“It was a three-year restoration, when it was either at the body shop or in my brother’s barn. First thing, I changed the motor. I put a 350 engine in it, then drove for it a year and decided to do the body,” says Bob Mason.
Why I Love My Car is a series in Wheels that features people sharing their love for their vehicle. Owners reflect on how they came to own their car and tell us about the role it plays in their life and why they have such a strong connection to it.
Trucks are part of Bob Mason’s family legacy. Mason, who lives in Udora, his father, brother and uncles have all driven trucks for a living. More than two decades ago when Mason’s uncle decided to part with his 1970 Chev C10 pickup, Mason bought the classic half-ton truck renowned for its stylish looks and build quality, part of GM’s “Action Line,” produced from 1967 to 1972.
“I have always been into pickups. It was nice to get it from my uncle and keep it in the family. He needed to sell it to have money to finish an old classic Buick. We’ve always had trucks in my family. My brother always had stock cars and trucks.
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My first car was a 1969 Beaumont and I used to hang out with my friends and their cars at Bluffer’s Park or the McDonald’s parking lot near Warden and Sheppard in Scarborough. Over the years, I’ve had a ton of vehicles and was always working on something, including a 1981 Chevy pickup, and a 1977 Chevy van. I’ve had Dodge, Ford and Toyota pickups, but I liked the look of Chevy pickups and older Fords.
My uncle bought the truck from a biker. My uncle owned it for about three years before I did. It was driveable and in pretty good condition, but I tore it down and did a full off-frame restoration.
Everything on it has been rebuilt or replaced. It was a three-year restoration, when it was either at the body shop or in my brother’s barn. First thing, I changed the motor. I put a 350 engine in it, then drove for it a year and decided to do the body. The body shop guy hurt his hand and that was part of the reason the restoration took so long.
It has a different box from the original, and I sent it to get sandblasted, and I took off the cab and had it sandblasted. The hood is modified and not original, and the wheels are different — it had hub caps at one time. I lowered the suspension and put drop spindles and coil springs in the back, and lowered the seats. I like that lowered look. I changed its appearance one end to the other, but the interior looks pretty much the same.
The chrome steering wheel tilts, and there is extensive chrome inside the cab and motor. I changed the whole dashboard. I can get any parts I want from a guy I deal with in Courtice.
When I got the truck, it was candy apple red with a pearl white roof and white pearl inlay down the side, with a lot of gold leaf, that was an old style of pinstriping. I repainted it a similar colour to candy apple red, Inferno Red Crystal Pearl, a PT Cruiser colour.
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I drive a truck and haul gravel for a living and put in long days, so I don’t do a lot of cruises, though there are ones I could go to every night of the week, if I wanted to. There are several of us that go together to car shows, and I’ll go to four or five a year (most recently, Campbellford’s Chrome on the Canal). I’ve taken the truck to the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit, and to the Syracuse show at the New York Fairgrounds, that gets more than 6,000 cars. On weekends, my wife Kelly and I’ll drive it to Uxbridge, 18 kilometres away. Kelly enjoys coming to car shows, and it’s a social event with our friends who also have old cars.
The truck has no air-conditioning, but I enjoy driving it. It has an automatic transmission and although it didn’t originally have power steering, it does now.
The most common comment I hear is that someone in their family used to own a truck like this one. My uncle got to see the finished restoration and he approved. Campbellford is a biker town, and the guy who owned the truck before my uncle was a biker. A man who was a friend of that guy saw my truck at one of the Chrome on the Canal shows, recognized it and said his friend would have been proud of what I’ve done with it.
In the 20-some years I’ve owned the truck, I’ve been the only person who’s driven it. Kelly rides in it with me, and so has my daughter. Although my daughter has never driven it and isn’t into cars, she’s told me she wants it next.
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