New from the Netherlands (Europe) • 1980 GMC C1500 Stepside

[Wrench At Home]

Hi everyone! I've been lurking for a while now, soaking up a lot of information, and finally decided to join. I live in the Netherlands (Europe) where American cars are pretty rare, especially the ones that are driven daily (and not only seeing the light of day on sunday afternoons or at car shows, lol).

I always wanted to own a classic (40 years + is officially considered a classic over here) American car or truck with a V8. Having previously owned a 2000 Chrysler Neon and a 2003 Dodge SRT-4 (which I loved as well) it was finally time for double the amount of cylinders!

So about 1,5 years ago I bought my 1980 GMC C1500 Stepside with a SBC 350. It has been partially restored some time ago but I don't know if that was before or after someone shipped it to the Netherlands in june 2009. Overall it's in pretty good shape, especially the exterior, although I discovered some gnarly rust in the cab floor recently which has to be addressed soon.

Since I bought the truck I have done some basic maintenance to it like plugs, wires, air filter, oil change, valve cover gaskets, exhaust gaskets etc. I also replaced the steering wheel with a billet aluminum one from Eddie Motorsports and I have restored my ashtray mechanism.

I try to capture my maintenance and modification journey as much as possible on camera so I can easily look back later at everything I did.
I make video's of all this footage for my YouTube channel which I (re)started back in februari this year, because it might just help someone that's trying similar things. For anyone that's interested, check me out at https://www.youtube.com/c/WrenchAtHome/

I have a lot of stuff planned for the truck, like replacing the seat belts, doing a full brake rebuild, doing some rust repair on the cab floor and replacing the audio system with a complete Retrosound setup. But most importantly, I plan to keep driving her a lot!

Some pics of my truck:

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Thanks for all the information that's already on here, and thanks in advance for everything that is yet to come!

 

[dusterdude]

Welcome,nice truck

 

[Dave M]

Hi everyone! I've been lurking for a while now, soaking up a lot of information, and finally decided to join. I live in the Netherlands (Europe) where American cars are pretty rare, especially the ones that are driven daily (and not only seeing the light of day on sunday afternoons or at car shows, lol).



I bet that tow hitch claims a few casualties. Nice truck

 

[Wrench At Home]

I bet that tow hitch claims a few casualties ! Nice truck.

Thank god that hitch is removable, but yes it does a great job protecting my rear chrome lol! Thanks man!

 

[Dave M]

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I made up a piece that slides into the hitch receiver, to tidy it up and encourage people not to stand on the chrome bumper.

 

[Doppleganger]

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[Wrench At Home]

I made up a piece that slides into the hitch receiver, to tidy it up and encourage people not to stand on the chrome bumper.

That's very clever, thanks for showing me! Might be a fun weekend project some day.

 

[Ken B]

welcome nice truck, stepper owner too!

 

[ali_c20]

Welcome from Austria. Nice truck!

 

[82sbshortbed]

Welcome from Texas nice looking truck.

 

[animal]

 

[WFO]

Welcome from the Texas Panhandle.

 

[Snoots]

Welcome from NE Georgia

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[Bextreme04]

Welcome!

I also had a 2005 Neon SRT-4. I bought it through the military sales program when I was stationed in Germany, so they shipped it over there for me for free. That was a fun car to drive around the back roads of Germany and on the Autobahn.

 

[Babs]