Lime Mist 1970 C10 From Catalyst Customs Makes Others Green With Envy At SEMA Show

Chad was asked by the famous House of Kolor to debut this shade at SEMA

Chad Anderson's Lime Mist Green 1970 Chevy C-10 turned plenty of heads at SEMA

The C/K designation for Chevrolet and GMC pickups has been out of use for 18 years now, so it’s likely that some younger enthusiasts and even some older ones aren’t exactly certain to what the designation refers.

The C/K was Chevrolet and GMC's full-size pickup truck line from 1960 until 1998 in the United States, replaced by the Silverado and Sierra names at Chevrolet and GMC, respectively.

The 1960 model year introduced a new body style of light pickup truck with a number of innovations. One was the drop-center ladder frame, allowing the cab to fitted lower, and independent front suspension. Also new for 1960 was a new designation system for trucks made by GM. A new scheme assigned a 10, 20, or 30 for 1/2, 3/4, and 1-ton models, preceded by a C (conventional) in front of the series number which indicates a two-wheel rear drive model while a K denotes one equipped with four-wheel drive.

The original rusted-out bed was recycled and a new bed fabricated in the shop

The bed is a custom design, constructed in the Catalyst shop that tilts to the rear

The second generation C/K ran from 1967 – 1972. While the front suspension on all Chevrolet C-Series trucks were independent front suspension with coil springs, they now came with a coil spring trailing arm rear suspension, which greatly improved ride over the previous leaf springs.

Over the past few years, interest in older trucks as hot rod conversions has grown. The outlandish prices of most muscle cars has something to do with it, but also trucks are exceedingly easy to work on and modify. Further many of the components you find in a truck of this era are either the same or swap right out for parts from their muscle car brethren.

As an example on the extreme end, let’s check out the 1970 C-10 built by Chad Anderson for this year’s SEMA Show. Chad owns Catalyst Customs, a shop in Phoenix, Arizona, that specializes in custom bike, car, and truck modifications and stellar paint work. As it was pushed into the shop for the work to begin, the C-10 appreared to only have rust holding it together.

AIRAID filters both improve airflow into the engine as well as keep contaminents out

The Catalyst team relies on an AIRAID intake for power and protection of the LS1 under the hood

Chad and his crew stripped the C-10 down to the very last nut, bolt, and bracket. While hardware was replaced, the brackets were media blasted and powder coated.

The bed itself was replaced by a custom-built unit, made to tilt to the rear. The floor was bead-rolled and massive tubs were fabricated for the giant-sized rear wheels. Under the bed is a narrowed 9” Ford rear axle.

Suspension is by air spring all around. Front suspension is a complete independent set-up from Choppin’ Block and all four corners are mounted to Air Ride suspension units. The suspension is controlled via an AccuAir Suspension management system. Out on each corner is a 24" American Racing billet wheel wrapped in Toyo tires.

Available in various sizes and included components, builders find the AIRAID kit very flexible

Car builders can create a custom intake system with an AIRAID custom air intake UBI master kit

Under the hood lurks a fresh GM LS1 with mild cam, upgraded to better LS6 injectors, valve springs and push rods. Drawing plenty of clean, fresh air into the engine is a 101-400 AIRAID Custom Air Intake Kit, that provides all the components a builder may require to install an intake on their truck. All up, the motor now produces a very impressive 470 horsepower.

When you look across the interior, you get a sense of attention to detail that’s such an enormous part of this build. For example, check out the flush mounted glass, the flush mounted custom sun roof, the one off taillights created just for this build, or the effort put into enlarging the grille area to fit the grille from another model year. On the inside, there are Fesler door panels and TMI seats upholstered in black vinyl and suede with green stitching.

And speaking of green, check out that exterior color. It’s an amazing new offering from the House of Kolor called Lime Mist Green with some contrasting Galaxy Gray finished off nicely with a Rylan Red pinstripe.

This was definitely a show stopper at the 2016 SEMA show. Keep an eye out for more SEMA vehicle stories from the largest automotive aftermarket expo.

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