carterb Posted May 24, 2013 Report Share Posted May 24, 2013 My birthday is 5-10-72. (my parents are geniuses!) So I was making it a point to have all of my 510's 1972. It only makes sense that when I wanted a suburban, it would be a 72 as well right? Although my first "car" was a 1949 Chevy pick-up truck, and I still love that body style, the 67-72 chevy truck body is my favorite! We picked this up almost 10 years ago in Tacoma, in the summer of 2003. It belonged to an eldery man who had passed away and it was being sold by his family. They had fold memories of him and his truck - which he called "the blue ox". He drove rigth to the very end apparently and used to cart around his elderly friends. He had a step stool to help people get in and out and a custom wood stick that he could use to lock and unlock the passenger door from his drivers seat. We were very happy with the purchase and have created many memories ourselves. The kids began referring to it as the "monster truck" early on so the name stuck. 14 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted May 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2013 The kids loved it of course! Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted May 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2013 Now a lot has happend over the last 10 years. So stay tuned for updates... Thanks for lookin' Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted May 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2013 Option list includes Posi Traction! Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted May 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2013 Unfortunately, like all good 67-72 chevy trucks living and working in the NW, rust had a foothold and was getting worse each year. Rockers had holes: doors rusting through around the hinges: Quarters rusting through: "Adding lightness" may work for Colin Chapman but not for me A few dents here and there as well: I think you all know what's under those bubbles: "Vented" batter box... If we were going to keep this any longer, we'd need to stop the rot from getting any worse for sure! Quote Link to comment
datto510 Posted May 24, 2013 Report Share Posted May 24, 2013 Very cool truck. As a kid I drove a 1970 C10 shortbed with a 250 straight 6. I didn't know what I had at the time. A school bus put me in the ditch on a dirt road one afternoon. I scrapped it. Doh! :blush: Quote Link to comment
JoeCool Posted May 25, 2013 Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 When I read "monster truck" I took it literally! I was expecting a Suburban turned into a monster truck! Love old Suburbans, yours looks cool. :thumbup: And your little ones are too cute! Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted May 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 Looks like a sweet burb you've got there! Thanks! More to come... Stay tuned. Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted May 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2013 Thinking into the future, I thought it would be a good idea to upgrade to a more modern EFI motor. So I watched craigslist for a while and found a running TBI 350 w/ rebuilt tranny for sale. Perfect! Well, when I got it home and started tearing it down, I found that it was not a 350 but a 305. :confused: Worse yet - I found that both heads were cracked. So I just bought a bunch of garbage. Miraculously, I was able to sell the tranny and the EFI stuff separeatly and get my money back. Only thing lost was time and enthusiasm... Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted May 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2013 Then I turned my attention back to the rusty body, and found a set of better doors. They were even the correct color! So I sold my old ones. Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted May 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2013 I found a bunch of other parts too. They were still attached to the truck though so I ended up buying the whole thing! I removed what I needed and sold the rest so I didn't lose a dime. Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted May 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2013 About this time, Brenda and I realized we were at a crossroads. I found a local expert - Mark Chance - on these trucks on the 67-72 chevy truck forum. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/ I got an estimate from him on how much it would cost to save our truck from the rust attack. We then started shopping for a replacement. Thinking maybe we could find one already done for the same or less than what it would cost to build our own. There were (and are) plenty to chose from but every one we looked at - was eventually going to need all the work ours needed. And the ones that were painted and nice looking - we had no idea what was underneath... We eventually decided that the risk was just too great, and that the Monster Truck had been in our family long enough that we should save it. So I made arrangements with Mark and delivered the truck to his shop in June of 2007. Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted May 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2013 Mark started by stripping everything down to see what we had to work with. Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted May 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2013 Then he basically just started at one corner and worked his way around the truck little by little. First up, right side rocker: Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted May 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2013 Don't you wish you could get new rockers for the 510?! Quote Link to comment
blue72 Posted May 27, 2013 Report Share Posted May 27, 2013 Yes, yes I do wish I could get new rockers for a 510. Then I wouldn't be making my own and at the same time contemplating buying them from Australia. Nice burb! I'm a member over on 67-72chevytrucks.com as well. I was out visiting in another neighborhood recently and someone referred to my Suburban as a "mini monster truck" too. Quote Link to comment
Kirden Posted June 1, 2013 Report Share Posted June 1, 2013 Moar lowar... :fu: But really though, nice chevy. I am not a domestic car person usually, but if I had to choose, I would have to go with an early 70s chevy truck (or a 50 mercury, but that is really dreaming...) It would be pretty cool lowered on bags, like a huge goon! Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted June 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2013 Yes, yes I do wish I could get new rockers for a 510. Then I wouldn't be making my own and at the same time contemplating buying them from Australia. Nice burb! I'm a member over on 67-72chevytrucks.com as well. I was out visiting in another neighborhood recently and someone referred to my Suburban as a "mini monster truck" too. Nice truck! Your name reminds me of football BLUE - SEVENTY TWO! BLUE - SEVENTY TWO! HUT HUT HIKE! Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted June 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2013 Okay kids... We've got some more body work to do here: Lots of rot on the drivers side too! Even the body support is rusted through Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted June 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2013 On with the replacement rocker Start with this Add a little of this And wa-la! Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted June 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2013 And now for some quarter panel work: And the outer rocker as well 1 Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted June 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2013 For the front end - it was easier to just replace everything with new: New core support. (who wouldn't want these available for their datsuns) New inner and outer fenders: Starting to look like the monster truck again! Still lots of work to do though... Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted June 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2013 The quarter panels were as nasty as the rockers: Pretty bad around the tail light as well Quote Link to comment
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