Classic Style!
A New, Old Grille
Here is the '68 Chevrolet C10 nose Chris bought from a wrecking yard perched in front of his '00 Silverado. As you can see, this grille isn't just going to drop in place. not only was it too wide, but it didn't feature the same curve along the hood area as the new truck. Chris did a lot of work to get it in, and the following images will show how he stitched it all together.
 Front Clip: Cut And Paste...  Front Clip: Cut And Paste
1. To start, everything that was being replaced was ripped off the Chevy so Chris could complete the front fender opening. The bumper on these trucks is what completes the fender opening, and since Chris will not be reinstalling the factory bumper, something had to be done. Chris used the rear lower portion of fenderwell from a donor bed. He used a '99-'06 bed for a lot of the little sheetmetal parts for this job-good thing he had one lying around. |  2. Once Chris had the wheel...  2. Once Chris had the wheel opening extended, he started placing just the headlight area of the '68, lining up the angle to the hood. Just below the old headlight section is the lower rear corner of the donor bed. Chris used this part to create the transition into what became the bumper. |  |
 3. After all of the new sections...  3. After all of the new sections were clamped in place, Chris began welding and adding filler pieces until he had both corners capped off. you can see from the picture, all of the welding looks a little like Frankenstein's monster, but it was necessary to transition the old and new sheetmetal together. |  4. Chris moved on to the center...  4. Chris moved on to the center section of the grille when the corners were roughed in. Because the '68 grille is much flatter across the front than the '00 truck, relief cuts were made every inch or so to help it bend into a nice smooth curve. Chris used the Hd hood as a guide for all of his bends. What you see in this picture is after Chris had made the cuts, shaped the grille, and welded the cut lines back together. |  5. After the grille was welded...  5. After the grille was welded up, Chris moved onto shaping a bumper. He used 16-gauge steel that he tacked and bent along the bottom of the '68 grille. in this picture, you can see the driver side is tacked in place, and the passenger side is still being completed, but it should give you a good idea on how Chris shaped the bumper. |
 6. Not wanting to have a big...  6. Not wanting to have a big slab of sheetmetal up front, Chris cut out this license plate box from a roll pan and grafted it in the center of the bumper. This way, he can still be custom and legal. How many times do those two words go together? |  7. Here is a shot Chris took...  7. Here is a shot Chris took when he had finished all of the welding and moved on to grinding everything smooth. He probably needed a break from throwing sparks. |  8. Chris stated he used Rage...  8. Chris stated he used Rage plastic filler on the fenders because of its easy sanding properties and USC's All Metal on the bumper area because of its toughness. He used 36-grit paper for the initial shaping, switched to 80 for a mid cut, and then to 180 as he got it close to perfect. |
 9. In this shot, you can see...  9. In this shot, you can see Chris had the bumper completely shaped and skim-coated with Rage filler. Again, using the Rage filler toward the end will help because it sands much easier than the aluminuminfused All Metal. After Chris had the filler shaped, he coated the front end with a primer with high-fill characteristics. |  10. Here's the truck right...  10. Here's the truck right before Chris performed the last stage of block-sanding. You can see Chris decided to fill in the depression around each of the grille openings. i suspect he did that to save the headache of making new surround moldings from scratch, because the stock one wouldn't even come close to fitting now. | |
The Final Word
Chris finished the job by coating the new sheetmetal with a red and black two-tone paintjob. Chris' idea is awesome, and I think he has created something totally one-off and cool. This is what I saw on the Reader's Rides section of www.sporttruck.com and why i contacted him. Chris wanted to throw a special thanks to Eric Nichols, owner of Certified Collision, for the shop space, and Rob Robinson for the bodywork help. if you have any questions for Chris about his work or his truck, send him an e-mail.