1961 Chevrolet C10 Stepside custom hot rod V8 automatic truck

1961 Chevrolet C-10 Description

If you’re looking for a classic Chevrolet C-10 truck in the 1960 - 1966 range, take a look at this beautiful 1961 Chevrolet C-10 Apache Tangerine Orange truck. The pictures and the details included give an informed view of just how well this truck was built and the extensive work completed, making it a quality investment for the next owner. There is much to read because this was such a well-thought out build.

First, let me explain who built the truck. This truck was not built in someone’s garage as a hobby. It was built in a real Hot Rod shop by real builders who have built cars and trucks for customers and know how to deliver a quality build. The shop, Nostalgic Restorations, is owned by Greg Rodgers is located in Hughson, California.

Here are the details on this fabulous 1961 Chevrolet C-10 truck:

The truck body is all steel and completely rust free. While many of these trucks being sold today have been called “ground up” restoration builds, often they were never taken completely apart down to the frame with the body components taken apart and then piece by piece rebuilt. That’s not the case here – this was a complete tear down and rebuild. For example: The cab, fenders, bed, hood, and doors were totally taken apart, hours of body work were completed, and then they were primed and ready for paint. Next, every piece was painted with 2 stage Tangerine Orange paint, with the exterior portions receiving 3 coats of paint and 4 coats of clear to complete this eye catching look.

When the body was reassembled, many hours were devoted to carefully fitting the body parts back together--in fact, much better than what came out of the factory in 1961. This truck was factory built with a wood bed, so naturally that bed needed to be replaced. A new bed and stainless strips from OPIG were ordered and fitted perfectly. The wood was coated with a light finish to give the bed that natural look. All the door handles, side mirrors, tail lights, headlights, bumpers, wiper arms, antenna, tailgate chains, and grille are new replaced units so that nothing old was put back on for you to deal with later.

The front and back window glass is brand new. The door windows and side vents are original glass and frames as they were in such great shape and very hard to replace with aftermarket products. Original equipment such as these windows are best saved if they are in as good shape as these windows. All the window rubber and door rubbers have been replaced with new rubber.

The truck sits on a full set of Centerline 18”x 8” up front and 18”x 10” on the back that are highly polished billet 5 spoke custom wheels with Hankook Ventus S1 Noble2 high performance tires. There are brand new CPP 11” disc brakes up front and new drum brakes in the rear. All the brake lines have been replaced with new lines and fittings plus a new booster, master cylinder and proportioning valve from CPP were installed to complete the brake system.

The drive train is a brand new completely rebuilt 350 motor with less than 300 miles on it. There are many upgrades to the engine to improve performance such as a mild cam, aluminum Edelbrock Performer intake manifold with a Edelbrock 750 carburetor with electric choke, so the truck starts and runs without warm up.

The gas tank has been removed from behind the bench seat and a new 22 gal aluminum tank was installed in the back under the wood bed. Several other key features to performance were the new HEU distributor and coil, new Taylor plug wires and spark plugs. So the engine would perform at a high level, a set of coated headers and dual Magnaflow exhaust that runs clear to the back and drops out at each corner below the tailgate was installed. This truck sounds great!!

Finally, under the hood there were many upgrades including: new Spectre 3” high Black air filter, a complete pulley system with chrome pulleys and V-belts, new polished A/C compressor unit, chrome power steering pump unit, a one wire polished alternator, new water pump and electric fuel pump. Also new are the Chevrolet chrome valve covers, polished spark plug wires holders, and new aluminum cross flow radiator and electric fan.

The new starter and the new battery cables along with new side post battery ensure that you will not have to worry about this truck starting unlike many “ground Up” builds where these things are not replaced. All the wiring under the hood has been routed under the fenders in looms so that you have a very clean looking engine compartment, not bunches of electrical wires and spark plug wires running everywhere. Check out the pictures, I think you will like the look.

