SEMA Show, which meant we had about six months to wrap everything up.

10 Metal panel on rear cab corner of 1968 Chevrolet C10 after restoration work — The finished cab corner and rocker are much better than the rusty, thin, original sheetmetal.

Time to head back to the body shop. Here’s where the guys at No Coast really helped us raise the bar. The reproduction sheetmetal fit well, and many of us would have been tempted to leave the panel gaps as they were. Vaneperen and the crew helped us take the fitment to the next level with plenty of tweaking, adjusting, and adding metal to the edges.

11 Interior of the 1968 Chevrolet C10 cab after floor restoration with primed surfaces — Our old cab is starting to shape up. Here you can see where some new pieces were fabricated where the new floor met the old toeboard.

It’s hard to sum up months of hard work into one paragraph. Bodywork is where many projects stall out, but thanks to the dedication of Vaneperen and the No Coast crew as well as a Speedway Motors team that was determined to see the project through, all those late nights and early mornings began to pay off. We’ve learned to look for little victories when you’re in the middle of a big job like this, and with each day that passed we were able to check a few more things off the list. The box was finished up first, then the cab as every wrinkle and low spot was filled and blocked.

12 Firewall of 1968 Chevrolet C10 undergoing sanding and prep for restoration — We filled the unnecessary holes in the firewall using a combination of patches that we made and handy 18-gauge plugs from a Speedway Motors shaved handle and smooth firewall kit (PN 9101203).

With just a few weeks to go before our SEMA deadline, it was finally time for paint. Though our truck was now nicer than we had ever imagined it would be, we still wanted to finish it in a way that would allow us to use it and abuse it out on the road as intended without being terrified of every rock and bug. We chose a two-stage gray pearl color that fit the vintage vibe of the truck with just a bit of a modern twist. The flat clear helped us avoid the trap of having something that was too nice to drive, and we also happen to love the way these trucks look with a satin finish on them. The top was painted white with gloss clear to add some contrast.

13 1968 Chevrolet C10 cab stripped down to bare metal prepped for further bodywork — It took a lot of time and a whole bunch of replacement sheetmetal, but our rusty and dented old cab was good as new again. Now time to tackle the rest of the truck.

We didn’t have much time to celebrate the completion of the paint- and bodywork. Our deadline was looming and we had a long way to go. That meant more late nights, more early mornings, and more tasks checked off the list. The Speedway Motors wiring harness and completion of the fuel system allowed us to start it for the first time. The interior started to come together with carpet, a cool-looking side-detent shifter, and a seat frame that would allow us to run bucket seats. It was all hands on deck to carefully hang the freshly painted sheetmetal and install the lights and brightwork.

14 Two workers handling a restored Chevrolet C10 truck bed floor panel — Our C10’s original box disappeared long before we got it, so we ordered up all the necessary pieces to build a brand-new Fleetside shortbed, starting with this steel Complete Bed Floor Panel (PN 92637268).

Did we make it? How did the truck come out? While you’ll have to stay tuned for next month’s installment to find out all the details, we will say that we’re absolutely in love with the end result and hope you will be, too!