he National Street Rod Association began giving away a car during the Street Rod Nationals event back in 1982. As you can imagine, many of the previous giveaway vehicles were cars, mostly of the early Ford variety, due to the availability of reproduction and custom parts in the street rod market. For the 2023 giveaway vehicle, the NSRA partnered with Harrison’s Rod and Custom to build something completely different: a ’77 Chevrolet C10 pickup truck.
While this was certainly exciting news for the booming classic truck market, it presented more of a challenge than the typical hot rod build. Most previous builds were fenderless hot rods with limited amounts of trim and moldings, so the NSRA knew it could be a pain point throughout the build process. The upside of building a Squarebody Chevy truck is that it reaches an entirely new market than years past. The NSRA crew also found comfort in knowing that Bryan Harrison and his crew at Harrison’s Rod and Custom are GM truck experts. The small shop is based out of Greeneville, Tennessee, tucked in close to the Great Smoky Mountains, where Squarebody trucks roam the streets on a regular basis.
Part of the formula for this truck’s overall look is the stance, which comes by way of a Hotshoe Hot Rods chassis. The boxed frame features a Kugel Komponents bolt-in front crossmember and a custom C-notch out back for added rearend housing clearance. The front suspension consists of a QA1 system, complete with tubular control arms, sway bar, and coilovers, bringing the ride height down several inches from stock. Steering is greatly improved with a Flaming River rack-and-pinion, with custom shafting, U-joints, and VDOG angle gear to provide plenty of header clearance.
Horsepower comes from a Chevrolet Performance 502ci/502hp crate engine from Gandrud Chevrolet. The big-block features a forged rotating assembly, topped off with GM aluminum cylinder heads. A hydraulic roller camshaft offers excellent performance and a nice idle quality through the Sanderson 1-7/8-inch headers, 3-inch stainless pipes, and Borla XR1 mufflers. Fuel comes from a Boyd Welding gas tank and feeds a Holley 870-cfm four-barrel carburetor, while a GM HEI distributor lights the fire.
When Harrison found the $200 cab on social media it gave him a starting point, but it was in rough shape. That’s where Auto Metal Direct stepped in with new sheetmetal to bring this Squarebody back to life. Ryan Akers handled the bodywork to prepare it for paint, which was provided by a joint sponsorship from PPG and Southern Auto Color. Although Squarebody trucks came in a variety of gold and beige colors, Harrison and crew decided on an alternative shade for the ’77 C10. They went with a ’62 Corvette Fawn Beige on the main portion of the body, an elegant color that gives the truck just enough ’60s flavor. The roof is painted in Adobe Beige, also from the ’62 Corvette color chart, giving it a subtle contrast. New trim was installed, and the tucked bumpers are a subtle change to the otherwise-stock body lines.