We’d been hankerin’ for a hauler for some time and we needed a good excuse to develop some new suspension parts for the ’67-72 C10 crowd. Well this little p’up wandered into the shop lookin’ like it had a pretty tough life. It’s got quite a history, we’d tell you but we really don’t know what it is, lol. Needless to say, there wasn’t one matching color panel, it was missing half it’s parts, it had rust all over and it looked so bad it would run and hide every time a camera came out. We barely got that first shot while it was hiding behind the paint booth.
After waiting patiently in the corner of the shop for several months the truck finally emerged with a pretty serious game plan. Instead of simply adapting our suspension to it’s battered frame we decided to start fresh and it became the first vehicle to help develop Speedtech’s new ExtReme suspension program. Featuring the same ExtReme suspension found in our Camaro, Nova, Chevelle and Tri 5 chassis, these new C10 frames offer a super low stance and fully optimized suspension geometry based around our new ExtReme tall spindle. And, for the first time ever in a truck, our famous Torque Arm based 3 link hangs the hides out back. The end result was a street comfortable show quality truck that thought it was a new Corvette on track day. Check out the build process below!
Lots of time and effort went into designing and engineering the perfect frame and suspension. We had to cover a wide range of goals, increased strength, comfortable ride quality, super low ride height, easy adjustability, and insane handling. The end result did that and then some. To match such a great platform we replaced pretty much all exterior panels, keeping only the bare cab and tailgate. To fit the 345 mm wide rear tires the rear wheel tubs were widened and the inner bed sides were modified to raise the bed floor for frame rail clearance. Behind the innovative and unique to trucks Torque Arm suspension and 9″ Ford axle a Rick’s stainless fuel tank feeds the Texas Speed 565 hp LS3 based engine. Finishing off the suspension is a set of specially valved coilover shocks and special edition Speedtech branded 14″ 6 piston Baer brakes.
Some body mods performed on the truck include a late model truck inspired split hood with dropped center, Speedtech logo embossed fenders, custom side skirts and front air dam, smoothed front bumper and rear roll pan. Custom grille inserts and slightly frenched taillights help with those little touches that make this truck show worthy. After the body work was laser straight and the bed was raised and sprayed with bed liner the truck hit the paint booth for a few coats of super gloss black. Once that was cured we had the bottom half of the truck wrapped in gloss white vinyl.
On the interior we incorporated center console components from a 2016 GMC truck, a custom billet gage bezel and one-off Speedhut gauges, billet steering wheel, and custom door and interior panels and headliner wrapped in leather.
After the truck was completed it got pushed to it’s limits on autocross and road course tracks, working the ExtReme suspension hard and bringing home the trophies. If you’ve got a C10 that you want to have the best available parts under it too, give us a call and let’s get you set up.
