A Legacy on Wheels: Father and Son’s 1970 C10 Build

A Father and Son Build

Building custom vehicles for customers takes tons of time and work. When you do that for a living, having a chance to do your own personal vehicle is usually very limited. That’s why most shops use customer builds as their business cards and don’t have their own vehicles promoting their business. But Andy and Jamie Mayes from Maz-Coat Customs in Toccoa, Georgia, decided it was time to do something of their own. They had a 1970 Chevy C10 they picked up with plans to work on but unfortunately due to time constraints, it sat for a bit before finally getting a little love. Knowing they wanted the truck to lay out for shows, they reached out toRoadster Shop to order a full air-ride chassis from them. Once they had the chassis at the shop, it was time to dive into this project and finally have a true “shop truck.”

I knew the first time I saw this truck at a show that it had more than enough wow factor for me to shoot a full feature on it and bring it to our readers.

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Painting the new chassis black was the first thing in the mix before adding the Air Lift 3P system with two Viair 485 compressors. Firestone air bags fit perfectly in each corner and the new rack-and-pinion steering controlled the corners. To make it a complete rolling chassis, 14-inch Wilwood rotors were added on all corners and MTW billet Chalone 5 wheels in a 20- and 22-inch setup wrapped in Lionhart LH-Five tires were bolted on. Now that the roller was the way they wanted it, it was time to fit an engine between the front frame rails that would get the truck moving quickly when needed. For this, Andy and Jamie found a donor 2018 Camaro and used the 6.2L V-8, LT1 engine. Because the donor only had 2,500 miles on it, they opted not to tear into it and rebuild it as it still had more than enough life in it. Making this new heart of the truck work correctly, they used a Swap Time USA harness and a CVF Racing front accessory drive. It was mated to an 8L90 transmission with a tap shift shifter. From there, the power is fed through a custom carbon fiber driveshaft from USA Driveline, Inc. into the Ford 9-inch rearend with 3.73 gears and a locker.

With the complete rolling chassis and drivetrain ready for the 1970 C10 body to go on, there had to be some modifying to make it all work correctly together. The factory orange and white paint was left alone to give it an old school look with the perfect patina. The cab bolted right onto the chassis while the front end had to receive VanNatta Fab front inner fenders to clear the new wheels and tires, as well as some custom sheetmetal painted black with billet fasteners. They also painted the engine covers in-house to match the truck and give the modern engine a modern look. For the bed, Andy and Jamie used AMD bed floor panels and widened tubs to make the custom bed floor fit their needs. The center section raises up to access the rear and to show the chassis off at shows. The rear of the bed floor is still at factory height to allow luggage and show gear plenty of room while driving this truck to shows. A bed liner was also sprayed in to make it more durable as well.

Inside the truck, the paint was left original to match the exterior, but they had 626 Upholstery in Baldwin, Georgia, work their magic on the other panels. A set of Snowden Seats bucket frames and foam was wrapped in graphite leather with cloth inserts. The custom center console as well as the door panels and dash pad were also wrapped to match. New Dakota Digital VHX gauges were added as well as a CJ Classic Trucks 15-inch replica steering wheel to make the interior look brand new. A Vintage Air system and a RetroSound 4HD radio makes sure all future trips are comfortable.

Now that Maz-Coat Customs has their own shop truck to show their capabilities off at shows, they have been hitting as many events as possible with it and enjoying the response it has gotten. I knew the first time I saw this truck at a show that it had more than enough wow factor for me to shoot a full feature on it and bring it to our readers.