Nick Almond’s 1963 C10 has an Icky Thump in Her Giddy-Up
Nick Almond is a mellow dude. Relatively soft spoken and quite deliberate with his well-chosen words. His ‘63 C10 is a direct reflection of his personality in a multitude of ways. We ran across Nick and his truck at the C10 Fall Revival in Oakboro, North Carolina, last October. Eagle-eyed readers have no doubt seen it pop up in a couple of our previous issue. When I laid eyes on it, I knew I needed to find out more about this green goddess. We sat down with him for a few minutes to learn more about his story.
As Nick explains it, “I found the truck one morning while flipping through Craigslist ads. It was located in the North Carolina mountains. I gathered my things, hooked up the car trailer, popped over to pick up my dad, and we made the six hour round trip to get it. The older gentleman who owned it had passed away and the truck had been sitting for 10+ years. I made a deal and hauled it home to start the year-and-a-half process of restoring it to what it is now.”
There’s a little bit of truth in Kermit the Frog’s proclamation, “It’s not easy being green.” In this truck’s case, it ain’t easy because it gets so much attention. The styling is subtle and somewhat understated, but stays busy breaking necks everywhere Nick goes. The color glows like an emerald.
He went on to tell us about bringing the well-preserved sheetmetal back to life. “I did all the work myself with the help of friends. My buddy Matt Morrow at Finer Finishes blended all the paint where I had made rust repairs on the rockers and lower fenders. Then he flat cleared the outside to help keep the old patina look. I wanted a truck that showed its age but had the power and dependability of a newer truck.”
All of the upgrades he did were aimed directly at making the truck easy and fun to drive and live with. Modern fuel injected LS power under the hood get it going and giant Baer disc brakes reel in the power. A Ford 9” with beefy 31-spline axles, Strange center section and 4.11 gears provide a bulletproof outlet for the power transmitted from the TSP-cammed 5.3 backed by a 4L60E with 3,600 RPM stall Precision torque converter. And the sound it makes is music to my ears. In a Slayer kind of way. A 2-1/2” stainless steel exhaust system flows through a pair of rowdy Black Widow Venom 250 mufflers to provide a cacophonous experience when Nick’s giving it the business.
The interior is a heavenly complement to the hellish exhaust note. A cozy TMI seat, luxurious Ididit tilt column, and modern sounds courtesy of a RetroSound Bluetooth head unit. Out back, walnut bed wood is flanked by gorgeous Mar-K polished bed strips.
The icing on the cake comes in the form of the stunning, classic elegance of 22” Raceline Challenger billet wheels. 8.5” wide in the front, 10” wide in the rear. Nitto 555 provide the gription for hugging corners when Nick is hauling the groceries.
When it comes to tucks we would love to own, Nick Almond has one that we would proudly park in the CK Truck Mag collection (if there was such a thing). It’s cool, clean, and gets right to the point. Just the way we like it.