Dino Strikes Again With This Pieced-Together ’64 C-10

The 1960-66 C-10s can be considered the forgotten years of Chevrolet’s truck history. Yes, these trucks are bold and the lines are unique, but they are a product of their era. One person showing us how cool these trucks can actually be is Dino Battilana. Better known as “Mr. 60-66,” Dino has been collecting and rebuilding these bastard trucks for quite some time. He’s the kind of guy who holds a regular day job as a certified appliance repairman, but on nights and weekends, he can be found wrenching with Joe Casias in his over-built home garage known as Chevy Only.

During his many years working on C-10s, Dino has gathered an abundance of extra parts for them. He had so many parts that he could pretty much build an entire truck, so that’s exactly what he did—he built the ’64 C-10 on these pages. It all started when a cab and frame fell into his lap and the rest of the parts just came together.

All of the fully built rides at Chevy Only are built from the ground up starting with the frame. This includes cleaning up the frame, painting it, adding new urethane bushings and replacing all of the bolts with grade 8 versions. He also created the adjustable suspension using Firestone 2,600-pound airbags. Up front, the cross member was pancaked 2 inches for more clearance, and a set of McGaughy’s drop spindles with a disc brake conversion improves stopping power. In the rear, a mild C-notch allows the factory 10-bolt rearend to travel. The stock trailing arms were reinforced and a longer panhard bar was fabricated for lateral stability at all heights. Chevy Only also made new brackets to mount the factory-style shocks on all four corners.

Though this truck is relatively simple, the cab’s firewall was shaved of unnecessary holes and the under side was painted. Once mounted to the frame, a set of Counterpart replacement fenders was bolted up before the rest of the clip was attached. There are no inner fenders, and a set of Porterbuilt hood hinges was installed for tire clearance. All original short-bed steel with a black stained wood bed floor kit from The Chrome Guy (raised 2-inches) were added. Keeping it simple, the old iron was straightened out and painted blue and white with a pinstripe by Ron Hernandez to break up the colors. Finishing the look is a set of 15 x 7 and 15 x 8 Wheel Vintiques steel wheels with BFGoodrich 7.00×15 and 7.60×15 bias ply tires.

Under the hood, Chevy Only kept it simple with a modest budget. Instead of dropping in a new crate engine, a rebuilt 350- cid Chevy small-block was salvaged and rebuilt by Five Star Engine Exchange. It’s outfitted with an Edelbrock 283-style intake manifold with carburetor and Speedway Ram Horn headers. The original intake was cleaned up and reused with the help of a K&N air filter. On the other end a custom 3-inch exhaust built by Moose at the Muffler Shop resides alongside Flowmaster mufflers. The 327 script valve covers and gray paint add style. Behind the four-bolt main block a Turbo 350 transmission built by Benny’s turns rotational force into power to drive the truck at high speeds.

Inside of the cab appearances are deceptive because a lot of work was done even though at first glance everything appears factory. First of all, the steering column was shortened 2.5 inches to create more room. The instrument panel looks factory but it’s actually a custom box with gauges from SoCal Speed Shop encased behind Plexiglas. A Kenwood speaker system was pieced together by mounting three 10-inch subs in the rear, making kick panels for 6 x 9s and fitting two 4-inch speakers on the dash, all of which is wired to the an original tube radio. Completing the interior is a bench seat from a ’98 Silverado. Dominick of Custom Interior Fabrications reupholstered it in leather and custom fabric.

Dino set out to build a modest, old school, stylized cruiser. No fancy trim or extras, just a good-running, clean truck. After all was said and done, this truck was built for less than most new trucks, and the result is a bulletproof vehicle that’s reliable on the road with enough style to win at shows. Dino has showed us that these particular C-10 trucks can be cleaned up and become another great project for truck enthusiasts. ST

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TRUCK SPECS

OWNER

Dino Battilana
1964 Chevrolet C-10 Phoenix, AZ
Chevy Only

ENGINE

• Rebuilt Chevy 350 small-block
• Rebuilt Chevy Turbo 350 transmission
• Edelbrock intake and carburetor
• Harrison radiator with electric fans
• Speedway Ram Horn headers
• 327 script valve covers
• 3-inch exhaust with Flowmaster mufflers
• K&N air filter

SUSPENSION

• Original frame, notch
• Pancaked front cross member
• 2600 Firestone airbags
• Gabriel shocks
• Mcgaughy’s drop spindles with disc brake conversion
• Reinforced trailing arms
• Custom panhard bar

WHEELS & TIRES

• 15 x 7 and 15 x 8-inch Wheel Vintique steelies
• BFGoodrich 7.00×15 and 7.60×15 bias ply tires

BODY & PAINT

• Custom blue and white paint
• Custom pinstripe break
• Raised black stained wood bed floor
• Porter built hood hinges
• Shaved firewall

INTERIOR

• 1998 Silverado bench seat reupholstered in leather and vinyl
• Shortened steering column
• Custom instrument panel with SO-CAL Speed Shop gauges
• Kenwood speaker system

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