1971 Chevrolet C-10 Pickup Body and Paint Photo Pg. 1

At the time of this work, because I was living in Venice, CA and John's place is in Apple Valley, CA, ( that's a 214 mile round trip ) and because of this I was not able to go there as often as I would have liked to in order to have a more comprehensive photo essay on the work done to this truck. John may be a great body and paint man, but his photographic skills are somewhat lacking ( and I'm not saying I'm a professional photographer however my camera at the time was a little higher in quality than the one John was using ) so the bottom line here is that out of all the photos taken between the two of us, nearly 1/3rd were not usable due to poor lighting. However enough good photos were taken to give one the idea of the extent of the work that went into this truck, albeit not in an absolute chronological order as I would have liked to have had.

PHOTO 1:

Before the truck was delivered to John, I completely sanded and wire brushed the entire bed, then I treated it with an application of POR 15 rust preventative black. Finally, I applied an application of POR 15 primer over the entire bed area in preparation for the automotive primer and paint. The POR 15 treatment, albeit labor intensive, virtually ensures ( by encapsulation ) that no rust will ever appear again and that is, in and of itself, is well worth the effort and expense.

PHOTO 1 B:

As you can see in the photo, the passenger door is on its way to being stripped down to bare metal.

Another prep technique which makes for a better end result is, of course, to gut everything that has mechanisms. In this way, there is no taping over pieces like window felt, weather-strips and so forth.

PHOTO 2 B:

Sometimes the best laid plans don't work out as well as one would like them to. Even though I prepped the entire bed, John found numerous places where imperfections in the metal had to be removed and smoothed, so I had to re-do the POR 15 treatment in the bed after John did his magic.

PHOTO SERIES 10:

I did not care for the front side markers on the truck, so I had John shave them off. I thought about having the rear side markers shaved off too, but decided to leave them in as I do not think that the rear ones detract from the look of the truck.

PHOTO 11 B and C:

Just wanted to point out here that the rear of the bed ( photo 11 B ) and the rear of the cab ( photo 11 C )were painted separately when the bed was removed from the chassis. I wish I had photos that better reveal this fact, but unfortunately my next visit to John's place was after the bed was back on and he neglected to take photos of these two items before he re-installed the bed. In any event, as one can see by the white paint in the photos that he remembered to take, both the rear of the cab and the rear of the bed were painted separately.

Personally, I think that when one spends years inhaling paint and solvent fumes, that it has an adverse effect on one's memory, but that's just my humble opinion.

All kidding aside, it is a lot to ask of a body / paint shop to stop and take photos of each item / phase that is done, so if one wants a photo essay of the work completed on their vehicle, make sure the shop the vehicle is taken to is willing and able ( insurance regulations ) to let someone come in to observe and take photos of the process. All in all, I'm fairly happy with the photos taken for the body and paint work for this C-10 project, although I've learned some important logistic lessons with this experience that I will certainly apply to my next project.

Custom design, fabrication, restoration-modification ( restomods ) and sales of classic era General Motors vehicles by John Harlowe's Moonlight Engineering.

1971 Chevrolet C-10 Shortbed Fleetside Pick-up Truck

Preparation is the key to achieve an awesome paint job...

Body and Paint Photo Essay