SO FRESH SO CLEAN

Guys like Tim Brown, of Bryceville, Florida live, sleep and eat anything related to do with custom vehicles. As a 12 year old kid, he started working at his dad’s shop after school, and has since taken over as owner/operator of the family business where he spends a good deal of his days and nights – week in and week out. 

When Tim is clocked in at Certified Collision Repair Center, he’s all business, but every now and then, he likes to stay late or on weekends to make some progress on his own personal projects. These days didn’t always come around as often as he’d like but he got the itch to change that. “My daughter Brittney and I fell in love with the ‘60- ’66 C10 body style, and just had to find one to build for ourselves”, Tim says. Once he tracked one down, he spent as much spare time within a 5-year stretch in the shop with friends and family making it the absolute best classic Chevy pickup he could produce. 

Tim located a solid C10 for sale in Oklahoma, and after a few days of negotiating, he felt ready to make the drive to go grab what would soon be his latest obsession. “My wife Debbie and I made the weekend trip to pick up the truck, and it was love at first sight”, Tim admits. “The truck was in good shape as-is, and we could’ve probably just kept it the way it came, but we had other plans for it. With the C10 secured on our trailer, we made a detour to the Goodguys show in Dallas, where we made the first big step towards transforming the truck into something much more exciting.” 

While at the show, Tim made it a point to meet the guys from Roadster Shop. He not only expressed his interested in their Revo IFS system, but he placed an order for one. This gave him the motivation to start on the truck as soon as he got it back to Florida. “My daughter and I already talked about what we’d want to do with a C10 if we were to ever buy one. Actually, in our minds, we had already built it before we bought it, so our ideas helped give us some direction from the start.” 

Once the truck was back at Tim’s shop, he began tearing it down and getting the frame ready for its transformation. Along with the incredible Revo IFS package coming with its beefy upper and lower tubular arms and AFCO coil-overs, Tim began collecting all the other necessary parts they’d need like the Wilwood forged Pro spindles, as well as upgraded brake components for each corner. The rear would soon feature a Currie 9-inch Ford unit, as well as a PorterBuilt Fab rear suspension and Ridetech HQ Series coil-overs. Tim wanted their C10 to be decked out with the very best suspension products he could get his hands on. 

Selecting the right wheels and tires to finish off the newly renovated chassis was the next step in the process. To get that top shelf, classic look and fitment, Tim and his daughter chose a set of staggered 20×10 and 22×12 Budnik E85 wheels in a bronze polished finished. High-performance Pirelli PZero rubber was then brought in to give the C10 excellent handling abilities and drivability in all weather conditions so cruises of any length would always be a good idea. 

Powering the C10 is a GM Performance ZZ427 that has received lots of additional power-adding products in the way of a custom PRC aluminum radiator, Hedman headers, a Concept One pulley system, a reproduction 1972 Camaro Z28 dual snorkel air cleaner, and a 3-inch exhaust system that Tim whipped up on his own. With other substantial modifications, the ’66 saw a horsepower output of 480 at 6,000RPM with 490 ft-lbs of torque at 3,800RPM – more than enough muscle to whip around an autocross track or blast down a wide-open stretch of highway with the quickness. 

Even though Tim is more than capable of many aspects of customizing, he found himself right at home when the time came to work on the C10’s exterior. With as much experience as he brings to the table, the attention to even the smallest of details was sure to be the truck’s largest asset yet. Since this type of work is his specialty, Tim was really able to let his creativity flow with smoothing the front wheel wells and widening the rears. He was able to make quick work of the big back window conversion, and then proceeding to smoothing both bumpers and firewall for paint. 

Lots of factory replacement parts were used instead of restyled aftermarket products to keep the look of the truck as original as possible. “I didn’t really go with too much custom pieces”, Tim says. “I simply tried to pay close attention to detail throughout the process.” That sentiment goes for the paint of choice as well. The Tropical Turquoise color he ran with is a 1961 GM offering, which works perfectly with the streamlined appearance Tim was striving for. 

The same straightforward design elements were also incorporated inside of the cab with the Ultra Leather covered bench seat and matching door panels, dash and selection of premium accessories. The Budnik steering wheel and Dakota Digital instrumentation give cab an updated dash of class while still maintaining a timeless charm. A complete audio system is also present and complete with a RetroSounds deck, Kicker speakers in the kick panels and dual subs in a stealthy enclosure behind the bench. 

“I enjoyed the endless hours of sandblasting, metal work, block sanding and painting”, Tim says now that his truck has crossed the finish line of completion. “I learned all these skills at an early age from my brother and dad who have both since passed away, so it’s been great to share this experience with my daughter. I’ve even become a papa twice without our grandson Nelson being born in February 2018 and granddaughter Ellias born in September 2018. That’s why my license plate reads Papas66.”