The restoration process on the 1979 Chevy K10 has officially begun. If you read the last installment, you know I already Photochopped a picture to establish what I want it to look like (black and silver two-tone), but now it’s time to get off the computer, get out the tools and implement the game plan.
The plan is pretty simple — something I’ve heard hundreds of times from other collectors: “just do the prep work yourself and then have Maaco spray it.” The premise actually makes sense. Maaco employs people who day-in and day-out use a steady hand to spray in the same quality booth as the high-price shops. Where they usually fail is in skimping on the bodywork and prep. So to get the best of both worlds, the collector does all the body work and prep and Maaco sprays. Sure, they also use cheap paint, but how much worse can it possibly be than 1979 Chevy OEM?
Okay, considering I’ve really never done serious bodywork or prep, there is some doubt to the results. It will either come out with a great bang-for-the-buck exterior or it will suck worse than Matt LeBlanc’s Friends spin-off.
Continue reading after the jump!
I pulled the K10 into the Sound Classics garage and started stripping. Once I was naked, I put on some clothes that I didn’t mind ruining…as far as the truck was concerned, this meant removing most things glued, taped, clipped, bolted and screwed on to the exterior.
Like many trucks of the era, the K10 has body strips held on by two-sided foam tape. The rubber and plastic strips pull off easily, but foam tape remains stuck on. To get it off, I employed my middle finger and used a tedious process of rubbing and rolling. By the time all the tape was removed entirely, my fingers felt like I had just stood in on bass for a four-hour performance with a Rush cover band.
Wheel well moldings, side mirrors, tailgate cover, and cab stainless trim all came off pretty easily, but again, it was a tedious process. I placed all the parts safely in the garage and used a magnetic tray for all the little screws and bolts.
Before commencing sanding I needed to wash off over a year of dust, dirt and grime. Nothing worse than “decreasing the grit” value by dragging dirt around under the sandpaper.
It occurred to me that I’d need to attempt to remove the pinstripes before sanding. The tape strips had been clear-coated over, but had pulled off in some sections already. At this point, my six-year-old daughter asked if she could help, so I put her (and her pink-painted fingernails) to work picking and peeling. Within about 20 minutes, the truck was sticker-free and ready for sanding.
Tune in next time for the continuing saga, at which point we’ll learn what happens when there’s no law in place prohibiting Sam from using a dual-action sander.
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