Sorting Out A Square-Body C10

Square-body Chevy trucks, 1973-1987 that is, are gaining serious traction with classic trucks fans for a number of reasons. For starters, their 14-year run with minor changes (front sheetmetal, and so on) make swapping parts from one year to another seamless. That means finding a decent fender, door, cab, and so on, is just a matter of finding the corresponding part from a similar year span. They are also one of the only classic trucks that can still be found in local wrecking yards, which can be a huge plus when it comes to piecing together a square-body project. Of course, a huge aftermarket industry exists to support these trucks as well, making it nearly impossible to not be able to find the part you might need.

But, like nearly every classic truck, there are a few items on the square-body trucks that are not the most visually appealing. They do the job, they look the part, but when it comes to bringing sexy back, these later C10s could use some help. This became painfully obvious when it came time to start prepping our 1980 C10 for paint and bodywork. While the guys at Superstition Restoration, who will be handling the refinishing chores, are very capable, we wanted to take the time to go over the truck ourselves and figure out what we wanted to keep and what we wanted to change. Turned out the C10 could use a bit of help when it came to the looks department.

Nowhere is this more obvious than the side mirrors and door handles. While those “Dumbo” mirrors are great when it comes to function, their form leaves quite a bit to be desired. Big, bulky, heavy chrome mirrors stuck on the door as if done as an afterthought, we’re going to need to swap them out if it’s an increase in aesthetic we’re after. In stark contrast, many of the passenger cars from the ’60s came equipped with sleek, low-profile mirrors that will work perfectly for our upgrade, with a few caveats. We opted to use an exterior mirror from a 1967 Chevelle, courtesy of Classic Industries, but first we’ll have to chuck the Dumbos in the dumpster and fill the holes left on the doors.

The next item on the chopping block will be the stock door handles. Once again, clunky and awkward, these will be swapped out with another component from the muscle car era, with a 21st century twist: billet aluminum 1969 Camaro reproduction handles from Eddie Motorsports. But while the mirror swap it fairly straight forward, this door handle upgrade comes with one huge caveat. The stock door handles feature a push-button that connects to a rod, which activates the door latch while the Camaro items are designed with a push-button that activates the door latch directly (the C10 latch is below the door handle while the Camaro latch is directly behind it). This requires a bit of fabrication if the Camaro handles are going to be made to work.

The last upgrade we’ll be making to our C10 before it goes out for paint- and bodywork is to remove the driprails. Typically, this is a huge job that requires many feet of welding to tidy everything up in a seamless fashion. On the later C10s however, the driprail is a bolt on, which means it’s only a matter of welding up a few 1/8-inch holes to get that smoothie look on the cab.

While the mods we’ll be undertaking to get our C10 a little more fashionable aren’t anything radical, we think they’ll be just the understatement to refine that work truck look into something a bit more reflective of our build’s underlying theme.