There are a few phases during a classic truck restoration that trigger enough anxiety for the home shop hobbyist to consider not tackling on his or her own. Bodywork, paint, wiring, and upholstery are the first to come to mind in this regard. With lowering your anxiety level in mind, we decided to team up with the folks at LMC Truck to see if we can ease some of the concerns relating to at least one of the aforementioned chores—rot repair and panel replacement.
We classic truck hobbyists have it pretty darn good compared to those who came before us. These days, we’re lucky to have aftermarket partners such as LMC Truck that offer a plethora of accessories and components that weren’t as readily available just a decade or so ago. For this project, we’re going to take advantage of these readily available parts and show how to install high-quality replacement panels. Whether it’s rust damage or collision damage, these panels offer an easy way to keep our classic pickups in tip-top shape. Our victim … err subject, is a well-worn ’73 Chevy C-10 cab. The particular LMC Truck components used here are near-perfect aftermarket replacements that’ll work perfectly on any ’73-87 Chevy or GMC pickup. To affect the repairs needed we’ve chosen a pair of left and right cab corner panels (PNs 38-7852/53).
Now, I’d be the first to admit that I’m no pro when it comes to this kind of repair. The most I’ve got going for me is that I’m not afraid to try my hand at just about anything the classic truck hobby can throw at me. This also means that although I’m about to share my experience, it may not be the final word on the subject by any means—but, at the very least I hope to show that with the help of the aftermarket (by supplying nearly every component we need to restore our trucks) and a bit of teeth gritting and elbow grease, any of us can work our way through chores that we’d previously thought had to be done by paid professionals. So let’s take a look at our subject Chevy pickup cab and see how I went about tackling the installation of a replacement cab corner—and keep in mind, if I can do this, any of you can. It’s just a matter of choosing quality replacement parts, as I’ve done here, taking a deep breath, and diving right in. CT
