It seems these days that more and more folks are really enjoying giving themselves a bit of a workout and giving their old piece of metal a complete makeover. This is no different in this case too as the owner of a 70 Chevy thought that his skills as a bodyman had to come to play if he needed to make something better out of what he already had. Joe Bandor of Ft. Wayne, Indiana decided to give the old vehicle a bit of a face lift!
For the main portion of the panel Joe located a ‘71 Suburban in a wrecking yard and then, after cutting it down to fit the ’70’s new shortened wheelbase, he fabricated 18-gauge steel to fill in where the ‘Burb’s windows used to be. Up front, displeased with the “boxy look” of the ‘70 hood, Joe acquired a ‘67 hood with its factory pancake and lengthened it 2 inches to fit with the ‘70 grille. With the panel’s new look under control; the next area Joe went after was the engine. Joe soon had the stock 454 bolted-in and it was time to get back out on the road.
That surely was not the end of the story as Joe spent but plenty of money and time to get what he wanted out of the 1970 Chevy. Joe says that he did all this just because he wanted a ‘Panel truck’ and I am pretty sure they were easier ways, but those may not have been this much fun!
Comments
It’s not my dream car, but it sure does pack a lot of power with that that engine. I think acceleration from 0 to 100kph is pretty smooth, and the car handles extremely well both in the city and in the highway. Probably a strong car. I’m am gonna write about it in my ”The Car Fashion Magazine” blogs
Very interesting to note that many find it a very viable option if not something that is perfect and amazing. Just goes to show that sometimes solid and simple stuff work as well or even better than the perfect and spectacular designs. I really still like the hard work put in it though by the guy. Simply too good.