One of the projects I have waiting on me when spring hits is my truck Big Red. It is a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado 1500. My cousin bought it new and I purchase it from him. It has less than 90K miles on it. That's not bad for an 03 year.
The last couple years, a little at a time, I have worked at restore it some. Yeah, it is not tha told and was not in tha tbad of shape when i bought it, but it needed a little touch of love.
It is approaching that age where i think it is workthy of taking to car and truck shows. So hopefully I can get it there. Once the outside and inside of cab is done, I would like to start some work on the engine. Even though it runs good, I would like to add some show worthy parts to it. like chrome and red out some of the engine and all that stuff.
The good thing is that it runs just fine, so the engine needs very little work. I had to replace the battery on it, and that has been about it.
The paint had been peeling and fading in places. It also had it share of small dents and dings. It just so happened one of my neihgbors had fmaily that did body work on autos. After some converstation he took my truck for a few months and worked on it in his spare time for a fee. He took out the dents and dings, then repainted it.
The headlight front lights have some tarnish on them as you can see in the above picture. That is one of the takss on my to-do list of it. They make kits to polish the glass on the lights and remove that tarnish, but from what I read it doesn't last very long. They are also getting moisture in them, so that tells me the seals around them are bad. They just need to be replaced and they are not all that cheap.
When I had it repainted, the CHEVROLET across the tailgate needed redone as well and our neighbors fmaily member did that as well. I also had the old back bumper replaced with a chrome one to match all the rest of the chrome bling on the truck so far.
It currently has chrome front and rear bumber, chrome side rails on the bed, and chrome rims. Eventually I would like to place a chrome diamond plate protector on the tail gate lip where there is a black plastic one now.
One of the taillights is cracked as well and will evntually need to be replaced. Again, these assemblies are not cheap. It does have a tow package and is able to tow a camper if needed. That's what my cousin used to pull with it.
Not long after getting it back from the painter, I took it to get a bed liner sprayed in. It is like one of those Rhino liner things.
Also in the pic you can see that tailgate lip protector better I was talking about that I want to replace ith a chrome diamond plate one.
That antenna you see in the bed toward the cab is the antenna for my CB radio. Currently it is a cheaper brand CB with no amplifier. I plan to upgrade that as well.
The interior neeeds just a little work. I have custom made dash cover that needs to go in it eventually. It will cover up a small crack in the dash board. There is also a tear in the driver side seat from getting in and out repeatedly. It will need to go to an upholstery repair shop eventually before it gets any bogger. Otherwise the inside just needs cleaned up some and maybe a little bling for show.
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Notes:
-All content is mine unless otherwise annotated.
-Images are my own unless otherwise noted.
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Nice ride, Joe and nice job getting her spruced up!
Thanks. It is a nice ride. It is a work in progress. Looking forward to spring to get some more things done to it.
Nice! It's looking good! Funny how projects like that one become expensive, you're making some nice progress. The Rhino bedliner looks great!
Yeah, they can be expensive. That is why it is taking me so long do get it where I want it. Thanks, the bedliner isn't really Rhino brand, but still a spray in like it.
Looks like a really nice truck! I used to date a girl that had a truck like that. Same color too! It was a really nice ride from what I remember!
Yes, it is a crusing truck for sure. Mine is only 2WD, so not meant for any off road duty or anything. I still use it like a truck though and we haul things around in the bed of it when needed. However, i think its days of towing stuff is over.
That's good that you use it like a truck. I always get a little sad when I see people who obviously don't. Sure, they are pretty, but it's a truck man!