If you think the exterior of Matt Elliott’s Chev C10 is smooth, wait until you see the engine bay.

The story of Matt Elliott and his C10 is like many others. It starts off with a young guy growing up in the import scene, spending a dizzying amount of cash on cars only to lose it all when he sells them. From there he goes on to buy a V8, and decides that having previously spent so much money on mods, he may as well buy a vehicle that’s already completed. In Matt’s case, the C10 was what he found.

We actually had a look at the truck not too long after Matt bought it in 2007, and it was a pretty cool ride. It was bright orange, slammed on airbags and had a decent small block in it, so Matt looked set for endless days of cruising around Tauranga and Mount Maunganui drawing admiration from those he passed. Well, that was the plan at least.

When the transmission decided to give up, Matt didn’t think much of it and had it replaced, safe in the knowledge that these things happen and at least nothing else should go wrong. But as fate would have it, it did, and little did Matt or his now-wife Jamie know at the time, this would be the start of one seriously impressive labour of love. (more…)