Who Said You Can’t Put Makeup on a Pig Nose?
He explained it to me like being a piece of art. I could really tell he wanted to do it, so I let him run with it and it actually turned out being my favorite part of the truck.
Sometimes the best creations emerge from plans that never should have been made in the first place.
When Brian Oswalt met Eric Banks at LST 2016, that alone was a luck of the draw. Brian, being from South Carolina, and Eric, being from Oklahoma, being brought together in Texas only by discussing Eric’s then F-100 build is quite the one-in-a-million statistic on its own. Leave it to the truck scene, right? Well, after some mutually given compliments and construction criticism, car guy to car guy, the connection must have clicked pretty well, because later that year Brian contacted Eric to do some work for him on his ’53 Bel Air build. After a painter dropped the ball on getting that car done in time for SEMA, the two decided it was time to knock out a “quick build” while the ’53 was at a standstill. What you see before you now is that “quick build.” While plans began as something a bit simpler, one thing led to another as vehicle projects seem to do, and this masterpiece emerged… and in NO way are we upset about it.
One of the biggest objectives on this Chevy build was to be unique, which in the C10 game is quite the task these days. For starters, they decided to use the ’60-’61 “Pig Nose” body of C10. They are rarely seen, much less heavily mod’ed, so it immediately seemed like a natural choice for their main objective. Within a day—yes, a single day—Eric hopped online and found the starting point he wanted: 1961, a longbed, small back window pig nose … but much of that would change soon enough.
Brian, being a man we can all relate to, had the guys start off by changing the ’61’s elevation. No 4x4s to be had around here. Eric and his good friend and fellow Oklahoman Kyle McConkay immediately began work on the truck at the Game Over Built headquarters in Jenks, Oklahoma. The fellas were lucky enough to snag a mostly finished frame from their friend Jason Doisher in Texas. Doisher had prepped the frame for a build he never got around to, so picking it up was a win-win all around. With the big notch work already completed, the Game Over crew got to work installing the Choppin’ Block frontend. Doing his best not to pester them, and being the reasonable guy he is, Brian restrained his urges to maintain a 24/7 live-stream video feed of the guys to see progress on his truck. They kept a constant contact though, sometimes talking multiple times a day to brainstorm ideas or with whatever picture updates they had at the end of each day. As the suspension wrapped up and the powdercoating began, the guys left no stone unturned to say the least, from frame to the Crate 350 engine.
Speaking of said crate motor, one of the important things to Brian was to keep the truck simple and reliable powerplant-wise. The 350-crate motor, in addition to that fresh powdercoating, was then equipped with an Edelbrock 2703 Performer EPS manifold and the popular Holley Sniper EFI to make sure the ’60s Chevrolet had plenty of power to lay down through the GM 12-bolt rearend. As a true motorhead, the sound is almost as important as the power it’s putting out at the end of the day, so Oswalt had the fellas install a custom 2.5-inch exhaust back to a pair of perfect-toned stainless Magnaflow mufflers.
As the truck’s chassis took shape, it was time to address the 60-year-old body going onto it. For that, the truck went to a good friend of Eric’s at Pud’s Paint Fab and Collision in Garfield, Arkansas. In true C10 owner fashion, Brian immediately had the small back-window truck turned into a big back-window, no real explanation needed. We all know why. As the bodywork progressed, and the little bits of touch up and rust repairs on that beautiful patina were wrapped up, all that was left was shortening the Chevy’s stock longbed. It is honestly such a wild difference when you see a before and after transition from a longbed to a shortbed on a truck. Don’t get us a wrong—there are some amazing longbed trucks in this world. This just happens to be a truck destined for a shortbed.
As the truck progressed in Oklahoma, it is easy to say Brian had a few restless nights of pacing and planning of his own during the process. Having built multiple vehicles on his own previously, it was tough for Brian not to have the instant gratification of installing new parts and reaping the instant mental rewards of doing that. However, with a new baby arriving in his life, it was an important time for him to be home with his family. With the majority of the exterior on lock, the time came for the truck’s guts to be created. For the one-of-one interior, this aged beauty deserved, the guys all turned to a local to Game Over Built shop, King Covers in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Keeping the cab simple, a classic Relicate gray plaid bench seat was created. In addition to the subtle loop-style carpeting, a set of Dakota Digital gauges were installed in the dash, finishing up the perfect mix of old and new.
When asked what the hardest decision on the build for him was, Brian says: “I’m a really plain Jane keep-it-simple type, so I was cool with just a stock raised wood floor… like every other C10 out there,” he says. “Eric, however, had this idea of a bed floor, which he really wanted to create to be ‘different’. He explained it to me like being a piece of art. I could really tell he wanted to do it, so I let him run with it and it actually turned out to be my favorite part of the truck.”
It goes without saying, it is definitely our favorite part of the truck as well. The level of craftsmanship that was put into the creation of the bed floor is a totally different level than we have seen in a long time. Talk about setting the bar for C10’ to come!! The seamless access panel sets it over the top for sure.