Next in line to build was David's '69 stepside, a truck that was his faithful beater during the construction of the CST.
One of the things that David knew before he tore into the '69 stepside was he was quite satisfied with the suspension setup under the CST. Mimicking the CST's front suspension, David looked again to the folks at CPP for a 3-inch drop kit with '72-style front disc brakes. For the rear of the stepside David had Jim Sleeper at Sleeper Enterprises in Pomona, California, custom fabricate a coilover setup with a modified Panhard bar. David wanted to go with a more traditional look for the stepside, so he picked up a set of chromed GM Rally wheels from Wheelsmith, and opted for Michelin tires instead of T/As. The 350-inch small-block David chose for the stepside is in a milder state of tune with 8.75:1 compression, but still relies on Edelbrock and Sanderson to enhance the combustion process. In contrast to the CST's Turbo 350, David went with a 700-R4 from Phoenix Transmissions for use as the stepside's transmission.
Since the stepside was a base model, David had to source from the aftermarket some luxury items that the CST came standard with. For example, the air conditioning is from Vintage Air, and the sound system is a Panasonic. David returned to Collins' Upholstery to do the stepside's full leather interior, including the use of French seams on the modified '98 Suburban seats in between the custom console David made.
The paint and bodywork was done by Brian in Alta Loma, using '94 Chevrolet and GMC Bright Teal as the sole color. Again, because David wanted to do the stepside differently than the CST, he opted to fabricate the bed floor out of aluminum instead of a hardwood. David expressed to us that it was thanks to Ron Grohe (his son-in-law) and Jim Sleeper that he was able to come up with, in our words, such a fine pair of 'sides.