In-House Build

Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life, that is what people say. What that really translates to is if you do something well and it makes you enough money to live then you just end going to work happy. For Robyne and Jody Lindley of Lindley’s Paint and Body, that love-what-you-do lifestyle shows up both in their everyday work and in the custom vehicle projects that they build for themselves.

This 1970 Chevy C10 is one fine example of how being meticulous and adding personal detail to a build can really make a big difference in the end result. Robyne stated that the inspiration for this build came from a trip to Yosemite that she took with her son Josh for some sightseeing and mother/son bonding time. She came back from that trip with the idea of a beautifully appointed truck that would be driven to some cool locations with the intention of making memories along the way.

The Lindley’s also stated that every build is completely different, but the same emotion goes into it. Seeing the build come together at the end of a long-term plan is motivation enough to keep going. It also really helps that they have control over how the project looks, and some of the mechanical aspects as well.

Sittin’ Pretty

For the interior, the Lindley’s chose to go with a complete TMI makeover starting with a Pro-Series Universal 60-inch bench in Sport-S choosing to give some eye-catching contrast with Red Vinyl and Hot Rod Red Suede with a set of matching door panels, a dash pad, headliner, sun visors, and a carpet kit. Being mechanically inclined they tackled the interior themselves, and if you are slightly mechanically inclined you can handle a TMI interior installation.

Behind the 14-inch Forever Sharp Billet ½-wrap steering wheel sits a set of Intellitronix Gauges with LED Bar Graphs, as the LMC in-dash ignition sits close by. Tunes blast out of a Retro Sound Long Beach head unit aided with a set of ATX Audio Terminator 5-inch speakers with a 10-inch sub, as cool air blasts out of a Restomod Air Haymaker 2 A/C system.

LS Power and More

The ’70 came to Lindley’s Paint and Body not in completely terrible shape, but the idea was to go through and lay hands on every inch of the truck to make it look like it just rolled off the assembly line. The original 350 small block was a little tired and needed to go, so they chose to swap in a 5.3L LS that got a good once-over from an in-house technician named Cody Petty. The 5.3L was then supported by a 4-row aluminum Cold Case radiator, an A-Team Performance intake manifold, and a set of 1.75-Inch Hooker stainless long tube headers with custom bent two-inch exhaust system with MagnaFlow Mufflers. All that added power is routed through a 4l60E transmission with a custom driveshaft made in-house.

The idea behind the engine bay is to keep the integrity of the original engine with something simple so no real thoughts were given to doing the rotating assembly or installing serious power adders like a turbocharger but to have a modern powerplant that makes decent power, can scoot down the road with some intent, and that can be counted on firing up every time.

Daily Driver

C10’s have a long list of possibilities when it comes to suspension and the decision really needs to come from the builder in terms of what kind of use the truck will see. The Lindley’s wanted a truck with a smooth ride and tracked real nice as this was going to be a driver that was going to see a lot of fun road miles. So they chose to go with a tried and true duo of tubular control arms from QA1, some 2.5-inch CPP Drop Spindles in the front, and a set of CPP 4-inch lowering springs in the rear. The frame got a bolt-in C-Notch from CPP and a quartet of Bilstein Classics was installed at all four corners.

OE Style

With this C10 being lucky enough to be built by the owners of a paint and body shop, the employees of Lindley’s want to treat the truck right and still show off their skills all around. The truck was expertly straightened out and any miscellaneous bumps and dings were filled in so the panels were as smooth as possible. The real fun began when they were trying to figure out a color scheme. Do they go with a loud wild color? Something with crazy complex multicolored lines and designs? Maybe a never-before-seen custom mixed color?

The Lindley’s decided to keep that fresh out-of-the-assembly-plant feel and painted the ’70 in a slightly OEM style but went with Acura Gunmetal Grey and Chrysler Ivory White two-tone, both sourced from the Spies Hecker auto paint catalog. That ultra-smooth body drank up the paint giving it an at-first-glace subtlety that really needs a closer look to see that it was 100% custom. They added a HH Classic Grille, a set of Cooper Smoothie Bumpers, all the chrome trim and accents, side markers and emblems came from H&H Classic Parts, and a set of JW Speaker headlights capped off the exterior.

All that was needed to finish off this build was to get a nice pair of shoes for this good lookin’ fella so the C10 received a set of 20x10 US Mags C-Ten wheels in the front with 20x11s in the rear, shod with Kumho Ecsta 265/35/20s all around.

Complete Package

The Lindleys don’t like to brag, so we’ll do it for them. This is one nicely appointed truck that feels 100% different than the way it started. And although every inch of this truck has been customized, it still has that feeling of toughness that all trucks are born with. This truck begs to be driven, deserves to be shown off, and all the employees at Lindleys Paint and Body really have something that they can feel proud rolling around McAlester, OK with.