Automotive Blogger

I’m skipping the weekly links this week because I found a Car Star for this week that is so awesome that it deserves a post all its own.

(click to go to the full gallery of pics)

I found this vehicle last year when I joined the 67-72ChevyTrucks.com message board. Since they have a great 73-87 Chevy truck section, I generally hang around in there. When I saw the truck of the guy called N2TRUX, I thought it was one of the coolest rides I’d ever seen. Last week I asked N2TRUX (also known as Ken McAvoy) if I could feature his truck as this week’s Car Star, and he agreed. Matter of fact, he had a story prepared for when he was featured in Classic Trucks magazine last year.

Here’s Ken’s story:

Internet Classic
Ken McAvoy
N2TRUX

Every custom truck has a story, and this 77 Chevy Cheyenne is no different. Unlike the daily driver drone trucks that get you back and forth to work or school, custom trucks have a personality. Most trucks are bought from a new auto dealer, or the local used truck emporium. They get a few basic bolt-ons, and then go about the daily grind of being transportation pretty much unnoticed.

Custom trucks are usually different from the beginning. They always seem to have a story to go with them. For some the story begins in a farmer’s field or barn. For others it was bought new and passed through generations of a family until it was time for a rebuild. The scenarios are endless, but there is almost always a story.

Mine begins innocent enough. I wasn’t looking for a project, because I already had one. I bought a really clean 82 C/K 2wd Blazer five years ago, and although the transformation to custom truck has been very slow, it is finally starting to show signs of real progress. But that is another “custom truck “ story.

This story begins as I was wasting away another evening relaxing and cruising the net. One of the websites that I frequent is www.67-72chevytrucks.com.

While surfing the 73-87 message board, I ran across a post that was titled something like “Hey, look what’s on Ebay�. You know the ones I’m talking about. You are always tempted to look, but it’s almost never anything worth checking out.

This one was different. The link inside lead me to this really clean black 77 Chevy Cheyenne. It had a few pics displayed in the ad, so I spent some time viewing them. Since pictures on the net can be very deceiving, I just assumed this truck was a really nice 10 footer. As I opened the pictures up, I was surprised at how clean this truck really was. I must have spent an hour clicking each picture to “super size� it for a better view.

I could not get over how clean this truck was. The ad said it was a low mileage truck to start with, and had undergone a professional body-off restoration. I had to know more about it. That night I emailed the owner asking for more information, and of course more pictures.

He responded with a brief story about how it had been restored at a shop in Arkansas that specializes in classic restorations. It spent a few years being trailered to car shows, and winning awards before it was sold. It went through another owner before this gentleman bought it with the intentions of selling it for a profit. He sent more pictures along with the history.

The new pictures were even more impressive. I was able to see from these shots that it was just as nice as it appeared. I decided even though I had a driveway full of trucks, and neck deep in my Blazer project, I had to pursue this further. With the reluctant permission of my wife, I placed a bid. I eventually won the bid, but did not meet the reserve. I figured it was just not meant to be, and I let it go.

A couple of weeks later, I went to visit Keith, a good friend of mine. We live a few hours apart, so we try to find good excuses to get together often. There was a truck show in his area, so my family went to stay with his family, and the guys went to the show.

On our way to the show, Keith asked whatever happened to the 77 I was bidding on, so I told him the story. He said since the truck wasn’t too far from where we were, that we should go look at it. Being the good friend that I am, I didn’t want to offend him by disagreeing too much. Actually I was dying to go look at it.

I did mention how I didn’t think my wife would appreciate me buying another truck considering how many trucks I already owned. He smiled, and said that he knew she wouldn’t mind “too much�, because he had already asked her.

We called the guy that owned the truck and arranged a meeting. When we rolled up to his house it was sitting in the driveway with the sun filtering through large oak trees on it. The sunlight seemed to accent it in just the right places. WOW! It looked so sweet with the sun bouncing off the chrome trim, and glossy black paint. I was excited, but tried not to show it. My Dad taught me a long time ago, to never let a seller see your excitement.

(click to go to the full gallery of pics)

Keith and I spent an hour or more looking the truck over from top to bottom. The undercarriage was as clean as the top side. I could tell that this had started as a solid truck before it was restored. It had the feel of a new truck. I liked the fact that it wasn’t over-restored, and could see that the quality of the work was good.

I told the owner I wanted to discuss it with my wife and left. On the way back to my buddies’ house he told me if I would buy it he would lower it. I called the owner and we made a deal. Unfortunately I had to leave for home, so I had to rely on Keith to pick the truck up for me.

