1970 Chevy C10 - Role Reversal

In most married hot rod households, it's the husband who has the obsession with old steel and the wife who gets dragged along for the ride. It's just a statistical reality, not a sexist comment. Old trucks in particular seem to be a "guy thing."

Of course there are exceptions to every rule. Just ask Mike and Stevie Betz. Mike, a computer programmer by trade, had no interest in old trucks before he met his future wife, Stevie. Stevie had grown up around vintage tin and has lent a hand to her father (a bodyman) since she was a little girl. And like any good hot rodder, she soon began dragging Mike down the path to vehicular obsession. "I got him into this," Stevie says of her husband's current passion. "He didn't even have one tool when I first met him. Nothing."

The initiation began innocently enough with the purchase of a '56 F-100 for Stevie. It was a project that they worked on and cruised in together, and before long Mike was thoroughly engrossed in this new pastime. In fact, like most of us, he began thinking ahead about future projects. After all, the F-100 was Stevie's ride, and he might want one of his own someday.

Well, Stevie was way ahead of him on this subject, and she was the one who found the couple's next project, a derelict '70 Chevy longbed with a crunched front fender, peeling paint, and a rebuilt small-block. The couple originally envisioned it as transportation for their teenage son, but when he showed little interest in it the pickup became Mike's driver. However, old beaters never last long in an enthusiast's hands, for before long Mike began crafting the Chevy into a street-smart cruiser.

The Chevy's original status as a daily driver is evident in its modifications, most of which are geared toward making the pickup more comfortable to drive while providing better looks. This includes Classic Performance Products' dropped spindles up front, lowered coil springs out back, and Doetsch Tech shocks on all four corners. Budnik wheels (17x8-inch) and Nitto rubber continue the theme, offering good looks and better handling. There's plenty of grunt thanks to a '72-vintage 402 equipped with Keith Black pistons, an Elgin cam, Offy intake, and Edelbrock carb. Coupled to this is a 700-R4 that keeps the big-block in a reasonable rpm range as it sends power to the 3.73:1-geared 12-bolt rearend.

Besides the wheels and tires, it's the PPG Blue Metallic Pearl paint that really gives away the fact that this is more than just an everyday work truck. The bright hue clings to an exceptionally smooth and straight body--the handiwork of Wild Things by Bruce in La Habra, California.

"I kept the body mods simple," Mike says. "The marker lights are filled and I shaved the side moldings. The truck is a '70, but I thought the '71-72 grille looked cleaner, so I shaved the Bow Tie on the hood and substituted the grille, bumper, and parking lights. The cab roof seam is filled, the taillights are recessed flush, and the tailgate trim shaved. It has a Mar-K roll pan and the stake pockets are filled."

As a computer programmer, Mike has to pay attention to detail. He did the same on this truck. Everything under the hood is nice and tidy, with many powdercoated accents. The interior looks equally sharp and is outfitted for comfort with an Old Air Products A/C unit, Sony stereo, factory tilt column, and Juliano's three-point seatbelts. Mike and Stevie sit on an original bench seat covered with BMW upholstery material, and Mike says he "slathered Dynamat Premium throughout the cab" to keep the noise level down and the comfort level up.

"The one thing I'm really proud of is that the entire truck was disassembled and reassembled by me," Mike says. "It was my first ground-up restoration. I can now appreciate firsthand what is truly involved in building a do-it-yourself hot rod."

It's obvious the hot rod bug has bitten Mike hard, as he's already wrenching on another project. For the most part Stevie is excited about Mike's newfound obsession, but she does have one complaint: "I can't get him to work on my truck anymore!"