Horror stories aside, Doug is a professional welder by trade-he and his father, Jim, operate a small metal fab shop (Times Welding in their hometown of Miamisburg, Ohio) by day. That leaves evenings and weekends free for projects such as the '68 C-10-at least that's the way Doug sees it, but if you were to get his better half Ginny's opinion, well, you probably wouldn't get the same response. Nevertheless, Mrs. Times did endure nearly two years of her husband's extracurricular activities, for which Doug is without a doubt most grateful.
Finished for a little over a year now, the '68 has racked up well over 6,000 miles, as it was built to drive, not to sit. With its 383ci engine that features a scratchbuilt fuel-injection system tuned by Tracey Scott at Scott Racing & Performance, a 700-R4 overdrive, and a 4.10 Posi, it should come as no surprise that this truck gets used often. Knowing how much time he'd spend behind the wheel, Doug made sure the chassis was done accordingly, which not only meant redesigning the A-arms, but also adding Air Ride Technologies 'bags and McGaughy's dropped spindles, C-notching the rear, and building a custom Panhard bar.
As for the fancy stuff-the paint and interior-Doug farmed those duties out to the proper people. After he'd finished his sheetmetal modifications, he sent the truck over to Last Chance Garage in Germantown, Ohio, for final bodywork followed by an application of DuPont '06 Mitsubishi Inferno Red Krystal Effect complemented by silver-painted Rallye wheels by Gary and Randy Willis. Inside the factory bucket seat-equipped cab, nearby Gray's Auto Upholstery did their thing, covering most of the surfaces with silver and graphite body cloth.
Despite the setback caused by the fire, Doug never gave up his goal of completing the '68 just as he'd intended on doing the day he spotted it on the Internet. He may have second thoughts about buying another truck in the same manner, though, and we're pretty sure he carries fire extinguishers in everything he drives!