The three-year project started like most, from the frame up. Jose stripped the truck down and headed to the body shop, where the body, frame, and suspension parts were blasted. Then the frame and underpinnings were painted black. Once the frame was painted Jose picked it up and took it home. Instead of redoing the stock '65 frontend, Jose found a donor '76 Chevy. He pirated the entire front suspension and installed it on the '65's frame. Next up he yanked a 12-bolt and a 700-R4 out of a '72 Chevy truck and installed it as well. Other than that the '65's frame is the way he found it, only cleaned up and painted.
The truck's motor had already been rebuilt back to stock, which wasn't going to cut it. Jose wanted the 350 to pop when he slung open the hood. To accomplish this he yanked the stock parts and exchanged them for every chrome or polished billet piece he could find. However, before a single part was installed he coated the block red to match the exterior. Then an Edelbrock intake manifold, water pump, timing cover, and carburetor were purchased, all chrome or polished, of course. Along with that came the rechromed M/T valve covers with polished billet breathers Jose found at the Long Beach swap meet. From there he ordered a new chromed brake booster and master cylinder from ABS in Orange, California. Then the brackets and heater box were chromed, a set of polished billet pulleys made their way into the mix, and a grooved billet air cleaner tops things off, literally, that is. Needless to say, Jose likes chrome.
All that was left was the body and interior. While Jose worked on the frame and motor, his body man Henry was busy piecing back the cancerous body. The truck had a few rust holes, so Henry took care of that first. Then he went through the truck and smoothed out every dent and ding, smoothed the firewall, filled in the bed holes, and shaved the gas tank door. Lastly, he laid down the DuPont Torch Red and White paint scheme. Now the truck was really starting to come together, and all that was left was the interior.
The '65 came with all the options back in the day, including factory A/C, and it was Jose's goal to have the interior look as stock as possible. First the dash, door panels, and roof were all painted back to the factory tan color. Then the correct knobs, handles, and levers were ordered to replace the old ones. The tilt column previously lived life in a '72 Chevy van, but he gladly gave that up to rest under the '65's dash. Jose was originally going to put a cheap upholstery job in the truck, but he had second thoughts after he realized he didn't go cheap on anything else. What he ended up with is a stock plaid-colored seat, but at the top of the seat he had Juan's Upholstery in Garden Grove, California, stitch in some red and white vinyl to match the exterior.
 |  Looks can be deceiving! Instead...  Looks can be deceiving! Instead of opening up the hood and finding a stock small-block, Jose installed a chrome Edelbrock manifold, water pump, and polished carburetor. But that's just the start of things, because as you can see almost everything that can be chrome is. |  Ahh-the swap meet, a man's...  Ahh-the swap meet, a man's best friend. Check out the M/T valve covers and billet breathers Jose picked up at the Long Beach swap meet. Jose had the M/T covers rechromed and painted red between the fins. |