Many businesses across America have realized the benefits of having a vehicle that they can use as a calling card for the company. This is especially true if your business revolves around cars or trucks. Such is the case with Currie Enterprises and this classic C10 pickup.
In the late ‘70s, the Currie family began building performance rearends for Chevrolet Vegas and small pickups like the Chevy Luv that had received V8 conversions, and since then, the company has been a fixture in the automotive industry.
When we found out that they were deep into the process of building a Chevy C10, we really wanted to learn more about the project. We reached out to Brian Shepard, the Marketing Director at Currie who told us, “A co-worker found it for sale in Lancaster, California, on a Craigslist “for sale” ad. It was offered by the daughter of the original owner. She sent some pictures of it, but we could not tell if it was a short or long bed. We even tried looking on Google Earth. In the end, the price was so right that we had to buy it either way.”
But why a C10? Brian was quick to tell us, “C10s are hot! We are selling C10 rearends faster than we can make them right now. So, building this one will be a great avenue of advertising for our C10 crate rearend program.” Like we said earlier, classic cars – or in this case, a truck – make a great calling card for business.
Buying a vehicle without laying eyes on it is a risky proposition, and many times doesn’t end well for the purchaser. But, Jon Henson, who is the Sales Department Manager and the aforementioned coworker, had big plans for the hauler, as Brian says, “It was bought sight unseen, not knowing anything about it. We weren’t even sure what drivetrain was in it or anything. It was taken to Jon’s house and dumped in the driveway. That’s when Jon found out the truck had a six-cylinder engine and a three-on-the-tree transmission. Removal of the original drivetrain made room for a locally-sourced and then rebuilt 454ci big-block and Turbo 400 transmission.
As with any project, a lot of parts were needed to get the truck to resemble a completed version, and in this case, a set of Hedman headers, a new Ridetech suspension, Inland Empire driveshaft, and of course, a Currie 9-inch rear have been installed.
The project is still in Jon’s garage, but as of early May, it was fired up and running flawlessly. Jon Has been working in the aftermarket industry for quite a while, and as such, was able to call in a favor from his past in the wheel industry for a set of custom billet wheels.
Brian finished by stating, “Yeah, it’s a pretty cool build, and we plan to take it on Power Tour in 2017. It’s coming together, and completion will be down to the wire like a lot of Power Tour vehicles. We basically just wanted to hit home that this truck was literally, and intentionally, completely built in a garage with hand tools, using all industry supplier bolt-on parts.”
We look forward to seeing the completed truck, and you can check out all of Currie’s products by checking out their webpage.