1987 Chevy C10 Pickup – Restyled and Driven Daily

Eric’s 1987 Chevy C10 ended up like most trucks – worked hard and abused. So by the time Eric came across this squarebody its clear coat was long gone, its body and interior were a little beat up but it was still straight down the sides, and perfect for what he needed it for. He owned Dilworth Billiards at the time and his manager was getting tired of her truck smelling like beer and liquor bottles after they hauled them off to the recycler. Sounds like a good excuse to buy a truck to us! Eric retired a few years later and was left with this well used but clean square body…what to do? After thinking about it for 10-seconds, he decided to revamp it for a daily driver use.

The first order of business was to go through that tired drivetrain. Luckily his new C-10 came with the tried and true fuel injected 5.7 liter V8 backed by a 4-speed automatic – no sense going overboard under the hood. A fresh rebuild of what was already there along with some simple performance upgrades was the perfect recipe for daily driver duties. A little bump in the cam department from Jegs and some Hooker long tube headers gave it that “not stock” sound along with a new aluminum radiator to keep those extra ponies cool. Mostly everything else was retained under the hood to maintain the semi-stock appearance such as the factory jack and its hardware, the air cleaner etc. Chassis mods came about in the same fashion – clean it up, rebuild and put back, along with some lowering components to help this C10 look more like it was distended for hauling speed instead of weight.

Eric liked the original color so he let Watty’s Speed and Fab spray it the factory Steel Gray Metallic after they made sure everything was straighter than factory. Watty’s also widened the factory rear wheel tubs to accommodate the 20×12 Billet Specialties Mag G wheels while up front it wears some 18×8’s wrapped in Mickey Thompson rubber.

With everything but the interior attended to, Eric turned to C. Fredrick’s Automotive Interiors to handle covering everything in either leather or German Square Weave carpet, even behind the stock bench seat, finishing off the upgraded stock theme Eric wanted.

Eric has always had a 911 as a daily driver and most car guys would agree the Porsche always maintained an understated performance appearance. That’s also the look Eric wanted for his 1987 Chevy C10. We think he nailed it, and like most of us, he isn’t planning on stopping its evolution. Next up is some extra front tire clearance for those not-so-flat North Carolina roads along with a rear gear and posi upgrade to be performed by the guys at Ray Evernham’s.

Eric’s 1987 Chevy C10 is representative of the next-gen cars and trucks coming into the performance scene helping to shape the new look of hot rodding. The parts are available, the donors are affordable and they look damn good when done up.