The last thing you want to see when you open the hood are the old stock hood hinges and old fender bolts that have not been replaced. Check out how all the fender bolts have been replaced with new button head bolts and washers. We ordered a new set of hood hinges and had them powder coated wet black and I think you will agree those upgrades go a long way to improve the engine compartment.

To finish off the drive train, a newly rebuilt turbo 400 transmission was built by Interstate Transmissions which is backed up by a new drive-shaft bolted to a 10 bolt newly built rear-end with 373 gears.

Suspension and steering in any restoration play a major role in how the truck will perform. This truck was taken down to the bare frame, and then sand blasted and checked for any weak areas. None were found so the frame was painted several times giving it a lasting finish for years. Next the upper and lower front A arms were totally rebuilt, new CCP dropped spindles were installed up front, then all the torsion bar front suspension was taken completely apart and rebuilt.

In the back, new 5” coil lowering springs were installed so the truck would have the correct stance. New rubber mounting blocks that mount the cab, bed and front end to the frame were installed. New shocks were installed on all 4 corners, along with a new Napa short throw power steering box and steering shaft to the column. The results are felt the first time you drive the truck as it is tight and there is zero play in the steering. The truck rides like you would expect a truck with solid suspension under it to perform.

Let’s spend some time describing the interior. The interior upholds the truck’s history and fine lines and at the same time gives the truck that more modern look with upgrades including a new custom built bench seat, custom door panels with real leather upholstery on the bench seat and door panels. (Cab has the smell of leather.) The orange and white upholstery combined with the Tangerine orange color of the cab interior makes this truck feel like it just came out of a new truck showroom.

Finishing off the interior, new black carpet was installed as well as new Vintage air conditioning plus a Classic Auto sound audio system with iPod/USB/iPhone hands-free connections.

Delivering the sounds are speakers behind the bench seat in custom built corner units and speakers mounted the kick panels up front in the cab plus one more speaker in the dash. New interior door handles and rear-view mirror finish off small details in the cab. There were 3 more added features to the interior that complete the classic look: a complete set of New Vintage gauges with a tach, a new Ididit tilt polished steering column was fitted to the steering box and then a new Billet half wrap steering wheel was installed. Looking at the interior pictures you’ll see the interior of this truck is as beautiful as the exterior. In fact, if you scan through the pictures I hope you would agree the quality of this build is one you don’t find very often.

The asking price is $37,000. While you can find trucks cheaper than my asking price, in every case those trucks will not have the extensive restoration that this truck went through. As for building one yourself… take it from someone who has built trucks in the past, it will cost you more than my asking price to build a truck this nice.

Here’s a little about me, to help you as you consider this 1961 Chevrolet C-10 truck. I’m a lifelong classic car fan and reseller. I built a 1965 Ford pickup which won the West Coast F100 Nationals in 2010. (Yes, a 1965 won Best in Show at a 53-56 Ford truck show. (Never happened before.) It was the first a 1965 Ford pickup that ever made the cover of Classic Truck magazine. The same pickup then won the North-South F100 Nationals the same year. I also built a 1967 Camaro that won the Chevy Muscle award at the GoodGuys 2014 West Coast meet.

I’ve sold approximately 35 classic and muscle cars and trucks in the last 5 years. I specialize in unique cars and trucks witch are great builds which frequently sell for $50-100,000+, my attention to detail brings me happy buyers. My point for sharing my car background is to show that while I do this as a hobby, I know a great truck versus a good truck, and this 1961 Chevrolet C-10 truck is a beautiful truck that for the asking price is a very good deal.

While this vehicle is sold “AS IS” with all the expense and work that has been invested in this truck by the builder, Greg Rodgers at Nostalgic Restorations and by me, it’s not likely that you will be anything but delighted with the truck. Please contact me if you are interested as I will be happy to answer your questions or consider your offer. Thanks for taking the time to consider this beautiful 1961 Chevrolet C-10 Apache truck.

Contact info: Glen 925-699-6854