The next week Keith picked the truck up and took it to another friends shop. Roger Lynskey had just opened up a new shop in Rockwall, Texas called Stoked Out Specialties www.stokedoutspecialties.com Since Keith’s family and mine were leaving for vacation in Florida, Roger stepped in and agreed to get the truck ready for the Texas Heatwave show. At that point there was just a little more than a month to get it done.

Right away the bed was pulled to see where to mount everything, and a “Big Red� 4 way system was ordered from Air Ride Technologies. We decided the bed was painted too nice to cut it out for a step notch. Instead a mild C-notch was built and a 20“ section of the frame was boxed in. We chose to remove all the leafs but two from the spring pack and combine it with an axle flip and an over-leaf bag kit from Air Ride Technologies.

The front was brought down by using DJM 3� dropped spindles, and an Air Ride Tech bag kit. Custom bump stops were built by Roger to ensure that the truck would still roll when aired out.

A single Viair 450 compressor was installed to fill two 5 gallon Air Ride Tech tanks. The tanks are mounted where the spare tire once was on a set of custom built brackets. KYB shocks were used at all four corners to smooth the ride out, and prevent body roll.

Wanting to maintain a classic look, Billet Specialties “VinTec� wheels were chosen. We went with 20x 8.5 up front and 20x 9.5 in the rear. The tires are BFG G-Force KDW with 245/40/20 in front, and 295/40/20 in the rear.

This gave us the look we wanted on the outside, so it was time to move inside. The interior was left stock, but a few updates and options were added. A small metal console was designed and built by Roger to have a place for five air switches. It was built to follow the curve of the seat and be right at the driver finger tips, but not interfere with passenger’s leg room. The five switches allow four corner control, and a single switch to dump the system.

A small four way digital gauge from Air Ride Tech was mounted where the ash tray once was. When the ashtray door is closed the gauge disappears, leaving a stock appearing dash. A Billet Specialties “VinTec� wheel was added to replace the original unit.

This truck is a Cheyenne so it didn’t come with very many factory options. That didn’t stop us from adding a few. I went back to the internet to find what I needed to add a tilt column, and a factory “tach dash�. Specialty Power Windows were called for one of their window kits, an internet friend Chris Lucas supplied the correct power harness, and GM parts had the window switches in stock. Autoloc got the nod for a complete remote power lock system. Again, GM parts had the lock switches in stock.

The truck was finished just in time for my buddy Keith to drive it down to my house Thursday night before Texas Heatwave 2003. The plan was to get to the show early on Friday to avoid the long lines to get in. We looked the air system over when he got to my house and decided one of the air lines was a bit too long. We pulled some slack out of the line and cut it shorter. We “thought� everything looked good now.

Friday morning rolled around and we blasted off for the show. About an hour down the road I stopped for gas and a line blew dropping the truck to the ground. The line that we had pulled the slack out of was now too close to the exhaust. Since the stock jack was of no use we limped to a nearby Quicky-Lube and asked if we could use their oil change pit to make the repair.

Even though we were lucky enough to have a local auto parts deliver air line and fittings it still took most of the day to get it back on the road. By the time the line was repaired we were covered with oil from the rack so we rerouted our trip and went back home for a well needed shower.

We finally made it to the show on Saturday, where the restored look was a big hit. It seems almost everyone I talked to has had an old Chevy truck something like this in their life. Maybe it was their Dad, Grandpa or an Uncle, but someone they knew had one and it brought them a smile and stirred old memories.

While I was at the show I ran in to a friend that had been up all night. His truck broke down on the way to the show, but that’s another one of those “custom truck� stories…..

Thanks go to-
My buddies Keith Stephens, Roger Lynskey
My internet buddies Chris Lucas, Dave Cross
Stoked Out Specialties- www.stokedoutspecialties.com
My wife Lana for understanding the need to have more than a few trucks.
My daughter Marissa for helping Dad when he cleans his old “custom truck�

Since Ken created this writeup, he’s undergone a pretty big engine conversion project that resulted in a beautiful Ramjet 350 taking up residence underneath the hood.

If you happen to run across N2TRUX on 67-72ChevyTrucks.com, tell him howdy. If you’d like to see more pictures of Ken’s truck, click here to visit the gallery.

Chevrolet, truck, bagged, Cheyenne, clean, custom, stock, appearing, moldings, N2TRUX