A C10 Roadster 20 Years in the Making
THE YEAR IS 1999, AND MINI-TRUCKIN’ IS AT AN all-time high. Tilt beds and insane graphics were all the rage. Donnie Mcmurtery of Bethpage, Tennessee, remembers this era like it was yesterday. Donnie is a self-taught builder and has been in the custom vehicle scene for many years. He has built several vehicles in the past, but one has been more important than all of the others.
Donnie originally started to build his ’68 Chevrolet C10 with all original parts and maybe just a few upgrades.
“It was a low-mileage, all original truck when I bought it in 1999,” he says. “I also had to use it as a work truck when my daily driver broke down in early 2000.”
However, things quickly changed for Donnie. Unfortunately, he was involved in a horrific head-on collision one morning that completely totaled this truck.
“The only thing salvageable was the cab and the bed of the truck,” Donnie says.
It was this moment that changed the entire build for Donnie. After the wreck, he had to get back to work as quickly as possible. He got busy with other projects and jobs, so the truck was pushed to the side. It sat in the corner of the garage for a few years as Donnie continued to work.
“I decided that since the truck had been destroyed that I would make it into something unique instead of restoring it to all original as I initially planned,” he says.
Donnie took the cab and the bed of the truck and slid them together in the middle of his garage one afternoon. After taking a good look at the
mangled chassis, he decided that he was going to make it into a unibody truck.
Donnie was currently in the middle of building a roadster S10 when he decided to begin working on his truck. This is where he got his inspiration to modify his C10 to make it a roadster.
“I knew the original frame probably would not work, so I decided to build a custom tubular frame,” he says.
Donnie basically was starting from scratch. He built a complete frame with 2x4 tubing. He also fabbed up some front tubular A arms. Donnie knew this build wouldn’t be easy since he had to custom build every single piece of the frame. However, that did not stop him. Donnie installed a four-link in the rear and was ready to move on to the air ride system. He originally installed a fast air system on the truck and later on changed it up. While he had the truck completely disassembled, Donnie added Belltech front and rear shocks for a smoother ride. He switched out the factory steering box for a Mustang 2 rack-andpinion system. After countless months in the shop working on the truck, the frame and main components were finally finished.
Now that Donnie had finished up the custom tube frame, it was on to the body of the truck. Since he had decided to turn this C10 into a roadster, he knew he was in for a challenge.
“I ran into several problems while building the truck,” Donnie says. “Probably one of the most difficult challenges was extending the top of the body line to meet up with the doors.”
Luckily, Donnie had a few tricks up his sleeve. He was able to use a commercial break to bend the metal tube so that everything matched up perfectly. With any custom build, Donnie knew he would run into several problems along the way. Luckily, he had a lot of support from his wife, Patrice, that kept him motivated. Donnie then extended the door body line and cut off the top of the truck. There was no going back now!
Keeping with his roadster theme, he molded in the bed and fenders and added a ’98 Chevy back half to the bed.
“My favorite part of this truck would have to be the top of the bed,” Donnie says. “It’s different and that’s exactly what I was going for.”
He ended up having to raise the bed of the truck 2.5 inches in order for all of the body lines to match up. Donnie wanted to make this roadster
C10 unique, so he added a trunk in the bed with a motorized cover. Once he completed the trunk, he decided to stretch the wheelwells to really accentuate the body lines of the truck. He also molded a custom cowl panel for the hood. Since most of the vehicle was too badly damaged to save after the wreck, Donnie decided to custom fit ’96 Chevrolet bumpers to the truck. Now that the bulk of the body work was finished, it was time for wheels and brakes. He put a set of 20-inch Billet Hustler wheels on the truck that tuck nicely when aired out. Donnie upgraded the braking system with all new Baer brakes in the front and rear and a CPP master cylinder.
Staying true to his roadster theme, Donnie knew he would be completing an engine swap. After narrowing down his choices, he decided to go with a ’96 6.2L Corvette LT1
V-8 motor. In order to get this enormous engine in the truck, Donnie knew it would take some work. He ended up having to hand make each engine mount so that everything would fit perfectly. This C10 was going to be putting down some serious horsepower and he knew the original transmission could not handle it. Donnie removed the stock transmission and installed a ’96 T56 transmission. He also had to design and build custom mounts for the new transmission. Through blood, sweat and tears, he was determined to get this truck out on the road. After the last bolt was tightened, Donnie started the engine for the first time. The rumble of the big V-8 echoed in the garage as Donnie stood back and admired his work. He couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel and cruise the streets in style!
Unfortunately, as we all know, life can throw unexpected curve balls right at you from time to time. Donnie and his family moved houses before he was able to finish the truck.
“The truck just sat there in my new garage for several years while I got caught up on other jobs,” he says.
Weeks turned into months and months into years. He was not exactly sure when he would be able to finish his C10. Fast forward to 2018. Finally, Donnie decided to uncover the truck one afternoon. As he pulled the cover off, he immediately noticed that mice had ruined the finish on the entire truck.
All of his hard work had been destroyed. He knew what needed to be done, but it was going to be a lot of work. Donnie