New Member Old Truck ! Any ideas ?

[Joshua J Cooper]

I picked up a 75' long bed step side ...I think I'm going to pull it in the shop this fall when we slow down ( own an upholstery shop ) and restore this old truck so I came here to get some ideas ....ill have all winter so I thought about some crazy stuff like LS swap ...im sure thats been done once or twice lol...also thought about making an extended cab and cutting some out of that super long bed this thing has my ideas was get 4 junk doors and use the back half of the door frames to make the small windows for the extended cab ? Could even make it roll up and down with a bit more work ! .....also thought about just keeping it close to stock not many long steps I don't think ...only down side to that is I think its kinda ugly ...if it was a 4x4 lifted a bit maybe it would look better but this thing looks long as **** ! Excuse my limited vocabulary ....so...
.....let me know what you would do 75 long step 2wd with a 350 and 4 on the floor
Thanks Guys !!!!

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[1973c10]

welcome

 

[AyWoSch Motors]

If that were my truck, I'd make my own version of the Muscle Truck from roadkill.

Shorten the frame to a short bed length, get a shortbed step side or chop up and modify the existing bed.
Drag slicks, 4:10 gears, line lock, a bit of cam, you could have pretty sweet truck
.
If you are looking for a engine swap, LS would be cool. If money were no option, I'd go LT4 with either a 4L90 with a high stall converter and over/under drive or a modern 6 speed stick
If your wanting to go old school, I'd do blown 383 stroker with a th350 or a muncie rock crusher.

2wd long beds aren't that desirable to most people, but a 2wd shortbed would be, and if you were going for a race truck/muscle truck setup, a shortbed stepside would be killer for that. A fleet side would work just as well and look awesome, but I love roadkill and especially the muscle truck, so I'd make a clone of that.

 

[AyWoSch Motors]

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[Shorty81]

I would keep it stock. I really like long bed step sides. They are a bit rare. Nice truck.

 

[86 SCOTTSDALE]

Welcome from Mass.

 

[78C10BigTen]

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One of my fave trucks!!!!

 

[78C10BigTen]

I would keep it stock. I really like long bed step sides. They are a bit rare. Nice truck.

I agree here 100% @Joshua J Cooper

 

[RecklessWOT]

Welcome from the land of rust!

At the end of the day, it's your truck do whatever your heart desires. Though I agree with what others have said, the longbed stepper is quite rare. If you really don't like it maybe consider selling/trading it to someone who really does want it and get yourself the shortbed or 4x4 that you desire. At the very least, I'd say at least sell the bed and find a regular fleetside longbed to put in its place or just buy another shortbox and do that custom extended cab idea you're talking about without cutting up the more rare bed.

I personally like "old school" better (not nessecarily "original" but period correct mods basically), custom body work and modern engines ain't my cup o tea. If I had the truck I would clean up the body, put a set of rallye wheels with some nice RWL tires on it, give it a slight forward rake, make it a mean and loud 383 stroker, and leave that 4spd right where it's at.

But you do you, you'll get compliments either way! Whatever you do, enjoy your new truck and have a good time making it yours, you got a pretty clean slate there to start whatever you want. Good luck!


Edit: I will also say, longbed stepper is the perfect truck to make a monster sleeper out of, like you said it's kind of just a goofy farm truck looking thing, imagine if it had a procharged big block under that weathered hood...

 

[AyWoSch Motors]

Welcome from the land of rust!

At the end of the day, it's your truck do whatever your heart desires. Though I agree with what others have said, the longbed stepper is quite rare. If you really don't like it maybe consider selling/trading it to someone who really does want it and get yourself the shortbed or 4x4 that you desire. At the very least, I'd say at least sell the bed and find a regular fleetside longbed to put in its place or just buy another shortbox and do that custom extended cab idea you're talking about without cutting up the more rare bed.

I personally like "old school" better (not nessecarily "original" but period correct mods basically), custom body work and modern engines ain't my cup o tea. If I had the truck I would clean up the body, put a set of rallye wheels with some nice RWL tires on it, give it a slight forward rake, make it a mean and loud 383 stroker, and leave that 4spd right where it's at.

But you do you, you'll get compliments either way! Whatever you do, enjoy your new truck and have a good time making it yours, you got a pretty clean slate there to start whatever you want. Good luck!


Edit: I will also say, longbed stepper is the perfect truck to make a monster sleeper out of, like you said it's kind of just a goofy farm truck looking thing, imagine if it had a procharged big block under that weathered hood...

I agree with that. I love the "sleeper" idea.
Didnt mean to down play the truck, it is pretty rare. I'd say before you make any value changing decision, if your not a fan of the look, you could probaly sell the truck to someone who really wants a rare long bed step for pretty good money, and take that and go get a less rare square. And like Reckless said, at the very least, sell the bed to someone who needs it for there build.
You have a good platform, like I said before a bit of cam, new gears, and new wheels and tires, and you have a mean little truck, and you'd only help the value.
You could do all that with a fleetside too.

I'm a 4x4 guy myself, so when I think of what I'd do with a 2wd, I immediately go to the Roadkill muscle truck.
One of the coolest 2wd steppers ever, love that show.

 

[animal]

 

[WFO]

Welcome from the Texas Panhandle.

 

[dvdswan]

Welcome to the site.

 

[Turbo4whl]

......also thought about making an extended cab and cutting some out of that super long bed this thing has my ideas was get 4 junk doors and use the back half of the door frames to make the small windows for the extended cab ? Could even make it roll up and down with a bit more work ! ...if it was a 4x4 lifted a bit maybe it would look better .........

I was thinking about this for a day. Since you asked about ideas....

Sell the long bed step side to Ted.

Buy a rusted out suburban 4x4 for the frame and running gear.

Put a crew cab pickup body on the suburban frame, should fit with little or no mods. You could also shorten the crew cab if you only wanted a cab and a half.

Add the short pickup bed.

 

[Babs]