Theonwerswifes1954GMCTruck

This whole company started off a passion to upgrade my wife's 1954 GMC truck.
Originally I had a 1948 Chevrolet/Barnette Ambulance. Not the easiest thing to
drive and not good as an only vehicle for a newly married couple. We argued for
months about buying a new truck and finally settled on buying an old truck that had
most of the work done already. We soon found "her" truck in a terrible grey-purple
primer on a miserable drizzly day. She even talked the truck owner into trading MY
ambulance to get HER truck!!!!!!! Oh well as the saying goes,
"If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

After ten years and over 80,000 miles of daily driving, towing, parades and brutal
house projects it was finally time to upgrade. This is how the S10 frame swap came
to be. I had searched for ways to upgrade the suspension and powertrain in the
truck. Originally the truck had a Mustang II crossmember and mid-size GM 10-bolt
Posi on Rancho rear springs. This was a horrible combination that only got worse
when I replaced all the bushings and shocks. The old frame had cracked over half
a dozen times. I saw a 1950 GMC Panel on a full-size 1996 frame but it set too wide.
I searched for something that would fit better. Finally, I came across the long bed
standard cab S10. After some serious research I got together with a couple guys
and we started engineering the kit. Within a few months we had a spare truck and
an S10 frame. With only Sundays to work it took quite a while but we got the first kit
done. A year later we were in production and selling a few kits a month. Fast
forward to 2006 and we are pre-selling out on kits before production runs are done.

As a tribute to my wife and her truck (which is only now getting converted!) I will
document the progress of what was supposed to be the rodstoration of her truck
but ended up being the start of a business!

In August 2005 the slow return to glory of the yellow truck began with
the disassembly.

There are some serious issues with the cab. Wife says I'm not allowed to replace the cab since I'm
already replacing the frame, engine, transmission and rear axle. Something about the "soul" of the
truck being lost! The only part of the cab not being replaced is the roof and dashboard!! But I know
if I lie and replace the cab she'll figure it out and tie me to the trailer hitch before a road trip.

March 2006 Update
With a temporary cab installed, the truck is rolling on an S10 frame with his new 2005 all
aluminum 5.3 liter Displacement on Demand V8 and 4L60E overdrive transmission. Wife
says the original wheels and tires MUST go back on the truck when done. Fortunately,
they bolt on to the S10 hubs no problem. Some billet spacers will be required but we'll get
to that in a later update.

A new Flaming River steering column being
fitted for install. Column shift and tilt.

The DOD 5.3 V8 installed.

Page 2

Customer Rides

Annika Hertz
-Owner's wife-
54 GMC truck
Sonora, CA, USA

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