SHAWN MCCANN
1963 CHEVROLET C10
“AFTER many years of owning tough Holdens, in 2017 I started yearning for an old project that would be more of a cruiser, so I scored this Chev C10 off a mate who needed funds for a larger project. She was a bit of a plain Jane, but she did come airbagged and with a small-block V8 in the engine bay, so she was the perfect starting point for my plans. I’d spent a few house deposits on shiny paintjobs for my past projects, but this time the plan was to keep it a bit rough. One night, over a few tins with mates, one of them mentioned they had an old-school, draw-through turbo set-up for a small-block sitting around, and another mate said, ‘You’d be a pelican not to fit that to your C10.’ So, a negotiation was made, and I then stripped the engine down, gave it a freshen-up and slapped the turbo on, and now the old girl can make it up steep hills! Although airbags had already been fitted in the US before the truck’s boat ride to Australia, let’s just say the installation was a bit average. Over another few tins with mates, someone suggested we slap the old girl on her guts, and who am I to argue with such logic? So, we got to work to improve the airbag situation. By this time, Mabel (as she had become known) was looking fine on the outside, but the inside needed some loving; the old bench seat was haggard and held together with cloth tape. Upholstery is something I couldn’t tackle, so I shipped the seat, armrests and sun shades off to a local legend to get that sorted out, and he did a great job. I slapped some carpet in while it was stripped, and another mate gave the steering wheel a freshen-up. The moral of the story is that cars are rad and building them with mates is amazing for one’s mental health. I’ve had a few cars over the years, but this one’s a keeper.” Photos: Shawn Mccann