Influencer I
- 2,358
- First Name
- Dillon
- Last Name
- Wilke
- Member #
-
20298
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KJ7LVO/ WRQL275
- Service Branch
- USAF
So I have been tossing around this idea for a build for a while, and well a few other members here encouraged me to make a build thread. Now first off I will say this isn't 100% an overlanding build. I will end up using it for my version of overlanding (that being taking roads less traveled and exploring), but on to the details. Or maybe some story is in order...
The people who know me know I have always been an old school hot rod kind of guy. Now that doesn't always mean chopped tops and flatheads, what that really means is having respect for tradition but not bowing down to it, and always doing what you want and not doing the popular thing to look cool. However I do have big love for the aesthetics of cars from the 40s and 50s and well flatheads are cool. One of my dream builds has always been a diesel powered 40s GM pickup. I started one with my dad but due to a nasty divorce we never did anything and the P pumped 12valve 6BT that was to power our pickup was sold.
Fast forward a few years and its the winter of 2018. I get word that one of my uncles has died, this was a weird time for me. I didn't know this uncle very well, but had an opportunity to get to know him a bit before his passing. I didn't really feel grief in the traditional sense, I was more pissed off that family politics had kept me from spending time with him. At the memorial service I got a big surprise, a 1979 Corvette. It floored me, I mean the Vette needed TONS of work, but still its a freakin vintage Corvette. Mega cool.
So here we are in 2020, I haven't done a single thing to the Vette. I love what it stands for, the uncle I never knew but who I was very much like. But honestly, its not my aesthetic. I ended up going through a whirlwind summer (I think we can all relate to this feeling), spent time in hospitals, and quit working as a Caterpillar truck engine tech. So now I have 10 years of tools and experience and nothing to use them on, except a Corvette. Now at this point I start thinking about the aesthetics, and how little I like the C3 body style. What's a boy to do? As fate would have it my dad calls me up and says he is getting rid of the last of our ill fated 40s pickup project. 3 weeks later I have a cab for a 1949 Chevy 3600 pickup in my shop.
Then things get really interesting, I start day dreaming and this idea forms. Lets build the Corvette, but turn it into the most bitchin shop truck ever. Lets combine my love for 40s aesthetics, with the cool old school sports car engineering of the Corvette, and diesel power it.
So the build starts, a body swapped 1979 Corvette with a 1949 Chevy pickup body, running a 4BT Cummins. And lets just put this all on 33s because that's the biggest tire a C3 chassis will clear...
Yeah, you can take your "rules" and walk out the door. I have work to do.
The people who know me know I have always been an old school hot rod kind of guy. Now that doesn't always mean chopped tops and flatheads, what that really means is having respect for tradition but not bowing down to it, and always doing what you want and not doing the popular thing to look cool. However I do have big love for the aesthetics of cars from the 40s and 50s and well flatheads are cool. One of my dream builds has always been a diesel powered 40s GM pickup. I started one with my dad but due to a nasty divorce we never did anything and the P pumped 12valve 6BT that was to power our pickup was sold.
Fast forward a few years and its the winter of 2018. I get word that one of my uncles has died, this was a weird time for me. I didn't know this uncle very well, but had an opportunity to get to know him a bit before his passing. I didn't really feel grief in the traditional sense, I was more pissed off that family politics had kept me from spending time with him. At the memorial service I got a big surprise, a 1979 Corvette. It floored me, I mean the Vette needed TONS of work, but still its a freakin vintage Corvette. Mega cool.
So here we are in 2020, I haven't done a single thing to the Vette. I love what it stands for, the uncle I never knew but who I was very much like. But honestly, its not my aesthetic. I ended up going through a whirlwind summer (I think we can all relate to this feeling), spent time in hospitals, and quit working as a Caterpillar truck engine tech. So now I have 10 years of tools and experience and nothing to use them on, except a Corvette. Now at this point I start thinking about the aesthetics, and how little I like the C3 body style. What's a boy to do? As fate would have it my dad calls me up and says he is getting rid of the last of our ill fated 40s pickup project. 3 weeks later I have a cab for a 1949 Chevy 3600 pickup in my shop.
Then things get really interesting, I start day dreaming and this idea forms. Lets build the Corvette, but turn it into the most bitchin shop truck ever. Lets combine my love for 40s aesthetics, with the cool old school sports car engineering of the Corvette, and diesel power it.
So the build starts, a body swapped 1979 Corvette with a 1949 Chevy pickup body, running a 4BT Cummins. And lets just put this all on 33s because that's the biggest tire a C3 chassis will clear...
Yeah, you can take your "rules" and walk out the door. I have work to do.