There's no two ways about it, some of the most popular trucks on the custom classic scene today are the General Motors '67 -72 Chevrolet and GMC shortbed half-ton pickups. For David Grant of Alta Loma, California, the year of choice was an easy decision, but when it came to choosing sides, he couldn't quite make up his mind. Ultimately the simple solution was to build an example of each. Beginning with his first acquisition, the '69 CST Fleetside, David stripped the truck down to the bare frame and worked up. For front suspension David adopted a lower stance selecting 2.5-inch drop spindles and lowered springs from Classic Performance Products of Anaheim, California, equipped with one of CPP's disc-brake upgrade kits to provide an overall 3-inch drop. In the rear the 3.73:1 geared GM 12-bolt differential tucks up an additional 4 inches thanks to a drop kit from CPP. In between it all resides a stock C-10 shortbed chassis that was sandblasted and powdercoated. For rolling stock, David went with a set of 17-inch Billet Specialties GTP series wheels shod with P255/50 on the front, and P275/50 BFGoodrich T/A tires on the rear.
For power, David's CST is running a 300hp 350-inch small-block from GM Performance. Induction is handled by a 650 Holley capped with a Street & Performance blind-mount billet air cleaner piled onto an Edelbrock aluminum intake manifold. On the evacuation side of the 4-stroke cycle Sanderson headers handle the exhaust.
While David and his son-in-law Ron Grohe were constructing the CST's rolling chassis, the bodywork was sent to L&G Enterprises in San Dimas, California. In addition to bringing the stock sheetmetal up to snuff, the crew at L&G shaved the postholes on the bed, and added a few subtle simple tricks to give the CST a mild custom look. Once the body was blocked-out and guide-coated for the last time, L&G shot it in '92 Dodge Stealth Red from DuPont. One of the things that distinguishes David's pair of C-10s is that the CST is factory loaded, and the stepside is a customized base model. On the inside of the CST's cab lives just about every factory option ever available, and then some. One of the non-stock features is the '72 Blazer bucket seats and console done by Collins' Upholstery in Upland, California, along with the rest of the CST's interior. A custom Lecarra steering wheel faces a full complement of factory gauges, including a factory tachometer and vacuum gauge. The sound system is an original GM AM/FM slide-bar stereo radio piped to upgraded speakers.
The crowing glory of David's CST is the stunning Jatoba hardwood bed-that David made in his home woodshop-accented with stainless steel bedstrips from Bruce Horkey. David stated that thanks to Bruce Horkey offering a lot of good advice over the phone he was able to create what we would describe as an absolute masterpiece.