Larry, who has fond memories of riding in it as a teenager but swears it was the one truck of his dad’s that he never stole, acquired it when he purchased the family citrus business from his mother, Pansy, in 1991. With a business to run, the truck sat for several years until Larry could get around to fixing ’er up. 

The underpinnings of this lil’ grove truck are a little different from the norm as the resurrection started with a Pro Street chassis from Scott’s Hotrods in Knoxville, Tennessee. Once in California, the chassis was shipped to Lang Paciulli at LP Racing who at the time was located in Ontario, California, but is now located in Chino, California. Lang reworked the chassis for the strip, adding a Quarter-Max Extreme Pro Series four-link suspension in the rear to locate the Moser/Ford 9-inch axle.

For power, Larry chose a GM ZZ572 crate motor but upon inspection it was found to be less than expected and had to be completely rebuilt by Erik Floren at ERS in Cherry Valley, California. “It had issues;” Floren says, “among several, the rockers hit the valve covers.” A complete rebuild was something Larry hadn’t factored in, however Floren’s work resulted in 836 hp and 720 lb-ft of torque on the Westech dyno.

Meanwhile, Larry’s guy Jeff Stewart got busy fabricating the rollcage out of 1-3/4-inch steel tubing. It’s tucked tightly inside the cab and then extends through the lower half of the cab and extends the length of the bed before tying into the rear of the chassis. For convenience, the centersection is removable.

The bed itself is a stock Stepside but utilizes ’67 Chevy Fleetside inner wheeltubs narrowed by Stewart to accommodate the rollcage. Interestingly, the diamond plate bed floor had been installed by the welder and when restoration of the truck began Larry had that carefully removed because he knew it was going back, however, below that old plate is an oak floor superbly finished both top and bottom.

Besides the rollcage, Stewart also fabricated the center console, modified the dash and glovebox to accommodate the Vintage Air A/C and Classic Instruments, smoothed out the firewall, and handled the bracketry for the Kenwood audio equipment.

When the welder owned the truck it was blue—in fact, you can still see the faded paint where his toolbox sat—but Larry had Ryan and Tim DeBoer repaint it in Chevy White, after which the door lettering was added by Richard McPeak of Riverside, California.

As farm trucks go, Larry’s C10 has to be one of the toughest hay haulers in the grove.