Most people would look at this truck and think, “It’s beautiful, but what would posses someone to do that?” Well, let me tell you a story. Hopefully this will explain how my brain works and not scare you like it does my wife.
While looking for another pick up, I came across a 1988 GMC C 3500 dually extended cab long box. The sellers were asking $2,000; said when it ran it was like a hot rod but they couldn’t figure out why it kept dying on them. It would just die out, now and then.
It was all white with a red interior, cloth buckets with a small fold down seat in back of the extended cab. The box had multiple holes in the bed for a 5th wheel hitch that was no longer there. Rear fenders had holes in the fiberglass, ugly running boards, rocker panels were half rotted away as were the cab corners from Wisconsin salt. It was butt ugly! No other way to put it. A real White Elephant with dual exhaust and Dyna Flo mufflers.
It was so ugly that I almost walked away…then I heard it start up and smiled. It sounded great! Ended up taking it for a test ride and it was all truck; 454, TH 400 Trans, 373 Posi Dana 70 rear end…my mind was already dreaming of what she could become, so I bought it for $1500.
Seller was located about 30 miles from where I lived. As I started to make my way home, she handled great, going down the freeway at 70; I almost forgot how ugly it was and then I experienced the truck-dying-out thing they warned me about.
She died completely.
Working out the bugs:
Turns out the 454 was out of a 1970. Who ever had it before them put that motor in then tried to hook up all the smog pump crap, knock sensor, throttle bottle injected carb on an aluminum high rise with vacuum leaks everywhere. The 1988 computer trying to figure what the hell was going on.
Solution:
I divorced the motor from the computer, did away with the smog crap, the throttle body injection carb and went with an Edelbrock carb after re-doing the intake manifold to do away with the vacuum leaks. I lucked out and bought both the carb and intake from a guy that bought it to put on his motor home but sold it before he put it on and he gave me a great deal on both. Then I put in manual gauges so I could see what the motor was doing and it ran great… but still an ugly truck with a lot of cosmetic issues.
Enjoying it:
One late afternoon , our Son, Daughter and grand kids all wanted to go to the Golden Corral for supper. My Son rode his crotch rocket, daughter and oldest grand daughter took her car, my wife and I and the 3 littlest grands took the white elephant. The three littles felt like that back seat was just meant for them and fell in love with that truck.
On our way home we pulled up to a stop light and our son pulled up beside us. Because of the pipes and the sound of the engine, he nodded his head like, “let’s drag old man!” So when the light changed I nailed it. The duallys in the back started screaming and we were gone. It Surprised our son so much he killed his bike. The kids were all laughing and my wife said “why do you do that to him”? I said watch, you’ll see in a minute as he went screaming by. Later at home he was laughing about how it scared/surprised him when the tires broke loose. The truck was a beast, a very ugly beast. He said he didn’t like being beat by a big White Elephant. And the name stuck!
What to do:
I started looking around for another 88 thru whatever cab (generation 88-89) I could find; in Wisconsin most trucks in those years are also rust buckets. Then there was trying to find dually fenders, which are also fiberglass and also all beat to hell. And then I come across the B Model Mack.
I was driving down to West Bend, WI to see a friend when I see this Mack parked next to a shop with a for sale sign. I didn’t know much about Mack except I liked the B model look, even a 1962 like this one has the 1950’s look. The guy was nice enough but he wouldn’t come down much off his 3K asking price; probably because he knew what it was worth. We started talking as I was looking the truck over when I realized I’m not going to be able to put this thing on my car hauler and damned sure can’t tow it with a chain the 60 miles back home when he says I know a guy that has a heavy hauler. We call him right then, he quotes me $400 and the guy selling the truck says I can drop to$ 2,600 if that helps, he just didn’t want to see it go to scrap.
Honey I just bought a Semi:
To be honest my wife didn’t see the magic in my purchase nor did she share the same vision I had for the old White Elephant. It was one of those many times when she just went along with my plan…as long as it didn’t cost too much.
Luckily I had an acquaintance that had a large shop, yard, and a fork lift. The Mack came with an extra engine, big 6 cylinder diesel. So I listed the motors, drive train, and frame and got back $2,000 of the $3,000 it cost for the truck and hauling.
This Mack was a work horse in its day and the owner treated it that way. The light panels and fenders were welded together, both wheel wells needed metal replacement, both fenders had cracks that had patches welded over, and the roof had been crushed a little. Both wing vents were cracked and the handles were broken off. Passenger side window was broken.
When I set the Mack Cab on the 88 Chassis to see how it would line up, I got the front fenders where they were supposed to be and realized I had about 18″ from the back of the firewall where that big six cylinder sat to the back of the 454 distributor. That worked out great since there was no room under the dash for any kind of heater/air conditioner. So I moved the engine alcove up to where I needed it and had just enough room for a long and slender Awesome Air II unit. $1,100 plus change was on its way.
As I started doing the metal replacement and was getting ready to tape up the windows, I noticed that the window seals were all dried and cracked; powdery, to where tape wouldn’t stick to it. The glass had that grey film that happens between the layers of glass with age.
With the $500 plus purchase of window seals and $800 in 30% green tinted flat glass from a glass man out of California, I thought I was getting somewhere. I had already put in some heavy duty air bags when I was beefing up the chassis to my liking. Now I needed an onboard compressor. Of course I was going to need new air horns. And to dress up the motor I was going to need some tall welded aluminum valve covers. A nice chunk of change for aluminum pulleys and brackets to go on what never was.
While I was looking around for some Mack vent windows, and maybe a door, I came across a freshly built blown and turbo charged Detroit with an Allison 545 sitting on an engine stand for $2,500. I couldn’t afford to buy it because the 10 gauge steel panels for my truck bed were ready for pick up and that was $2,100. I quietly cried as I walked away from the Detroit. The budget was getting tight and the 454 would have to do.
I still needed to buy a set of LED gauges, MP3 player with a picture screen with a back up camera, and get the 1969 C-10 bench seat covered. Then there were the LED head lights and tail lights and electric brake set up to be wired in. Yep it was turning into a much fancier truck than I planned. Isn’t that how it always goes.
With the bed being 10′ long (remember, this is a long box extended cab frame) the white oak boards needed to be planed down from 8/4 oak to 1 5/16″; just because anyone who knows me well, knows I like Heavy Duty! This also meant I had to special order the stainless skid strips at 10′ long and an extra one to go up the tail gate.
So the White Elephant morphed into the Green Hulk. She did great at the car shows; even won me a trophy! It took me about two years to get it done and about 24K out of pocket. Thanks to the economy tanking and my needing to pay off some bills, it went for half what I was hoping for. Man, if I “just coulda” have swung that Detroit motor… but that’s the way it goes with us car guys – shoulda, coulda, woulda.
At the end of the day I was able to scratch that itch to build something unique! Mission accomplished.
Enjoy looking through the pics of the build. Let me know in the comments, your thoughts. With special Thanks to my wonderful and accepting wife and those who supported me through this build.
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