1985 Chevy C10 charity build for Mission 22! Sergeant Square

Chris Hamilton . March 30, 2023 . c10

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Build It, Show It, Sell It… for Charity!

Our All American chassis has arrived! If you don’t about Sergeant Square, let’s catch up on this charity build for Mission 22. This 1985 Chevy C10 pickup truck will be fully restored to what we feel is the most desirable Chevy square body on the road. Once the truck is complete, we will take it to SEMA 2023 and auction it off at a Barrett Jackson-style auction in 2024.

Thanks to All American Chassis, along with our local sandblasters and powdercoaters, we now have a completely new, fully coated frame for this truck that’s ready for assembly. The chassis is pre-engineered for a QA1 coilover-style suspension setup that we installed with no problems. The engine is on the way, and we are excited to show you what we ordered.

We still have a whole lot of work to complete to make it to SEMA, but we promise you it’s happening. Mission 22 spends their days and nights protecting the men and woman in our armed forces, so we are happy to donate a few months of our expertise if it helps this amazing cause.

OK. Enough with the preview. Let’s get to the good stuff!

With the cab completely stripped and the bolts successfully removed, Dave used the forklift to raise the cab off of the original frame.

It’s a good thing we don’t need to use that frame because it looks pretty rough. We are really lucky the cab doesn’t have any rust holes after sitting on this frame.

The chassis is here! All American Chassis built one heck of a nice frame for our 1985 Chevy square body C10, and we cannot wait to start assembling it. First thing, though, is to protect this amazing piece of artwork, so it’s out of the crate and off to the sandblaster right away.

Check out the welds on this chassis. All American Chassis has some serious talent and hardcore welding equipment to make welds this smooth. Very impressive!

The cab also needs to be pulled out of the garage bay so it can ride along. Getting all the old paint and primer off the original metal is very important to the length of its next life.

Liles Custom Trailers in Ocala, Florida, handled the blasting of both parts with precision. The cab is much thinner metal than the frame, so it is important to know the proper blast pressure.

How great does that look! We found a few additional rust holes, but all in all it’s in great shape. Now it’s off to Johnny’s Hot Rods in Ocala, Florida, for a metal spa treatment like no other.

With the cab off to the paint shop, the chassis was headed in a different direction completely. Metalcraft Industries is a premier metal coating and fabricator that we have trusted with many of our projects. For Sergeant Square, they are going all out by laying down a powdercoat primer first and a final coat later.

We also had the upper and lower control arms sandblasted and powdercoated in high-quality black.

Two days later, we have a fully coated, full plate-frame chassis to start building on. The coating is thick and permanent, and we kind of like the color. Should the final coat of powder be dark gray or black?

Back over at the paint shop, Johnny’s crew has the inner cowl area masked off for a coat of sealer, primer, and paint. This spot is tough to get to when the new windshield surround is installed.

With the body prepped and ready for the rebuild, Johnny’s Hot Rods focused first on the lower cab corners. Cutting out the old and installing new metal is the path to perfect.

With the corners in check, it’s time to focus on the windshield surround. This is not a task for the inexperienced, although the team at Johnny’s Hot Rods made it look easy.

Now it’s time to see how these LMC Truck doors fit. Using brand new hinges and hardware from LMC made the install go super smooth.

With the chassis in the Street Trucks garage, Dave started setting some suspension parts together to where the wheels will sit. If we have to cut the fenders, now is a good time to find out.

Using some 2x4s, Dave set the bedsides on and the front bed support. The bed floor is going to need to be cut to fit.

Up front, the QA1 suspension is easily installed along with the control arms from All American Chassis. Almost a shame we have to drive this on the road one day, but I can’t wait!

We used a space engine block we had laying around for mock-up purposes. In the next issue, we will announce which engine we are mounting to the chassis. But for now, here’s a small hint.

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