This is Charlie Brown's first vehicle, he bought it almost 15 years ago when he was 16 years old. It's a 1963 GMC 1/2 ton 4X4. The truck started out as a typical teenagers ride, used and abused

Here's some old pictures from Charlie and his truck's high school years!

After a few torturous years, Charlie decide to fix the truck up a little bit. The body was pulled off the frame and the engine was rebuilt. The original engine was a 305 cubic inch V-6.

Now maybe you're thinking, "305 cubic inch V-6, that's huge".  But after talking to Charlie and a little internet surfing, I found some interesting information about these little work horses! These V-6's were primarily built for commercial vehicles. They were never know for their fuel economy, but had decent low end grunt. These engines were available is sizes up to an astounding 478 cubic inches! And if that wasn't enough, how about the factory joining two of them together for  whopping 702 cubes! Another oddity were the psychedelic valve covers that actually came off of the production line.   G.M.C. sought to improve the economy of the 305 in light duty trucks, and was dyno-testing 305's with different carburetion and camshafts. Engineers in the dyno lab identified the improved engines by putting adhesive shelf paper on the valve covers, and wouldn't you just know it, 'Scotch Plaid' was what they were using. One day, some guys from marketing saw these engines being tested, and though it would be a great marking idea to actually build them that way.

OK, back to Charlie's truck!  After a few more years of use, Charlie had the unfortunate experience of having another truck trying to share the same space as his GMC. By the looks of the two photo's showing the resultant damage, Charlie got out on the better end of that attempt!

Well, Charlie was never quite satisfied with the overall performance of the trucks V-6 engine and now with the new body damage, it was time for another full rebuild.

  Another cab was found in a junk yard to replace the damaged unit.

The Gen VI 454 motor and 700R4 transmission was snatched out of a late model Chevy truck. The motor was outfitted with Edelbrock aluminum cylinder heads, a 502 camshaft plus a Holley carb sitting atop a Weiand intake manifold. All of the accessories were also taken from the late model truck, this included the A/C, power steering, power brakes, even the electrical system with the relay box. Charlie rebuilt the transmission himself, spending almost $1300 in parts alone.

Beautiful new crossmembers were fabricated to hold the big Chevy. The transfer case is a New Process 241C. A custom drive shaft was made along with the Flowmaster exhaust system. The rear differential is equipped an Auburn Locker and 4.27 gears. The front differential houses a Trac-Loc unit with the 4.27 gears.  Stopping power is supplied by 4-wheel discs. the back disc were pirated from a Cadillac Seville. Charlie even fabricated his own fuel tank to maximize fuel capacity.

The wooden bed was refurbished with new oak on the floor. The sides of the bed were coated with Rhino lining. It'd be kind of hard to toss an old motor in the back of this truck!

The interior was completely updated. The dash features Autometer gauges. The power seats are from a 1999 Chevy truck.

The one item that departs from a total GM vehicle is the outside mirrors. Charlie said, "The Ford mirrors were the only ones he could find that had the correct angle on the mounting base." The paint is Toyota Supra White acrylic enamel. The truck has a 4" lift and rides on Cragar rims shod with 35 inch BFG Mud Terrain tires.

So is this project complete? Come on, what project is ever really finished? Charlie's debating on putting the 454's original fuel injection along with a few other upgrades!