this is where it all started 73 GMC my old man bought brand new that was the day he
bought it white bumper work truck long bed white roof upper trim had the
distinctive 73 deep GMC grill I have a NOS one right above it it's just a cool
truck man that front end of that I mean that's that's comfort food to me and you
know I look at that just just brings good memories the truck was always there
bought a brand new in 73 it was a work truck used as a work truck I was in that
truck for six hour four to six hours a day every day he'd run around and run
errands and go to job the job and I was with them two three days a week my
parents are divorced when I was two and when I visit with my father it was in
that truck so growing up in that truck it you know spending the time in it waxing
it cleaning it changing the oil on it you just get to know it you know it's
it's it becomes second nature and he ended up selling it he had it for like
ten years he ended up selling it and that was it he always had a Cadillac too
that's why I have this thing for Cadillacs I'm like I guess a tiny
hillbilly you know the trucks in the Cadillac but with you know not thinking
twice of the square body thing he sold it after having it ten years and it wasn't
until I was in my 30s and I drove by a used car dealership and the owner of a
used car dealership had his collection outside because he was doing something to
his barn out there and I pulled over and I was just from that second I opened the
door it was like it all just my my childhood just came back to me here's
on my cousin Rob and I my father sitting on a hood of a cat his father's
Cadillac with my father's square body in the back all pin striped out that was
like ten years later my father's me and my father's Cadillac me in front of the
old square body you know I always had a square body that was the one who got
after that the duly these tools from the 50s my grandfather my father just all
the scripted snap on it was like pow time work and I had to have this truck so
the guy you want sell he's like I'm never selling this truck so three months of being
relentless I ended up just giving him whatever the whatever the price was I
had to pay for it I paid dearly for it but I smiled for two weeks after after
having that truck driving at home and my wife said what what are you doing I'm
like you have no idea you won't understand from that point on you know I
start getting into the form and people took a great liking to that truck now
the two-tone orange and white and I ended up cleaning it detail on it and
lowering it doing my thing to it and it had a little following to it and it was
OJ and I ended up selling it big regret it's in Australia so I came and go and
buy it back and of course me five grand just to get it here the after that I
was on a hunt for something similar but realized how hard it was to find a 73
74 square body that was clean as clean as that one because they all rusted out
from the factory they were double walled they just they didn't coat the
insides of them so they recalled the 73 74s with the body panels the blue and
white truck the 74 I bought that was an absolute basket case that truck I picked
up with my daughter out in a patchy junction for $1,500 and it was completely
the bed was rusted out because I had a shell on it with a rubber mat that had
water in it that leaked and it was just a mess but it was blue and white it was
it was a Cheyenne super you know and they're just so hard to find a blue and
white with the VA air conditioning all the options and everything else so I
said you know what I'm gonna I'm gonna make this my driver I'm gonna build this
truck and I'm gonna drive this thing everywhere so I ended up taking it down
to the frame powder coating the frame they're doing a nothing ball rest up
this was pretty much a Sacramento truck dealership truck 40,000 original miles
original penny just somebody buffed the guy I bought it from buffed it out right
before he sold it he left alone but it's just untouched GM stockholder on this
one and took good care of it never drove it still has the original power beams in
chrome grill all the options VA AC truck sport bumpers on both even the dashes
aren't cracked on them and you know on these trucks you look at the dash it
cracks skinny key
their factory hot rods they come you know with the control arms independent
suspension power steering power braids air conditioning what else can you ask
for this is all the stuff you spend money on to modify you know the older
trucks
I get a Cadillac I just want to get it lower and lower and lower and this is
lane frame so it doesn't get any lower than this this was channeled underneath
above the drop shaft the whole trunk was brought up on it a ton of that work was
done on this thing the skirts were dropped so I said well let me take this
car and make it my own you know do the roof redo the interior you know I I
changed the bags on the front I spaced the wheels out I put the you know I had
the wrong wheels on the front put the 53 caddy wheels with the sombreros put new
tires on it you know and now I'm in a crossroads with it so I got to figure
out what I'm gonna do because I'm just so overwhelmed with everything else I
really want to build the square body so I'm tempted to get rid of that car and
bring those in here and really get the work on those put the blown white truck
away bring the green and orange one or the orange one in here and maybe do a
take it off the frame and either do a portable airbag
AccuAir and drop member you know just pretty much lay that thing out and do
something with Delmo's new wheels on it because that truck's so clean I know
there was so many people like the square bodies you know I just thought that it was me you
know in this crowd of guys I like to sit you know the earlier models but hearing
the stories from the younger generation at my great-grandfather how he's or you
know or my grandfather or my father or my neighbor or my uncle or my cousin you
hear all these stories and everybody has a memory with one of those trucks
you
that's what I'm talking about
burn the box
