Chevy truck restoration
In early December,” Gil Palmer told us, “I had a triple bypass operation. I was unable to work or drive. I was bored each day.” On his daily walk he had to go right past his new ’04 Chevy Silverado pickup in the garage. The glimpse at his truck before each walk served as a motivator, and he started imagining things that he could do while he was forced to keep it parked next to his previous project.
When Jorge Torres was young he would help his father around his shop. Named after the senior Torres, Armando’s Custom Upholstery in San Jacinto, California, opened in 1989 when Jorge was still in high school. In 1992, he began working full time with his father and brother, Armando Jr. He stared doing old cars and went to a few shows to promote their work. During this time he mentioned to his dad that he wanted to build a 1969 Chevy pickup. It turned out that his dad had a friend who owned one, but he was told that the truck was in pretty rough shape. All Jorge heard was that the price, at $1,500, was in his range.
The owner of this ’77 Chevy pickup got tired of the performance and poor fuel economy of the truck’s 350 small block, and rather than rebuild the engine, he decided to replace it with something better. If there’s an engine better than a small-block Chevy, it’s one of Chevy’s new Gen-III small-block engines, which include the Vortec truck motors, LS1/LS6, and even the new LS2/LS7.
Boyd’s Automotive Illustrator Todd Emmons is a talented guy. After all, as an automotive illustrator he makes his living transforming Boyd Coddington’s ideas into two-dimensional splendor, and when he wears his graphic artist hat, he designs the ads and catalogs for Coddington’s operation as well. So it should come as no surprise that Emmons would display a definite flair when it came to building a ride of his own. The only surprise is that he decided to channel that talent into building a pickup truck. Not that we’re complaining, mind you. As truck enthusiasts, we love the idea that high-end talents are turning their eyes toward pickups. In the case of Emmons, his muse is this outstanding ’74 Chevy C10.